Flying with national in standard NRP hard case.

[purpleorange]

I have just made a last minute booking to go to Blues Week this year and I would like to bring my resonator with me. I know the sound advice is to buy a Calton case, but I am not going to have the time or money to get any sort flight case.

My plan is to pack the guitar well, slacken the strings a bit and tape up the hinges and buckles and hope for the best.

It is a one hour domestic flight from Belfast to Birmingham with flybe, I have done the same journey with a resonator in a pod case in the past and had a good experience with them. Last time they got me to check it in the oversized luggage drop off area and then brought it out to me after the flight so it didn't go on the main carousel with the rest of the luggage.

I would be interested if anyone else flown with a national in the standard NRP case and if you have had good or bad experiences? Is there any other advice to mitigate risk?


Thanks, Ryan

[snakehips]

Hi there !

It does depend a lot on what guitar you are travelling with.
I would imagine a metal bodied guitar would be the most bomb-proof guitar to travel with.
A single cone National may be more robust than a Tricone - but I don't know for sure.

The coverplate and cones are the most vulnerable to getting crushed, followed by a headstock break.
Most NRP guitars are pretty bomb-proof.

You don't say what resonator you intend to bring.
A vintage National guitar, a NRP guitar, a cheaper import ?

Myself and my bandmate, Prof Scratchy, were flying from Edinburgh to Exeter, to go to the Bishopstock Blues Festival, years back - the year John Lee Hooker was supposed to be playing, but cancelled due to ill health.
We decided to take a vintage National each to do some playing where we were staying, and join in the acoustic workshop (with Michael Roach, Sam Mitchell and harp player
Charlie Musselwhite. Michael Roach was so impressed with my bandmate, Prof Scratchy's guitar playing, on Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson tunes, that he asked the Prof on the spot, to join the workshop teaching panel !)

Anyway, I persuaded the Prof that we should risk carrying our guitars into the plane cabin - and would stand a better chance if we put them in thin canvas type covers, instead of padded or hard cases, as they would look much less bulky.
Unfortunately, the airline wouldn't let us take the guitars in the cabin - so we had to put our vintage Nationals, in just thin canvas cases, onto the conveyor belt that takes away the "over-sized" items - and pray!

Amazingly, the guitars were returned unscathed. The Prof's Triolian did have a tiny dent/ding in the body side, but that may have been there before hand.

Would NEVER want to take that risk again !!!!!!!!!!

[purpleorange]

Thank for the reply snakehips, I am sure you were relieved to get the guitars back in one piece, it can be a stressful experience waiting for your guitar to come back you.

The guitar is an NRP Triolian, so it is metal, single cone and replaceable.

[hblom]

I have flown back and forth from Texas-Amsterdamn-Norway a couple times and have always taken it in the cabin with me. On the big planes we put it in the coat closet. On the smaller planes, get on early so you can put it overhead...