How to travel with a violin.

[tndel]

Does anyone have any recommendations regarding traveling with my violin as a carry-on when flying. I have just the “normal” violin case, nothing fancy or fiberglass. Do I need to buy a special case for travel, and what about loosing the strings- how much? I am a student and this will be the first time I have had to fly with my violin, and I don’t want to end up with a broken instrument. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Casey Willis]

Hi, TNDel.

I don’t generally loosen strings…and I never allow my fiddle to be put underneath the plane.

I think there may be some guidance/requirements for airlines on this. My main advice would be to look at the carry on dimension limitations of whatever airline you are flying and make sure your fiddle case is within those dimensions…then stick to your guns if an attendant tries to make you put your instrument under the plane.

If your fiddle is in the overhead bin, I would think that you’ll be fine!

C

[Roland White]

Just talked with a traveling fiddler and she Ratifies that Overhead bins are fair game even for larger fiddle cases.
Best, Roland

[tndel]

Thank you, I appreciate your input!

[ogohiap]

Hi Tndel

I’ve flown a lot in the last thirty years, invariably with a fiddle or similar instrument (mandolin, tenor banjo), and have also made my living for many years repairing and restoring fiddles (mostly violins). So I’ll try to combine those perspectives.

Loosening strings is good advice on a guitar, especially steel-string. Guitar strings put a lot of tension on easily breakable parts and joints like the peg-head, neck, and bridge/belly joint. Much less so with violin: It’s not unusual to see violins on which the fingerboard has come almost completely unglued from the neck and yet the neck has remained straight for unknown periods of time under tension (less likely to be so lucky on a cello).

The danger to a ready-to-play fiddle is the bridge and sound post. A good knock to a cheap case in the area of the bridge is likely to concentrate force on the belly just a few millimeters from the sound post. Might just break the bridge, and making a new bridge is not cheap, but if the belly cracks where the sound post contacts, you are looking at one of the more difficult of repairs, and a repair that often fails—not worth even attempting with a student instrument. The danger of a sound post crack is all the greater if the sound post is sloppily fitted, as is often the case, especially on student instruments.

For real protection, the better approach would be to loosen the strings completely, stick a rag under the tailpiece to protect the belly varnish, take down the bridge and put it in a safe place. However, doing this makes for a very good chance that the sound post will then fall down and then you definitely will need to find a competent technician to reinstall it. And probably not too many people reading this even fancy the idea of putting their own bridge back up and re-tuning to standard.

Scared yet?

Actually, in all my many flights with instruments, no one has ever tried to take instrument from me (CAVEAT: almost none of my flying is on American domestic flights, which I hear are becoming increasingly nasty and brutish). Because of the length of the bow, any standard violin case will far exceed the normal 22”/56cm maximum dimension for carry-on. But they will fit into any empty overhead bin on any (jet) plane I have ever flown on, and most airlines websites show policies that allow “small” musical instruments (certainly up to the size of a violin) as cabin baggage. In case anyone argues, I usually find and print out the page that says they are allowed. But my flight attendant friends all tell me that what the flight attendants (hereinafter “they”) say goes: when push comes to shove, they have full authority to allow or refuse anything. Also be aware that there is closet space which the crew can use at their discretion, so if they offer to “put it in a closet for you” let them. The worst thing that can probably happen is they will insist on “gate checking” the instrument, which is not always the same thing as putting it in with regular check baggage: at least in SOME instances, it will be hand carried and then hand delivered back to you at the gate when you arrive.

Here, then, in hypothetical chronological order, is what I do—or “would-do-if”—when traveling. Of course, a lot depends on the value of the instrument, your risk tolerance, how important it is to arrive ready to leap straight onto the tarmac and start fiddling, and whether your idea of “damage” is a string knocked out of tune or something more fatal.

1) Get a decent case. You say you have a “normal” case, but I don’t know what that means. If you mean a cardboard case, I wouldn’t call that safe for anything except keeping dust off it. Too flimsy a case would not be safe even in the overhead luggage bin if, for example, your seat mate arrives just after you with his prized blacksmith’s anvil.

Fairly strong cases are not that expensive, although you will pay a lot to get anything that’s called a “flight case” (way beyond my needs anyway). I’ll go out on a limb here and say that with a decent case, most instruments at least up to viola size would be in no real danger of anything worse than being knocked out of tune with ordinary airline baggage handling. In many years in the business (not just as a luthier) I have never seen a fiddle come into the shop in a decent case and heard an airline horror story. Remember that a strong case might not have good padding, and you might need to add some. Plain old sponges work fine, just don’t let it rattle around inside and if possible keep it out of direct contact with the shell of the case itself (this is the principle behind what is sometimes called a “suspension” or “flotation” case”). Also, this is just a hunch, but I think when they see a case that looks like it might hold something that’s not so cheap, they are not as eager to risk any blame if something happens to it.

2) Don’t carry a lot of other cabin baggage. You want to be able to sing “Oh, it’s just my poor little ol’fiddle and me.”

3) Don’t get a seat at the very front or back row of any section of the airplane. These seats sometimes have half-size overhead bins that simply will not fit a violin. In the middle of a section is safest.

4) Get to the airport early. When you check in, don’t try to hide the fiddle but don’t ask questions about carrying it on.

5) Get in the boarding line as early as you can so you can be one of the first people in your “zone” to board. This gives you a much better chance of there being overhead bin space near you. It’s usually only once that space is taken up that they start making people gate-check bags. There is no Law of the Bins except you can’t take out what someone else already put in. If the bin above your seat is full, stick your violin in the nearest one. Close the bin as soon as you see it full.

If they were to tell me there is no room, I’d try to reason but not argue. I’d talk about how careful I was, even checking the website which said small instruments are OK… I’d talk about my concerns, not my rights and certainly not do anything confrontative. I’d talk about how old and delicate it is, how many years we have been together, how worried I would be… and be really thankful if they could just find a closet or someplace in the cabin.

If all else failed, I might explain I need to take down the bridge and proceed to do so slowly and carefully (this delay might itself make them reconsider). In fact, I’d go ahead and knock down the sound post too, knowing I can set it up again in the hotel (I would usually carry those few basic tools in my checked bags—they would not get past security as cabin baggage). But for most people, that would mean a trip to a fiddle shop later on. Might depend a lot on whether you are on the outward flight or the return flight, and whether you have a good relation with a violin shop near home. But again: these are questions I have never had to face. No one has ever challenged my simply carrying a small instrument on, but maybe I am lucky. I am certainly careful about checking in early, carrying little else, and boarding early.

Hope this helps.

[tndel]

Wonder information, thank you! This will be an international flight. Placing sponges in the case is an excellent idea!

[ogohiap]

Just one precaution: so-called “sponges ” are made of all kinds of petroleum produces nowadays, and some of these can react in all kinds of funny ways with some of the varnishes on some instruments–“funny” meaning ugly and damaging.

Unless you plan to do some snorkeling and get real natural sponges on your way to the airport, probably best not to leave “sponges” in direct contact with your instrument for longer than needed to get you and yours safely there and back again.

[Casey Willis]

Missed these follow-up posts, OGOHIAP.

Thanks much for sharing your experience!

C

[Roland White]

Hey there fiddle video folks,
This is a feast of information for traveling. Thanks for posting to TNDLE, good info for every traveling musician.
Best Roland

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