I had one of those Czech cases. It survived a good long while, before
it was destroyed, but honestly I think it was a freak accident. There
is no good way to travel with a theorbo. If the airline says so, you'll
have to check it and it might cost a lot of money if the agent decides
it's oversize. If you can get it onto the plane in an extra seat,
great. One crucial thing in the event that you have to check it is to
slack the strings completely. It doesn't prevent the theorbo from
getting smashed, but it will keep it from pulling itself apart, and it
does make the instrument a little more resilient in the event of it
being dropped or something. I do this weekly during the concert season
and other than one time that the case went through Miami airport's
theorbo guillotine (which is more humane than many other theorbo
execution methods), one time the Czech case was dropped from a great
height (I think), either in Detroit or in Seattle and the case wasn't
damaged but a rib was broken and the seam opened most of the way around
the top, and the time the Czech case was run over by a truck at Oakland
Airport (was all I could surmise) and the end of the neck extension was
wrenched off, spiral fracture style, my theorbo has always made it
there in one piece. So that's just four incidents in maybe 120 flights.
Oh yeah, except when I didn't slack the strings and the seams opened on
top because any tension at all on the strings makes the instrument want
to fold in half at low temperatures, and whichever glue joint is
weakest will be the one to let go, and if you have tension on the
strings when your theorbo is in the freezing cold hold of a plane, woe
betide you. It's also kind of cathartic to finish a gig and pull all
the tuning pegs out ("fthhhhpt, fthhhhhpt, fthhhhpt" they say as they
wind down!), and put your theorbo in its case (also, ensure that the
instrument is totally immobilized in there!) secure in the knowledge
that there's a fairly good chance it'll be just fine and if not, well,
the outpouring of sympathy and outrage on Facebook when you post the
pictures is immensely gratifying.
Good luck!
John
> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2014 22:20:49 +0200
> CC: [email protected]
> From: [email protected]
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: theorbo on airplane
>
> I've always taken my theorbo and archlute on an extra seat, but have
> only flown in Europe with it. It's a hassle, a bother, never want to
do
> it, but I prefer it to checking it in. Mine is a toy theorbo with a
> case of about 175. I understand some airline companies only accept
> instruments up to 140 as extra seat. I have a smallish archlute with
a
> case of 140. I prefer flying with that one. Well, I prefer flying
with
> the little 6-course, but that's not always an option.
> YMMV
> David
>
> *******************************
> David van Ooijen
> [1][email protected]
> [2]www.davidvanooijen.nl
> *******************************
> On 17 June 2014 19:28, Susanne Herre <[3][email protected]>
wrote:
>
> Dear all,
> Sorry for a question which arises often here. I have to fly with my
> theorbo whose case is 1,63m long and I am wondering if it may fit on
> an extra seat. The body goes into the neck at approx. 56 cm and it
> is 40cm wide.
> Otherwise what are your experiences with theorboes in flightcases
> (in this case: the grey-white Czech one) in the storage of the
> plane?
> Would be nice if you could share your experiences!
> Thank you and all the best,
> Susanne
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
> --
>
> References
>
> 1. mailto:[email protected]
> 2. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
> 3. mailto:[email protected]
> 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
--
