The Good Musician

No, this post won’t teach you to fly using your guitar as a magic carpet. I share with you here my experience in the last two days while flying to India. I’m staying here for four weeks, and leaving my guitar back home in Switzerland is not an option.

Here are a few cautions you should keep in mind before hading for the airport:

1. Be ready to check in your instrument.

In my case, on the first flight, I wasn’t allowed to bring it on board because they were overbooked and storage was scarce. On the second flight (from Dubai to Bangalore), I had to succumb to the security regulations that seemed a bit conjured up by the moment. Guitars are deadly weapons. Fine. I checked it in as a fragile bulky item, which goes into a special hold.

2. If your instrument is large, you need to buy it a ticket.
That allows you to take it on board. Now unless you own a Fender Stratocaster signed by Jimi Hendrix & Mark Knopfler, this probably isn’t an option, or doesn’t make sense in the first place.

Other than that, even if you do buy a ticket, not all airlines actually give you a seat for the little buddy, but they guarantee for the well-being of that Stradivari – tomato juice inclusive.

3. Prepare to see them ill-treat your baby.

We had just landed in Dubai and I was glancing out the window while
other passengers scurried for the unopened door like in a rat race. My mom jokingly pointed out the porters flinging about a pram and a huge box with a “fragile” sticker on it. And then I saw it> They flung my guitar into the transporter with some serious added flight. Those idiots just threw for fun. When asking ground staff, they revealed to us a secret: This is common practice around the world.

RUBBISH.

It may be common, but I’ve seen better. These guys weren’t just throwing, they were adding flight to every item they got so it you could make a snowboard-style series of shots.

My heart stood still until we reached home were I found my guitar safe and sound, which brings me to my next point:

4. Get a killer case.

I was lucky that I chose a really hard case to put my guitar in. The case suffered some injuries, but the guitar was fine. After all, if this thing hits the ground, the most the guitar can get damaged is by moving it half an inch. If the case is strong and hard enough, it will take all the damage of the crash upon itself. Trouble sets in when the case starts to break. Other than that, if you think logically, the guitar doesn’t have to deal with any forces of the crash except the same ones as if you were to shake the case with two hands.

I also didn’t bring my best, most expensive guitar.

5. Take along some fresh strings or other replaceable heat-sensitive parts.

Last point: My strings were totally detuned due to the cold weather in the hold. I tried retuning them but they were clearly stressed out. Luckily I had a fresh set of Hannabach Medium Tension with me. Gotta love ‘em.

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