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>>Speaking of portable, I'm looking at a couple of 'rack bags' to cram all
this stuff into (probably a 4-space & a 6-space) so I can drag the setup on
an airplane. I've always gone in for the heavy-duty plywood stuff in the
studio, so this is a somewhat new area for me. However, I don't want a
hernia, and would like to take as much stuff carry-on as possible.
Anybody got any wisdom or horror-stories on travelling with this type of
rack gear? In particular, I'm interested in anecdotes related to air
travel. Muchos gracias!!!<<
it really depends on which carrier, and whether you plan to keep the rack-bags with you as hand-luggage or trust them to the hold. there may be issues with temperature- I hated to put my rickenbacker into a hold, and it came out freezing cold and, in it's own sweet way, mad at me.
but even the cheapest rack-bag I have, a proel 4U, will survive this torture better than the popular plastic flight cases from EMS (not the synth people); I used one of these in 3U config to travel transatlantic and domestic-US and on all three trips it's lid came off and was resecured with airline tape. this cost me a couple of fader tops from my little mixer; I consider myself fortunate that nothing worse happened, and I would not have shipped a sampler with any sort of drive in it this way.
the same proel rack-bag came with a less-than-substantial shoulder strap. take that off and throw it away immediately, unless it's better than what I had. and the bag offers no shock protection- most solid state gear would be ok, but I lost a syquest drive in a sampler when this bag slipped from the rear seat of a cab to the floor of same. a more expensive padded version might have helped here, but it costs you space, obviously.
and a 3 or 4 unit rack-bag, provided it's not too deep, should be alright for carry-on, but consider something more robust for the remainder of your gear and let it go in the hold, keeping just the fragile stuff with you.
airlines regard tough-looking cases as some sort of challenge or insult, and "fragile" seems to be airline-ese for "throw me". the so-called flight-case that the aforementioned ricky was in, sustained major damage on it's first transatlantic trip, and on the corner where the guitar is nearest the outside world. I was lucky not to lose a lump out of the wood. conversely, the old fender case my newly-acquired VI came back to blighty in was totally unscathed.
and watch the baggage allowances- I got stung for an extra seat (which obviously, you don't get to use) for excess baggage on an internal (united) flight from LA to PA. international was more acommodating (cheers, virgin). most of them publish about half what you need on their websites- a 'phone call ahead is practically mandatory for avoidance of nightmares, even though the sort of stuff us musos schlepp about is small-fry compared with some of the skis and snowboards I've seen. and paintings....
please feel free to ask more- I've just run out of time, not stories.
d./r.m.i.
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