Hello All, I believe I'm the one that Dan refers to below about the link to the guitar case being thrown off a building and the guitar (actually an acoustic, non-solid body guitar) surviving intact. Below is my original post from last August. The name of the company is CaseXtreme and the video may be seen at http://www.casextreme.com/newest_video.html. I believe prices have risen since my original post, but the company now makes a special edition case in heat reflective white which would be better than the standard black. Again, I hope this information is helpful. Bill Eisele
Just before the LSA workshop at the Vancouver Early Music Festival I had a custom flight case made for my Kingham lute case by CaseXtreme in San Diego: [1]http://www.casextreme.com/. It's made with some kind of corrugated plastic and uses foam pads as cushioning on the sides and the bottom of the flight case. The Kingham case is held in place against the pads with a strap and there's about an inch of space between the lid of the flight case and the Kingham case. The case has two carrying handles and comes with detachable wheels. All sides of the case are extremely rigid once the lid is closed and you can stand on the top without damaging the case. The cost of the flight case with shipping was about $320. I checked the flight case through from Albuquerque to Vancouver (connection in Denver) and return (connection in San Francisco) with no problems - four separate flights. The lute inside was unscathed. I'm not sure if it will fit through an x-ray machine, but if it does fit, a gate check would probably be the best way to go. I just didn't want to haul it all over the airports before boarding. The flight case weighs about 12 pounds and it is oversized (37" L x 20" W x 15" D), but no one at check in required that I pay the oversize baggage fee. It doesn't look as big as it actually is because of the trapezoidal shape rather than a rectangular shape. I have posted some photos of the flight case at Flickr: [2]http://www.flickr.com/photos/41330...@n03/. The owner of CaseXtreme, Bruce Lamb, is very helpful and he can be reached at 800-495-8444. FYI, I have no business interest in CaseXtreme. Hope this helps, Bill Eisele > Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 17:24:45 -0800 > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > From: dwinh...@comcast.net > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Flying with a lute > > Thank you, Nancy. Excellent, relevant recent information. Important > that it is post Christmas. Seems to be a "don't ask, don't tell" > "Least said, soonest mended" etc. type of modus operandi. That's how > it worked with my old, small vihuela in about 2005 going to the > Amherst event from S.F. Bay area also. For a Cleveland adventure I > was afraid to risk being turned away at the gate with no alternatives > (as Ned is afraid of) with the 13 course Baroque lute so I reinforced > the old case with 4 more sturdy latches- but no extra padding > measures except for lots of socks and underwear inside the case > around the neck and pegbox, and some music pages between the strings > and the soundboard. Totally detuned, of course. It came and went both > directions unscathed, I think by sheer good luck. United hadn't yet > learned how to break guitars, I guess. Hasn't someone this list given > a link to a promo for a new guitar case that was thrown off a > building, and the (but solid body) guitar survived intact? Still an > accomplishment, I would like to see that ad again- couldn't google it > up. > > Dan -- References 1. http://www.casextreme.com/ 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/41330...@n03/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
