Airline Safe Hard Case

[ohwowman]

I am looking for a hard case to protect my Larrivee OO-40 RW.  I'd like a strong and sturdy case that is designed to handle the wear and tear of both airline flight and road travel. Suggestions or recommendations, please? Thanks!      

[Queequeg]

I have a Calton case for one of my guitars.
Calton and Hiscox are the top two names in flight cases that I'm familiar with.
And Gator is another (and far less expensive) but I've never actually seen one.

[teh]

Best of luck with your decision. Here's my suggestion.

For road trips, three of my four Larrivees have been transported in their factory issued hardshell cases to both Florida and Canada multiple times with zero problems. They go with me to my hotel room, condo or cottage rather than being left behind in the car.

For airline travel, I just traveled to and from Texas with a layover in NC. Looking at the luggage sitting on the tarmac in nasty weather reinforced my feeling that I don't want to leave any of my good guitars out of my sight. On every flight the overheard bins were full and all four flights were either full or almost full. Before I would spend $1,500 on a high end case, I would look at a guitar like a Furch Little Jane for about the same money and travel with it via plane. I know it would fit under my seat.

I have a Little Martin at my son's house in Texas that moves with him. This guitar has been to Virginia, Kansas, both Washington State and Texas twice and to Germany so I always have something to play. He even took the guitar to Iraq twice and it is pretty impervious to weather extremes.

[coldcoffee]

I don't have an answer the best airline cases.  I've been wondering about this myself.  I did, however, read this on Larrivee's website, which surprised me:

"NEVER take tension off the strings when shipping your guitar. This is a dangerous practice as the machine heads and headstock are the heaviest parts of the guitar, and the string tension from proper tuning serves to counteract the stresses these parts place on the instrument. Some people on the internet will tell you that loosening the strings is a good idea but it is NOT."

https://www.larrivee.com/pdfs/Shipping%20Your%20Instrument_v2.pdf

Interesting...

[B0WIE]

I don't have an answer the best airline cases.  I've been wondering about this myself.  I did, however, read this on Larrivee's website, which surprised me:

"NEVER take tension off the strings when shipping your guitar. This is a
dangerous practice as the machine heads and headstock are the heaviest
parts of the guitar, and the string tension from proper tuning serves to
counteract the stresses these parts place on the instrument. Some people on
the internet will tell you that loosening the strings is a good idea but it is NOT."

https://www.larrivee.com/pdfs/Shipping%20Your%20Instrument_v2.pdf

Interesting...

 I know that Larrivee has their stance on this but I definitely tune down about 2 steps when shipping or traveling with a guitar. Reason being, conditions change and your guitar is not always going to be at an ideal temp, RH, etc when traveling. If expansion should happen, you have a guitar that's at full pitch getting stressed beyond that. I also don't like the idea of the guitar taking shipping bumps while at full tension.

 They mention the "heaviest" portion, so perhaps they have had headstocks snap in shipping (?). If I had ever seen an explanation of the physics behind keeping full tension I might feel differently but people do both and I've personally never heard anyone report a shipping issue come from de-tuning. I have heard of bridges popping from shipping under full tension though.

 Regarding cases, even the finest cases can get destroyed during air travel so budget your investment based on the cost of your instrument.

[jrdavies]

Quite a while ago I bought a Hiscox Medium Classical to use with my Larrivee OO.  The seller also sent me two small pads that I put on either side of the end pin.  The pads are made of the same material as the case liner.  If there is any foam inside the pads I would be surprised, they are not that thick.  The guitar fits in the case nicely.  Here is a picture of my Forum IV in the case.

I also picked up an Access case cover which has backpack straps and a front pocket. I've flown with it a few times and always been able to carry it on.  It used to fit in the overhead bin but I think the bins may have gotten smaller in the last few years.

As mentioned above a better case may reduce the risk of damage to a guitar, but doesn't eliminate it completely.  Depending on how often you think you will need it and what planes are involved.  An inexpensive OO or O might be less expensive, and perhaps less stressful, option .   If you need more info on the Hiscox let me know.


 

[StringPicker6]

the 00-40R is small enough that maybe the flight attendants may let you store it somewhere inside the plane.  Isn't there usually a small coat closet that they can put them in?  Granted, I haven't been on a plane in 7 years...

[Queequeg]

Quite a while ago I bought a Hiscox Medium Classical to use with my Larrivee OO.  The seller also sent me two small pads that I put on either side of the end pin.  The pads are made of the same material as the case liner.  If there is any foam inside the pads I would be surprised, they are not that thick.  The guitar fits in the case nicely.  Here is a picture of my Forum IV in the case.

I also picked up an Access case cover which has backpack straps and a front pocket. I've flown with it a few times and always been able to carry it on.  It used to fit in the overhead bin but I think the bins may have gotten smaller in the last few years.

As mentioned above a better case may reduce the risk of damage to a guitar, but doesn't eliminate it completely.  Depending on how often you think you will need it and what planes are involved.  An inexpensive OO or O might be less expensive, and perhaps less stressful, option .   If you need more info on the Hiscox let me know.

It's a good idea to remove the endpin for shipping.