Gig bag and travel options for archtops

**Little Jay** · 12-29-2016, 12:03 PM

I have done it with my Aria travel guitar (for some price fighters, even a travel guitar is too large as cabin-luggage). Very easy. The only catch: if you travel with hand luggage only you are not allowed to take a screwdriver on a plane!

**ah.clem** · 12-29-2016, 01:17 PM

Mr. B is right as usual, but I'd call it a half a glass of Malbec

This is the kind of setup I was looking at (with 4 bolts) to make a "gym bag Tele"; no problem getting the Allen wrench on the plane and the screw barrels fit into the existing screw holes. A cheap bungee capo at the first fret to keep your strings in place and Bob's yer Uncle!

**KirkP** · 12-29-2016, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by Woody Sound

Thanks P, can you tell me what the interior length is? 40" 41" 42" 43"? Thanks.

Since the Gator ProGo Acoustic is softsided and has foam inserts, the interior dimensions aren't fixed. But I did a quick measurement of mine and it's got at least 43" interior length with the bottom foam in place. You'd pick up another couple inches if you remove it, but you'd lose pretection.

I like the ProGo. It seems well designed and adjustable. It seems ideally sized for dreadnaughts. It works pretty well with my smaller bodied Ibanez archtop, but I might add a light blanket to take out some of the slop. The bag is a tight fit for my 17" archtops. The first time I fit them I wondered if I'd be able to get the zipper closed. After a couple of uses I think the foam compressed just enough in key places to make it easier to zip.

It offers good protection, but I feel I must be much more careful about impact than with my TKL 9115 (their top plywood model arched on both sides). I'd never consider checking a guitar in the ProGo. The acoustic bag seems pretty big for an overhead bin. The electric bag, and perhaps the classical size would be an easier fit.

**Doctor Jeff** · 12-29-2016, 02:49 PM

There's an interview online somewhere with Bill Kirchen (Commander Cody guitarist) where he talks about using threaded inserts on his Tele and taking the neck off/replacing it for travel.

If anybody has experience with traveling with a guitar it would be him!

**Piedaddy** · 12-30-2016, 09:35 AM

W,
Interior measurement on mine is 42.5" to the removable bottom pad. The bottom pad is another 2.5".

**Woody Sound** · 12-30-2016, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by Piedaddy

W,
Interior measurement on mine is 42.5" to the removable bottom pad. The bottom pad is another 2.5".

Thanks. Their published specs really are screwed up.

**Papawooly** · 01-19-2017, 06:46 PM

If you want your guitar in one piece when you land...Anvil Flight Case or Cedar Creek.
My Cedar Creek case with the guitar not inside, will weigh more than most cases with guitar in it
so your back may not like it, but your guitar will, about a full inch of serious padding on all sides, top and bottom.

**campusfive** · 01-20-2017, 09:19 PM

For my '32 L-5 and my '37 ES-150, I only use two kinds of cases:
1) Reunion Blues Continental Gig Bags
2) Calton or Hoffee Flight Cases

At this point, either it's the kind of gig/travel situation where I can bring a guitar in a rigid-sided gig bag, or I just bring the flight case. Almost any gig that I'm driving to is perfectly fine with such a rigid and well-padded gig bag - the way my car loads, there's almost always room for them on top of everything else, or in the back seat. If the car were sooo loaded that I felt the need to use a hard case, it's just as easy to bring the flight cases instead. And if I'm flying, then it's a flight case situation anyway.

If you had a particularly fungible guitar - i.e. one that was easily replaceable for one more or less exactly the same - then I might risk a gig bag on a flight. I did once fly from LA-SF and back on Southwest with my National Style 1 in a Continental gig bag, but I prepaid for the priority boarding, so there was almost no chance it was going to be gate-checked either way. The other option was to bring the OHC case, which would almost certainly have been problematic, and didn't provide much in the way of padding. At that point, I'd have been just as good gate checking the Continental anyway.

**campusfive** · 01-20-2017, 09:21 PM

Oh, and I'm not implying a National Style 1 is fungible, but compared to my vintage stuff, it is. Plus, I think the modern Nationals are so good that if something happened to it, I don't think I'd have much trouble finding another similar one that would be just about as good. Also, my stuff is insured through Heritage for an agreed cash value, so I made sure to set a real replacement cost of it.

**feet** · 01-22-2017, 09:50 AM

a small update- hiscox was cool enough to send me a kit to retrofit my case to accommodate their straps, free of charge. i just have to drill the holes and install them myself. we'll see how that goes.

and then, of course, i have to buy straps. i'll see where i go next based on how the install goes, if it goes.

the cedar creeks are neat in that i can get a super garish ugly case instead of a nice black one for extra security, (because how are you going to run off with the fiesta or aztec ones?) but they are pretty expensive for what they are- its just plywood. that doesn't comfort me, much, and with all the extra weight... i've seen plenty of amp heads and cabs destroyed so i'm not looking for a wooden case.

and i really can't swing for a case that costs more than the guitar right now. unless it fit a bunch of my guitars, which would difficult to do when paying that much for something that specific. and then there is the weight and transport issue. i'd have the wear the thing all over a couple of countries; planes, trains, ferries, buses, subways, light rail... ive been able to afford priority seating and such on cheap-o airlines in europe but i don't know if it works the same in south america or asia. no clue how accommodating they'd be about a guitar of any size, either, though i see people wandering around with gigbags on in the airports, so it must be happening somehow, albeit with planks and not hollow bodies.

if the hiscox doesn't work out (it isn't as featherlight and wearable as i'd like, but quite light and durable for what it is), i'm starting to open up to the idea of a reunion blues type bag again. other people see to get away with it (when they get check/are super lucky). i may even consider downsizing to the 6118 or sheraton, but i wonder how bigsbies and gig bags get along.

most of my guitars are discontinued and highly customized, so not exactly fungible. or insured, for that matter

**paulkogut** · 01-22-2017, 12:27 PM

I travel a lot, and use a Calton or Hoffee, depending on the guitar, and a Colorado Case Cover with backpack straps. (For what it's worth, the last few times that combo has saved my guitars from damage, it's been from extremes in temperature, not from being bounced around.....)

I'm out at NAMM, and there's an interesting new case on the market. Classical guitar hard case: Best guitar flight case to protect your instrument when you travelling | Visesnut Cases: flightcases for professional guitarists They're not quite as sturdy as a Calton, but lighter and less expensive. More solid but similar to the BAM cases, if you're familiar. They have kind of an 'adjustable' interior, so the possibility of fitting more than one guitar is there.
Luthier Marshall Brune is helping with their design, so I trust how they're being put together.
They seem to be branching out into more sizes than are listed on their website, so contact them if interested.

PK

**feet** · 01-22-2017, 02:31 PM

those could be interesting, depending on what the final pricing would be. if one could accommodate all my 16" guitars and another could hold the 17" ones, that would be great. if would could hold all of them, so much the better. i'd certainly consider them, if they were extant. they appear to have d-rings to attach a strap but i don't think they sell them. doesn't look like they'll be available in time for me, though.

i really don't want to purchase a separate cover for the case just to have the ability to carry it. i see the point and the value of it, but i think its kinda lame, especially when the cover costs more than your average case. it all makes sense for toting your stradivarius and monteleones around but for the rest of us...

keep an eye out at namm for us! looks like a few of us here face similar issues.

**RJVB** · 11-20-2021, 07:06 AM

Glad to see this thread is still active

Anyone here have experience with the soft-case that The Loar provides (or provided) with their LH-6/700 series? It looks good, but is it (for anything BUT plane travel)? And ... where would one get one if not with a guitar (identical, unbranded would be fine too)?

I don't know if French-based BAM make a case that will hold an archtop; they do make guitar cases. I had a 2nd-hand 2-violin case in their 'soft foam" line. Those look cheap (but are NOT) and are surprisingly good and extremely lightweight. At the time I would transport the thing on a bicycle (one of the pros of living in the Netherlands) and never had any issues even after riding through downpours. I was a bit concerned about sharp things piercing the case in case of a fall so I just bought a couple of 1 or 1.5mm aluminium sheets cut to the approximate dimensions of a violin body and added those above and under the inserts for the instruments. That added a little weight but I'm certain it also increased the protection against compression.

EDIT: the friendly staff at Thomann just confirmed that an LH-700 sized guitar will fit inside the Ritter RGS7 dreadnought gigbag. I just got the 4/4 classical version of that bag for my resonator and it looks very sturdy. I actually like how there's no bulky external pocket which can catch on things, gets in the way when storing multiple bags side by side in a bit of lost space, and generally invites to putting all kinds of stuff I wouldn't want to have hanging over the top of my guitar. It does have a pouch over the headstock that's big enough to carry my De Oro support should I want to.

**gitman** · 11-20-2021, 08:18 AM

For local transport in my car I usually use my MONO bags, they offer very good protection for my 16“ Trenier and the GB15. My Super400 travels in a custom made fiberglass case by Accordcase.com. The Trenier came in a french-made BAM case which is also absolutely roadworthy and the weight is no issue. I don‘t do fly-dates so a „better“ case is not needed.