Questions: SKB H3611 ATA trap case

Zachary Walters · From: Maryland

http://www.skbcases.com/music/products/proddetail.php?id=168&c=98&o=&s=77

I am trying to clarify something about flying with this case. Many people know it well. Hopefully I can get a bunch of good responses and information all in one place here...

My situation:
Just ordered one of these cases and hope to get it soon so I can install padding. I will be flying domestically on Southwest in a few weeks.

My guitar:
1981 D-10 push-pull, with an assembled weight of 44 lbs (20 kgs).

My questions:
With their SKB trap case filled with a guitar (assume a D-10), legs, rack, and padding, are folks typically taking it on the flight with them as a carry-on? If so, has anyone gotten into the plane and been told by the flight crew that they need to check it?

Or, are folks just checking it from the get-go? If so, isn't the combined weight of this case and everything inside of it always going to be greater than the no-charge limit of 50 lbs (23 kgs)? I ask because some say they have managed to get it under the limit.

Thanks,
Zach
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1981 Push-Pull
2009 Super Glide Custom

Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

Hi Zac, I normally just check mine, I have never tried to take it on the plane as carry-on.
Another little trick to help keep the weight down, I bought a set of "airline" legs ...these are aluminum with a chrome finish, they look and work exactly like the normal steel legs but weigh considerably less.
http://nashvillerecordings.com/guitar/steel_guitar_parts_catalogB2.htm
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14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases.

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

Howdy Zac, this is very timely for me as I just got one of these cases. I ordered it ages ago but have been too busy to foam it.
I got around to it last week and it's great!
I decided to put my pedal bar and legs in a separate carry bag to keep the weight down, but I also found with my PP there wasn't as much room in the lid to allow storage and safe travel. I prefer them separate anyway.
I haven't flown with this yet but I'm thinking I might put the legs and pedal bar in my larger suitcase or see if they can be carry on.
If anyone has any other suggestions they would be appreciated.
I'll try and upload some pictures.
Cheers,
Shane.

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

As you see from these pics my leg bag fits snugly over the middle cross bar and endplate.I'll probably go with this and then I only have to carry the pedal rack on.The logistics team are still working on this one. Hope this helps,
Cheers , Shane.

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

Hey Paddy how are ya? I tried to buy some airline legs once,but she slapped my face and reported me to the captain. Whoa!

Zachary Walters · From: Maryland

This is what I was trying to avoid was having to split up the legs and rack from the guitar body. What if you took that bit of padding out of the top "flap" of the case... would your leg/rack bag fit on top of the guitar body then? Because the bag itself looks like it could provide the padding sitting on top of the guitar there.
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1981 Push-Pull
2009 Super Glide Custom

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

I'm pretty sure it will. The foam on the top is pretty thin, the one I have on the bottom is thicker. If that was thinner, most definitely it would fit.

Zachary Walters · From: Maryland

What exactly is that type of foam called? I can't tell if it is the soft stuff like on the inside of a bicycle helmet, or something more stiff.
_________________
1981 Push-Pull
2009 Super Glide Custom

Shane Reilly · From: Melbourne, Australia

I'm not sure what it's called but it's the same stuff that the pro case builders use. I have the same stuff in a case they built for my 58 Martin.
It's soft enough to be protective but hard enough to withstand a shock.
I just went to a rubber store and bought it, they even cut it to size for me.
The one on the bottom is 2.5 cm thick and I have those supports at the headstock and changer.

Jim Hollingsworth · From: Way out West

Hi Paddy,
I was thinking of those aluminum legs .... how much do the 4 of 'em weigh? Is the weight savings significant?

I too use one of the SKB cases & made a foam liner to lie between the guitar body & leg pouch. It works fine with all of my D-10's.

Jim

Zachary Walters · From: Maryland

Still trying to track down some of this high density foam. Anyone know where to get some in the U.S.? Like a UPS store, or arts/crafts store?
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1981 Push-Pull
2009 Super Glide Custom

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I have two of these cases (one for each Emmons D-10) and I've flown with them many times.

I've never been made to check them but have always got them inside the 'plane with me. I've occasionally had to heave one up into the overhead bin which is a challenge but they've not yet challenged me at the gate.

I do roll it up to the check in desk sort-of out of sight of the clerk there giving the impression that it's a regular piece of carry-on luggage but that's the only deception.

I like thse cases as they're eminently portable and very compact, but I wouldn't fancy their chances being thrown around by baggage-handlers - I think they'd come apart with all that weight inside (especially a push/pull - mine are LeGrandes).
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

What I did was use a thinner, but more dense piece of foam for the bottom layer, and I put a D2F cover on the guitar and leave that on when I put the body in the case .. foam all round it as well, but the thinner piece of foam on the bottom allows more room in the top. I got D2f to make me a bag for the pedal bar and that sits on top along with the legs, and I just cinch it all down with the 3 straps ...
Jim I'm not sure about the weight of the legs but they are noticeably lighter. my total weight is a gnats whisker under 50lb/23KGs. (Zum D10 9+9).
Roger the problem with trying to smuggle it on as a carry-on out this way is that they limit your carry-on piece to 7 kgs which pretty much torpodoes that idea :-}... I even got stopped trying to carry-on my Telonics rack in a shoulder bag on a flight to Norfolk Island earlier this year - ended up having to check it which I wasn't too keen on.
Never had any damage to my guitar - but did have the gorillas rip off one of the wheels on the case one trip !!!
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

But Paddy: that doesn't 'torpedo the idea' because, up to this point, that's what I've been doing. I repeat - I've never had to check my steel and I am talking about flying within the last few years by which time the airlines' regs had tightened up.

I know all about the carry-on limits and a D-10 exceeds them by miles - weight and dimensions; I'm just saying it can be done with a little care.
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

I use that case (with foam) and can get either my Franklin or my MSA Millenium in it, under 50 lbs, as long as I put the legs and pedal rack into my suitcase. I haven't had the guts to try to take the legs/rack through security as hand-luggage. I'm worried they could get confiscated as "potential weapons" and then I'd really be up a crick. But I always check the steel itself and have been fortunate that I've never had any significant damage to it resulting. (Once I had a tuning key bent slightly, but was able to bend it back easily.) I've not tried to take it on-board like Roger does. I'm surprised that he can angle it into the overhead compartment. Also, in most planes I've boarded, those overhead bins are already pretty well packed and there would seem to be rarely enough room for a full-length steel up there anyway. How do you manage that Roger?
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www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I always assign myself a seat towards the rear of the steel-players' section (Economy) - that'll result in me getting called to board after all the priviledged classes but before the bulk of the riff-raff. That means lots of empty bins...

I know it's risky in that one day they'll blow the whistle on me but so far, so good.....

Cool

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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Malcolm McMaster · From: Beith Ayrshire Scotland

Rodger, you will not get it on as cabin baggage on European airlines particularly the so called "budget" ones. They are very strict these days, with limit of 5/10kgs on cabin bags (depending on airline),and small dimensions .It always amazes me what American airlines allow on as cabin baggage.Was checking prices with Ryanair , they now charge £50 per sector for musical instruments up to 20kgs, then charge you excess rate of £10 per kilo with a max weight of 32kgs, so in effect have priced us out of travelling with them.To take a 32kilo guitar Glasgow/Dublin/Glasgow would be £340.($548)
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MSA Millenium SD10, GK MB200, Sica 12inch cab, Joyo American Sound Pedal/ Jay Ganz Straight Ahead amp, Telonics 15inch in Peavey cab, Digitech RP150, Peterson tuner.Hilton volume pedal.Scott Dixon seat and guitar flight case.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

That's interesting, Malcolm. Of course, theoretically I shouldn't be able to pull it off in the USA either - their limits are also very stringent - but I'm playing the odds with my 'method' and, so far, it's worked.

Transatlantic flights, too, have yielded to my trickery (so far) but, should I ever need to be hauling my steel around Europe, it would only be if someone else is picking up the tab.

My friend Gerry Hogan is flying really frequently with his JCH D-10 doing the Albert Lee gigs all around Europe - I wonder how they get on? I'll ask him....
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Malcolm McMaster · From: Beith Ayrshire Scotland

Roger, I know Gerry and the boys had problems with Ryanair/Easyjet(can't remember which), believe they use ferry over now with their van and car,and drive round europe now if they have quite a few gigs.I recently had to travel to London with Ryanair(not with guitar)and they weighed the hand baggage and checked size, they have recently said they are looking at charging for the use of overhead lockers, although how they would work this baffles me.They had suggested some time ago that they were also looking at charging for use of toilets on the aircraft, but so far have not done so.The only thing missing is the black mask while they rip you off.
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MSA Millenium SD10, GK MB200, Sica 12inch cab, Joyo American Sound Pedal/ Jay Ganz Straight Ahead amp, Telonics 15inch in Peavey cab, Digitech RP150, Peterson tuner.Hilton volume pedal.Scott Dixon seat and guitar flight case.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Now you mention it I do recall that's what they're doing currently. I spent the evening with Albert on October 8th (I was in the UK for a brief visit) and I now remember him saying he had to be up and away early next morning because they had a long drive to the ferry somewhere. They were off to Belgium, I believe, but I didn't pay much attention to the details. In light of what you've told me it would seem that travel by road in Europe is now the best option but there was a time that Albert and the chaps were constantly at airports.

I don't know how much worse it can get with the airlines - it's getting to be less and less of a service, isn't it? Small wonder that Eurostar are doing so well - Susie and I travelled from London to Paris and back on our May, 2012 trip to Britain and it was a super-efficient service with lightning fast travel times too.

If I never have to fly again it'd be too soon - I dislike all the rigmarole that goes with it and it's especially stressful when one is worrying about an instrument and its safety. When I indulge in all that cloak-and-dagger stuff above it's not in order to swindle the airlines but rather to keep my steel with me and to keep it out of the clutches of the baggage-handlers and their erratic system.

There'd be no point in me getting wherever it is and having nothing to play!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Back to cases, though:

I really like the SKH or Wheel-Ez cases - they're so compact and I believe they'd accommodate anything except, perhaps, a D-12. They're lighter than a Thomas, too, and with that handle at one end and wheels at the other they're easy to trundle around.

Am I right in thinking that they were supplied with Sierra steels?
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles, Martins, and a Gibson Super 400!
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Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

Correct.
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com

Paddy Long · From: Christchurch, New Zealand

Yeah cabin baggage regs here are becoming very strict, I used to get away with a fair bit myself but it's getting hard to sneak stuff through....
It's nothing more than a money grab though -- have you noticed how they never charge overweight passengers anything extra hehe! Us slim jane pretzels should get a credit on the weight of our luggage I reckon ....
If I am ever asked "what's in the case" ??? I always say sports equipment, because that seems to have a magical more "relaxed" criteria -- out this way at least. People seem to have ski's, golf clubs, surf boards and collapsible bicycles which all look a lot more bulky than a steel case.
_________________
14'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
08'Zumsteel Hybrid D10 9+9
94' Franklin Stereo D10 9+8
Telonics, Peterson, Steelers Choice, Benado, Lexicon, Red Dirt Cases.

mike nolan · From: Forest Hills, NY USA

Not to be a Jerk..... but S-10.

Zachary Walters · From: Maryland

Ha, Thanks for the sage advice on how to fly with a D-10
_________________
1981 Push-Pull
2009 Super Glide Custom

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