Dillon
Hi guys, I'm looking for some help. I'm planning on doing a guitar swap with a guy in the US, but the shipping costs and risk are threatening to sour the deal. I'm look for someone who may be traveling to or through the New York/Boston area in the next month or so to hand carry a guitar for me, meet someone on that end, make the exchange and then carry the other guitar home again. I know it's a lot to ask, but if anyone is feeling helpful it would be really great!
I'm based in Durban.
Thanks
guitarboy2828
Hmm, I'm leaving in 2 weeks and going to Phillidelphia, so not too close to where you need me to be.. I'd happily do it, however, I'm hoping to bring a guitar back and so I'm not sure that'll work out. ☹ Sorry!
kayDUB
You might want to check the carry on luggage limits for the airline first, as far as I'm aware a guitar won't fit into the allowed carry on luggage size...
guitarboy2828
kayDUB wrote
You might want to check the carry on luggage limits for the airline first, as far as I'm aware a guitar won't fit into the allowed carry on luggage size...
They do allow it, however, it's my only hand luggage around.. Which means my laptop can't come with me, which is an issue..
How have other guys moved acoustics around from country to country?
kayDUB
Hmm, interesting... Where do you keep it during the flight? What airline was that? I would like to bring a guitar (strat) back from the UK, but thought it would be too big for carry on?
guitarboy2828
I'm flying US airways.
They have the dimensions that you can take, its 190cm all around. So I think a guitar will fit.
I'm not sure it's in the overhead compartment, I think they put them in an upright compartment with suits and stuff? I'm not sure
Bob-Dubery
Just check things out carefully and keep on checking to get the latest regulations. They change all the time. I recently saw a very, very nice and not exactly inexpensive acoustic that had taken a pounding on a plane in the USA. The owner (a professional musician) had been allowed to take it on board but only in a gig bag, not a hard case. You can guess the rest.
kayDUB
Thanks guys!
What I am thinking about doing at the moment is packing the body in with my checked in luggage (lots of padding) and taking the neck as hand luggage as it should fit in the limits.
Sorry to the OP for the hijack...
MIKA-the-better-one
i HAVE TRAVELLED WITH A GUITAR many times...... and the airline are fine with it.............. you can take it up top with your baggage, and other hand luggage, or down below in a hardcase......
this is with Virgin, British Airways, SAA, so far, oh and Delta....... they flex there "rules" for people..... sometimes just phone ahead and confirm, or make some sob story...
My uncle is coming from the USA in Novemeber for my wedding so i may try get hime to bring a guitar.......... wooooooh
Dillon
kayDUB wrote
Sorry to the OP for the hijack...
No problem... ?
I carried my Takamine on board and stashed it in the overhead compartment all over Europe. The only place I had a problem and was separated from it: The final short flight from Jo-Berg back home to Durban... I managed to carry it on board, but had to leave it in the cabinet near the door - the stewardess wouldn't allow it in the overhead "in case it fell out and hit someone on the head during turbulence"!
@Guitarboy, would you mind sending me your number via pm, I've got one or two other options for sending, but if they don't work out I've got an idea that may work for us.
BMU
I see people carry on guitars from time to time, in gig bags. But iirc, SAA's website specifically states that guitars are not allowed as carry-on luggage. Singapore Airlines website states you have to buy a seat for the guitar if you want to take it onboard. Etc. So you're taking a huge risk. By the letter of their rules they may well refuse it onboard, and if it's in a soft bag then what do you do?
I brought a guitar from JHB to CPT once, in a hard case. The ground staff let me take it onboard but the moaning & complaining from the cabin staff was unbelievable... and I was flying business class. To be fair it really is too large to fit anywhere comfortably.
Personally there's no way I'd hand-carry a guitar for someone else. And there's no way I'd trust someone to hand-carry something for me either. I want a sue-able, insurable entity with official paperwork. If the shipping breaks the deal, then it wasn't worth it in the first place - there's a reason guitars cost what they cost in the southern hemisphere.
Ray
Isnt it a bit of an issue flying with mahogany (neck or plates) in US and others y'no with the Cites 'n all?
Bob-Dubery
Ray wrote
Isnt it a bit of an issue flying with mahogany (neck or plates) in US and others y'no with the Cites 'n all?
I'd imagine it depends what mahogany. But yes, there are issues with CITES and woods. You might be called upon to certify what the woods on your guitar are and where you got them, so that it can proven that the wood was not illegally harvested. I don't know if this is a real or a potential problem. Theoretically CITES makes it impossible for orchestras from other countries to tour the USA as the wood used for top class bows is now controlled.
Wizard
On our holiday overseas this last Easter, we found the airline rules changed quite a lot from airline to airline and even flight to flight on the same airline, depending on the mood of the person doing the check in.
Some flights were happy to book in my son's slightly longer bag; others insisted on it being carried in the "ski" section.
Some flights were happy that our luggage weight was ok in total; the last flight home insisted that each suitcase had to be within limits - so required a "shuffling" repack between cases.
Also to consider with this kind of "buddy carry" system ... is what the hell do you do if something goes wrong ??
I have no idea what happened.
I swear the one minute your guitar was next to me in the lounge, the next it was just gone !!
We obviously called security immediately, but they never found it.
Sorry man !!
BMU
Wizard wrote
Also to consider with this kind of "buddy carry" system ... is what the hell do you do if something goes wrong ??
Exactly - nightmare!! Hence dealing with an official, insurable, paper traceable entity.
