quote:

---

Originally posted by GaryPrice

There is a statement in the guide that Price cases are "bulky". The author may not be aware that there are four models available, all less bulky than the early ones. The smallest, the Classic, is a bit smaller than a Calton and probably a Hoffee, although I have not measured one. There was one at Banjothon and that was my impression. All four models are lighter than the old ones.

---

That's good to hear, Gary. I have one of your standard teardrop cases, and it's the only one I'll fly with if taking my main player. The case is just about bombproof - but it IS bulky, and it IS heavy.

Wow! Thanks so much for this comprehensive treatment - What I was always afraid to ask!
Sincerely,
Richard (BMAM member)

Great information. I recently retired from driving those airplanes for a major trunk airline and can add that it is going to ultimately be up to the flight attendants as to whether or not  in tight circumstances your banjo or other instrument ends up down below. Some F/As are wonderful and thoughtful and helpful and some are just plain cranky and hate to go to work. The latter would not help you under any circumstance.  If you have a valuable instrument then buy a real flight case  and check it. Carry your clothes in a roomy gig bag . When you get there switch em. Check your instrument insurance policy before you leave home.  I always stood by the entrance door during boarding to be there if any pickers need help with instruments and was able to move things in the right direction now and then.  If you are going to try to board an instrument just keep a big smile cooking all the way through it. If you loose it it becomes like wrestling with pigs in the mud. They like it and they will win.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Kunz

 

Great information. I recently retired from driving those airplanes for a major trunk airline and can add that it is going to ultimately be up to the flight attendants as to whether or not  in tight circumstances your banjo or other instrument ends up down below. (snip)   I always stood by the entrance door during boarding to be there if any pickers need help with instruments and was able to move things in the right direction now and then.

---

Thanks for the kind words - and what a pity that you've retired!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill Kunz

 

Great information. I recently retired from driving those airplanes for a major trunk airline and can add that it is going to ultimately be up to the flight attendants as to whether or not  in tight circumstances your banjo or other instrument ends up down below. Some F/As are wonderful and thoughtful and helpful and some are just plain cranky and hate to go to work. The latter would not help you under any circumstance.  If you have a valuable instrument then buy a real flight case  and check it. Carry your clothes in a roomy gig bag . When you get there switch em. Check your instrument insurance policy before you leave home.  I always stood by the entrance door during boarding to be there if any pickers need help with instruments and was able to move things in the right direction now and then.  If you are going to try to board an instrument just keep a big smile cooking all the way through it. If you loose it it becomes like wrestling with pigs in the mud. They like it and they will win.

 

 

---

My recent experience with FAs and pilots has been all positive. I am Elite Gold/Platinum depending on the year and I have to say I have had one of the least problematic years this past 12 months. I check my guitar and carryy on a banjo. I haven't had any mention of the instrument at check in or at he gate and usually a smile or lighthearted comment at the door by the FA. Sometimes I'll ask where the stage is or mention that the pa and the rest of the band is right behind me.

Things seem to be much better than a few years ago.

Fingers crossed, my next cross country flight is Tuesday.

Cya!

Bob

This article is largely written from a Canadian perspective, but it does a good job of explaining some of the current issues related to airline baggage and carry-ons, and why the airlines are doing it.

The extra money screening is costing could just be paid to passengers so they can check their bag..ie give it to the airlines. This is totally absurd.

On another note, when I blew home last week my first leg was on a CRJ. There was a new interior in the last one I had flown in and the bins were just marginally too small from my Superior  case.

It's a resonator case but padded out to hold my 12" Ramsey. So it would be a great choice for flying commuters with a resonator 5 string banjo.

Picture

When I boarded at RDU I asked the flight attendee  at the door if it was the new or old interior. She said, see if you can get it to fit. If not we'll gate check it. Wow! It was the new interior but I remembered a trick another flight attendant showed me where you stick one hand under the case to raise it at an angle while you lower the door with the other. Bingo! I had to do it again when the door was opened but it was worth it!

Cya!

Bob

I have a Gary Price Case and it has served me well for years . . . but, it is too large for the luggage hold.  I always have to check it and the TSA always has to inspect it, and as a result it often does not make it onto the same flight I am on.  After years of frustration I had a special banjo built that would fit in the luggage hold with NO ISSUES.

Here is my soprano five string banjo built by Luthier Marvin Walker (it is NOT a toy!).  Here it is in the luggage hold.  It has both a hard shell case and a canvas cover.  It fits perfectly and other passengers can still get their carry-on in next to it.  It is an awesome banjo.  The finger board is standard width but the scale is 14 inches and so it is like playing with your capo at the 12th fret.  It sounds great in a band . . . it soars up there (pitch wise) with mandolin.

First off Tom, it's the overhead bin, not the luggage hold. The attached photograph, taken a couple of weeks ago,  is a picture of a Superior fiberglass case which will hold a full sized resonator banjo in the same size bin that won't take the Price. The problem was actually your case, not your banjo.

But it it makes you happy..that's what BAS is all about.

Good luck,

Bob

quote:

---

Originally posted by BDCA

First off Tom, it's the overhead bin, not the luggage hold. The attached photograph, taken a couple of weeks ago,  is a picture of a Superior fiberglass case which will hold a full sized resonator banjo in the same size bin that won't take the Price. The problem was actually your case, not your banjo.

But it it makes you happy..that's what BAS is all about.

Good luck,

Bob

---

OK . . . "overhead bin."  I fly several times a week for years.  I can tell you that on 99.9 of the flights I am on the passengers would have a freaking riot  to discover you taking up the entire "bin" lengthwise with your banjo.  The attendant . . . in my experience . . . will not let anyone do that!  They will remove it and gate check it. Just one week ago I saw a woman attempt to take up the entire "bin" lengthwise with her skateboard.  The attendant did not allow it and gate checked it.

Now, there is room in the photo above your banjo for people to attempt to cram their carry-on, but good luck with that - only soft purses and such can fit above your case.  If you have gotten away with it in the past then fantastic . . . but I can guarantee you it won't get away with it very often . . . only rarely.  Not on major routes between large cities.

Well I "got away with it" on over 50,000 miles last year and never even had a comment from anyone. I think you are just paranoid. If you fly that often you must have early boarding and the new regs state that the airline MUST allow the instrument IF there is space available.

Just read this thread!

So ALL your travels are with a banjo?? Mine are.

Nothing wrong with having another banjo, even if you don't need it.

Cya!

Bob

Just reporting on latest flying experience, on United in boarding group number 2. On the regional embraer RJ-145, carried my banjo through TSA security and gate-checked it.  There was no closet big enough to fit the banjo in its case, and of course no room in the overhead.  I handed it to the gate attendant, it went down the conveyer and into the hold. Reclaimed it at the gate and then was able to carry it onto the next flight which was a 737. No problem being in that boarding group, with finding room in the overhead.  On the return trip, just reversed the process.  No problems, no questions, no one put their hands on my banjo except in and out of the gate check.  Love my Price case.

What airport Peggy? I have been going back and forth between AZ and RDU a couple times a month. There's a trick to getting your banjo in the overhead of the commuter. My case for a 12" Ramsey is 16" at it's widest point. If you jack the case up with your fingers, a coat or a pillow at a 30 degree angle and close the door while it's propped up it will JUST close. Any bigger than 16" and you are sol. My bump 11" case and my tenor banjo cases are no problem but I try to avoid commuters when possible. I'm flying back to RDU next week.

Cya!

Bob
 

I was flying out of GSP (Greenville).  Eyeballing that overhead, it looked teeny but I will measure and contemplate your technique.  Southwest flies regular sized planes out of GSP, and my preference is to fly Southwest when I can, but I was doing this particular trip on miles so didn't have the option.

The older united interiors were just slightly bigger but the bins over the new thin seats are just a hair smaller. I gate checked the banjo on the down to RDU but remembered the technique on the way back. I considered moving to Ashville a while back but I was worried about getting in and out especially in Winter so I chose Roanoke..

Cya!

Bob

Just returned from another trip to the East Coast. Because I had a mix of gigs requiring guitar, 5 string and Irish tenor banjos. Traveling with one banjo is a bit challenging, traveling with two is even more "fun".

I have mentioned this before, but when I do have to check in a banjo I will, if possible, make a bubble wrap "case cover" using packing tape and a scissors. I trace the case on the wrap, cut out a top, bottom and sides and tape it all together. I include a for for TSA explaining that the banjo contains an LED lighting system including a controller and a 9 volt battery. It also has instructions on removing and replacing the resonator. Since I have included the note, the case has not been opened and the wrap arrives intact.

The reason for the wrap, is that the ABS case looks pretty substantial, but with the wrap in place, the case is not visible and it instantly says "FRAGILE". The banjo was still in tune when it arrived.

My guitar is checked in as well and has almost 1M miles in the hold. I use a poly foam, nylon covered case but this trip United broke my guitar. Luckily it's a Carbon guitar and all that was required was some JB weld (clear) and some clamps and good as new. I was going to claim for the clamps and glue but United has a policy of 24 hours to claim. BTW they did replace a suitcase they broke with a $75 voucher.

This was my first flight in the new United Embraer 175. It's flown by United Express but is a mini 737, more comfortable than a 145 and the bin will easily hold a banjo.

Hope this helps!

Bob

Considering checking my banjo inside a gig bag on an upcoming, Alaska Airlines connecting flight aboard a Horizion Air Bombadier Q400.  No problem putting it in the overhead for the first flight -  Boeing 737-400.  Second flight's overheads are too small.  You have to put it on a cart outside the plane as you board, pick it up the same way after you land.  Bob's bubble wrap strategy might be the way to go.

Details :  Access Stage 3 gig bag, and I have a flight case but I prefer the gig bag.

Thanks!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gary S

Considering checking my banjo inside a gig bag on an upcoming, Alaska Airlines connecting flight aboard a Horizion Air Bombadier Q400.  No problem putting it in the overhead for the first flight -  Boeing 737-400.  Second flight's overheads are too small.  You have to put it on a cart outside the plane as you board, pick it up the same way after you land.  Bob's bubble wrap strategy might be the way to go.

Details :  Access Stage 3 gig bag, and I have a flight case but I prefer the gig bag.

Thanks!

---

If you read the original thread, Gary, you'll see that the Q400 bins CAN accomodate a case - but if you don't have a lock on an early board you're probably SOL. I would NOT trust a bubblewrapped gig big. Bob's bubblewrap gag almost certainly works because of its psychological impact on baggage handlers - but steep ascents and in-flight turbulence aren't that easily fooled and baggage in the holds can shift. Under those circumstance, if the gig bag can't protect the instrument, the bubblewrap certainly won't. If I were you, I'd use a hard case.

Gary, I would buy the shortest case that fits your RK. WAY better than replacing the neck and fighting with the airline. Remember there are substantial differences in overal case length. Go with the shortest possible.

Cya!

Bob