I will be traveling by plane with my new guitar this summer. Anything to suggest regarding packing or preparing the guitar for plane travel? Should I tune down the strings? —Emily C.
This is a big topic with quite a few complicated variables, so I’ll just touch on the basics here. In my repair work, I encounter a fair amount of airplane/travel-related damage, so let’s begin by considering the most common types of travel-related injuries.
The main culprit of most baggage-handling damage is impact—the case is thrown, dropped, or otherwise badly treated, and the guitar cracks inside the case. The two big weaknesses here are headpieces and tops/backs. Even in well-made cases, the headpiece is often free-floating above the neck support. When the case is dropped, all the energy of the impact gets absorbed by whichever parts of the instrument can move. The combined weight of the tuners can add up to a fair bit of mass, so the headstock can get a whiplash and break off without the case ever being opened. To avoid this, add resilient padding underneath the headpiece, to support it from below.
I’ve seen some folks use the inflatable Winbag construction shims as improvised pads for this, but my favorite is a simple block of Styrofoam, cut closely to gently touch the back of the headpiece, without putting any pressure when the case is shut. (Wrap it in plastic to avoid getting the little white beads all over the inside of the case!)
Cracks in the top and back are often caused by “punch” injuries in the flat surfaces of the case, when they make contact with a sharp corner or edge. I always recommend buying the best case you can afford—it’s usually cheaper than a future repair! If the case has enough clearance, putting a thin sheet of Styrofoam on the face of the guitar can’t hurt.
Make sure any batteries or other internal components are firmly fastened—I have seen side cracks caused by a battery that came loose and careened around inside the guitar during flight. Better yet, take them out if possible, and replace them upon arrival.
I don’t tune down my guitars for shipping or air travel, though some players choose to do so. I don’t like putting the guitar through unnecessary cycles of detuning/retuning, and the strings help keep all the essential bits and pieces in place (bridge pins, saddle, nut, tuning machine nuts/washers, and all the other little parts that could so easily get lost).
When flying with guitars, it’s equally important to think outside the case. Even with all these careful preparations, there are many potential dangers that lurk throughout the process. To get some experienced insight, I consulted jazz guitarist Matt Munisteri, who has been flying with his acoustic archtops at least four times a month for the last 20-plus years. Munisteri has seen it all, and had some road-tested recommendations.
A fabric case cover with a zipper is a great fail-safe. Latches are often the weakest parts of a case, and TSA has been known to pry them apart rather than taking the extra few seconds to open them properly. If the latches fail or break, a case cover (such as the luthier-designed Caseadillo covers) will help keep the case shut and the guitar protected. In the absence of a cover, it’s a great idea to travel with a few different sizes of zip ties, some gear straps, or even a roll of gaffer’s tape, in the event that the case can no longer stay shut on its own.
Don’t rely on basic luggage tags. I know a few touring pros who put Apple AirTags in their cases (or the guitars themselves), which is a cheap and easy way to help keep tabs on where they are. Putting your information inside the case, as well as on a label on the case exterior, is never a bad idea.
Keep the case candy to a minimum. TSA will open a case to look at anything they can’t identify on an X-ray machine, so the string cutters, capos, tuners, etc., could all result in an extra inspection, and once the case is open, all your careful packing will likely be for naught.
Travel with a hard case. We all have friends who show up to the airport with guitars in gig bags, confident that they’ll be able to talk their way out of checking them into baggage. As tempting as this sounds, it is always a roll of the dice. Show up early for the plane, be relentlessly good-natured to the gate agents and flight attendants, ask nicely, and know your dimensions. (Can the case fit an overhead bin? Most of them can.) Section 403 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act requires air carriers to allow guitars as carry-on items for storage in the coat closet or overhead bin, but many gate agents are not aware of this, or have been given conflicting instructions by their companies. Even though the law is on your side, these questions always boil down to enforcement, and the gate agent is the person who ultimately makes the call.
In the same regulatory vein, if flying internationally, inform yourself on CITES regulations. Some common guitar materials are potential issues when crossing borders—Brazilian rosewood, for example, as well as bone and ivory products. The regulations make allowances for personal and noncommercial instruments, but once again the person at the customs desk may not know this, or may not want to take the responsibility of allowing something through. It’s not always easy to tell the difference between Indian and Brazilian rosewoods, and it’s optimistic at best to think a customs agent will be willing to try very hard to do so. This leads me to my next and possibly most important suggestion, which Munisteri also strongly recommends.
Unless you are a professional guitarist traveling for work, leave the nice guitars at home. There are plenty of inexpensive instruments on today’s market that sound quite decent and are fun to play. Their plywood backs and sides grant them extra ruggedness and crack-resistance, and their low prices make them much less risky. A cheap guitar with a good setup and fresh strings is a very good travel companion.
Safe travels to you and your instrument!
