i have a quick question... i'm going to be taking my violin from a dry climate to a humid and then back again (vacationing SoCal --> Hawaii) ... does anyone know how to safely do this so that it won't pop?
Shouldn't be a problem. Loosen the strings a bit (not too much or you may have to reset your soundpost) if you're worried about it, but if your fiddle is in good shape and you have a whoozis in your case regularly anyway, you shouldn't have any worries -- and take a copy of this with you if you're flying: http://www.zinalee.com/images/carry%20on.jpg
Zina, thanks for posting the link to the that TSA letter -- How big of an instrument do you suppose you could get away with carrying on? Hard-side guitar case? Has anyone had any experience with the airlines on this?
Thank you again Zina, I'm about to on a trip as well, and bring a violin, to Conn. from here, so I guess I'll just do what you told elzeses and loosen the strings...thank you Zina
Well, there's actually TWO things you have to worry about -- the TSA screening procedure, AND the airline's carry-on policies. I'd check with my airline to make sure it's okay first, and bring the letter with you to the airport to get it through security.
cool beans. you're the bomb. i'm still nervous though... i love my baby!
but what's a whoozis? a humidifier?
so how does this work? do you have to be a member of the AFM?
i measured my case. it fits the carry-on size limit. called the airline just in case, and they said it would be fine ... but this thing is saying that i can also take a carry-on?
Yeah, one of those humidifier jobbies. No, I don't believe you have to be a member of AFM. Most airlines will have their own limitations on how many carry-ons you can take onto the plane -- the letter only has to do with security checkpoints. So if they say only one carryon and one personal item, carry your fiddle and your purse (or whatever qualifies for you as a personal item) and check everything else.
Whatever you do, resist letting them take the fiddle away from you and putting it in the cargo bays. Horror stories abound. Don't get antagonistic about it, but throw yourself on the mercy of the boarding staff -- cry if necessary. Show them the letter and pretend I didn't explain the diff between security and boarding. You were confused. Please please please don't take the fiddle away from you, it's your baby and you need it at the other end of the trip. Heh.
I recently traveled from DFW to Scotland on American & BA and carried on my fiddle in its big boxy case, no problem. On the way over, I just had a big purse (plus a checked bag), but on the way back I also had an armload of duty-free purchases and was able to carry them on, no problem. At Gatwick, I made it a point to sit close to the gate so I could be first in line to board as soon as allowed, so as to assure a space in the overhead bin for my fiddle. I looked around at the lounge and thought, gee, this flight's not very full, nothing to worry about. Little did I know that the entire 60-piece Southern Methodist University wind ensemble was stuck in traffic, trying to get to the airport to make the flight, with their French horns and saxes etc. to carry aboard. I was glad I did get to board ahead of most of them, but I don't think anybody lacked for overhead bin space to stash their instruments.
oie!, maybe I'll just leave it home, come to think of it......seems like a huge hassle...and if my baby was taken from me, you bet I'd cry, fall on the floor in the crouched position and beg them to let me keep it!
When I fly out of Nashville, I see many musicians with their instruments. At least in Nashville, you shouldn't have a problem with a guitar hard-case, since I see at least one of these on every plane I've flown out of here. Just be careful what else is in your guitar case when you are flying.
I have a friend who was flying with his guitar. (He has a soft case...) He had flown back and even made the first leg of his flight back without any hassles. He was randomly selected in Chicago for a search before boarding the second half of his flight home. They searched his case, and found a small metal tool for tuning the guitar. They wanted to confiscate the tool because it could be used as a "weapon". He managed to convince them somehow to put it in an envelope which they gave to the flight attendants to hold until the end of the flight.
Deb and Elzeses, now don't you two go giving the jobsworths of this world more bright ideas to think about and excuses to foist more regulations on us poor suffering travellers
Trevor
I'm So So Sorry Zina. I was down fighting off a cold yesterday or just plain beat. But I do feel better now. Had one of those weeks wrecked my car, cat cut her foot and needed stiches, didn't get much practice in. Holy cow I'm not about to ask what else could happen.
I thought of you and figured that you probably wouldn't remember. Hope you don't think I'm a big flake. I really would like to hook up soon. I may need to get directions though. Thanks so much for the invite. Actually I do kinda sound like a big flake huh.
Take the fiddle. It's no big deal. If they give you a hard time, crying might work, but asking/demanding to speak to the supervisor, or the supervisor's supervisor, all the way up the line to the president of the company if that' s what it takes, might work better. Don't fear the bigwigs. Some of them are nice, some are mean, some are smart, some are stupid, but 99 percent of them know nothing about musical instruments. You might have to educate them. And they might have to rearrange a few pieces of carry on luggage on the plane. So what? They do this all the time. Remember, the customer is always right, and there are plenty of other airlines. (At least, that's what you want them to think, no matter how inconvenient it might be for you to change your plans. Airlines are desperate these days.)
Don't forget that a fiddle which to us may be relatively inexpensive but still a great instrument to play (monetary value and quality don't always equate) may nevertheless be the most valuable single item being carried in the aircraft cabin, more than the usual run of electronic toys such as digital cameras and laptop pcs. A valuation certificate from a reputable source may be good to have around as evidence.
Trevor
An early bit of good advice was to loosen the strings slightly. It is also advisable to tape the pegs to stop them from shifting further in the reduced pressure and lower humidity of the aircraft cabin.
Trevor
Yipes, Deb, what a week! Hope things are looking up for you. Not to worry. Let me know if you need directions, the website has a map, as well, pretty easy, really. http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS
You can always just hand them to the security guys, although they claim that the machine won't erase anything like that nor ruin film. Still. Safest is best.
Re: transporting violin - problem with digital camera
Zina,
I returned from a holiday in Menorca last weekend. On that island I took 309 photos + 4 short videos with a digital camera, all stored on the 128MB memory card. The lcd display clearly indicated what was stored on the card. When I got back to the UK all that could be downloaded to my pc were the first 30 photos and the 4 videos (which were taken at intervals over the holiday). No trace whatsoever of the other 279 photos! Very disappointing, as you may imagine. I immediately took 310 test photos round the house and neighbourhood and all these downloaded with no problems. The camera seems to be perfectly ok.
I can only surmise that the machine at Mahon airport when we left might have done something to the memory card. I carried the camera visibly in my hand when I passed through the machine. I think next time I'll follow your advice and hand it to the security person before I go through the machine. Interestingly, I didn't have this problem three months ago when I took the camera in the same manner through the security check at Munich airport on my way back from Hungary. Very strange.
Trevor
Thanks!! I'll just hand them to the security guys like you said.
I can imagine your disappointment Trevor.. I would hate to go to Willie week and have loads of great music and classes recorded only to come home and have it all vanished.. Strange that it only erased some of your pictures.
Easiest if you take the media cards out of the camera or recorder and put 'em in their storage case, then hand THAT to the security guards. You can leave the camera in the case to be scanned as usual that way. Saves just a little bit of time all round.
It has further occurred to me that it only needs a quantum of radiation in the right place to reverse the polarity of a *bit* on a memory card and so render a portion of the memory inaccessible and invisible to software. Our 757 on the way home from Menorca was flying at 38,000 feet and it only needed a stray cosmic ray at that altitude to reverse the polarity of one bit on the card. Perhaps we can now absolve airport scanners!
Trevor
Deb & Zina, many thanks for your sympathy and advice. Actually, losing holiday pictures is nowhere near as bad as losing an audio recording. One can, in principle at any rate, revisit a holiday location and retake photos, but once a music performance has disappeared into the ether then it's gone for good. Some years ago, when I was playing in an orchestral concert in which the soloist was an international pianist, I asked a friend to record the concert from the balcony, so I gave him a tape recorder, stereo mic, and a couple of audio cassettes. He religiously carried out his recording duties for me, changing the cassettes at the appropriate time. Afterwards, I discovered that he only had inserted the stereo mic plug into the headphone socket ...
Trevor
Heh heh Treavor I might sheepishly admit that I have bone-headed a few of my own recordings. Leading to the desire to give myself a good "arse-kicking". I have a great Marantz cassette recorder - a little touchy though if you don't have the settings right. All to easy to bump and change a setting by accident. It's bulky, so I thought I would get something compact like a MD recorder. Now figuring this bugger out is like getting an Associates Degree or something - ha.
I agree Trevor, a musical performance is a rare moment in time that can hardly be duplicated. If it's especially great even your memory can't hold on to all the details. I can listen to something I love over and over.
God, was he really? It's a wonder that you could hear anything over his pipes, then. It was pretty funny, really, this little encampment of pipers all over one end of the tables, how often do you see that many pipers in one session? Not often, thank god, or we'd have no hearing left!
Somewhere I have that tape recording. But I can't remember where. The guys sure were funny, anyway.
transporting violin
transporting violin
cool site. glad i googled across it.
i have a quick question... i'm going to be taking my violin from a dry climate to a humid and then back again (vacationing SoCal --> Hawaii) ... does anyone know how to safely do this so that it won't pop?
thanx!
# Posted on June 5th 2003 by elzeses
Re: transporting violin
Shouldn't be a problem. Loosen the strings a bit (not too much or you may have to reset your soundpost) if you're worried about it, but if your fiddle is in good shape and you have a whoozis in your case regularly anyway, you shouldn't have any worries -- and take a copy of this with you if you're flying: http://www.zinalee.com/images/carry%20on.jpg
Zina
# Posted on June 5th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
Zina, thanks for posting the link to the that TSA letter -- How big of an instrument do you suppose you could get away with carrying on? Hard-side guitar case? Has anyone had any experience with the airlines on this?
Thanks
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by sparrow
Re: transporting violin
Thank you again Zina, I'm about to on a trip as well, and bring a violin, to Conn. from here, so I guess I'll just do what you told elzeses and loosen the strings...thank you Zina
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by BluFiddle
Re: transporting violin
Thanks Zina I've been real concerned about being able to carry my fiddle on board too.
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
Well, there's actually TWO things you have to worry about -- the TSA screening procedure, AND the airline's carry-on policies. I'd check with my airline to make sure it's okay first, and bring the letter with you to the airport to get it through security.
zls
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
cool beans. you're the bomb. i'm still nervous though... i love my baby!
)
but what's a whoozis? a humidifier?
so how does this work? do you have to be a member of the AFM?
i measured my case. it fits the carry-on size limit. called the airline just in case, and they said it would be fine ... but this thing is saying that i can also take a carry-on?
(sorry... so many questions...
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by elzeses
Re: transporting violin
Yeah, one of those humidifier jobbies. No, I don't believe you have to be a member of AFM. Most airlines will have their own limitations on how many carry-ons you can take onto the plane -- the letter only has to do with security checkpoints. So if they say only one carryon and one personal item, carry your fiddle and your purse (or whatever qualifies for you as a personal item) and check everything else.
Show them the letter and pretend I didn't explain the diff between security and boarding. You were confused. Please please please don't take the fiddle away from you, it's your baby and you need it at the other end of the trip. Heh.
Whatever you do, resist letting them take the fiddle away from you and putting it in the cargo bays. Horror stories abound. Don't get antagonistic about it, but throw yourself on the mercy of the boarding staff -- cry if necessary.
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
I recently traveled from DFW to Scotland on American & BA and carried on my fiddle in its big boxy case, no problem. On the way over, I just had a big purse (plus a checked bag), but on the way back I also had an armload of duty-free purchases and was able to carry them on, no problem. At Gatwick, I made it a point to sit close to the gate so I could be first in line to board as soon as allowed, so as to assure a space in the overhead bin for my fiddle. I looked around at the lounge and thought, gee, this flight's not very full, nothing to worry about. Little did I know that the entire 60-piece Southern Methodist University wind ensemble was stuck in traffic, trying to get to the airport to make the flight, with their French horns and saxes etc. to carry aboard. I was glad I did get to board ahead of most of them, but I don't think anybody lacked for overhead bin space to stash their instruments.
Have a great trip!
Carol
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by carolsviolin
Re: transporting violin
oie!, maybe I'll just leave it home, come to think of it......seems like a huge hassle...and if my baby was taken from me, you bet I'd cry, fall on the floor in the crouched position and beg them to let me keep it!
Karen
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by BluFiddle
Re: transporting violin
Oh, no, take the fiddle. You'll want it. I always do. It's not that huge a hassle, just be prepared.
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
But would they believe a 16 year old???....and how would one prevent their violin from being taken from them?
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by BluFiddle
Re: transporting violin
What's to believe? Shouldn't be a problem on most major carriers. Don't worry about it!
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
Yes Mom.....*grin* lol.....I guess I should change my name to The Worrier!! *dun dun DUNNNNN!!!*
# Posted on June 6th 2003 by BluFiddle
Re: transporting violin
When I fly out of Nashville, I see many musicians with their instruments. At least in Nashville, you shouldn't have a problem with a guitar hard-case, since I see at least one of these on every plane I've flown out of here. Just be careful what else is in your guitar case when you are flying.
I have a friend who was flying with his guitar. (He has a soft case...) He had flown back and even made the first leg of his flight back without any hassles. He was randomly selected in Chicago for a search before boarding the second half of his flight home. They searched his case, and found a small metal tool for tuning the guitar. They wanted to confiscate the tool because it could be used as a "weapon". He managed to convince them somehow to put it in an envelope which they gave to the flight attendants to hold until the end of the flight.
# Posted on June 7th 2003 by A1dan
Re: transporting violin
I wonder if they would consider spare fiddle strings a potential weapon?
# Posted on June 7th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
after all, i suppose you could wrap it around someone's neck and try to choke them....
btw, did you know (just found out from the transportation dept's site) that knitting needles are allowed? daaaang! those things can be dangerous! =O
don't worry. they will never separate us! i'm currently honing my acting skills so that i can weep heart-wretching tears at the drop of a hat. ;)
# Posted on June 7th 2003 by elzeses
Re: transporting violin
Deb and Elzeses, now don't you two go giving the jobsworths of this world more bright ideas to think about and excuses to foist more regulations on us poor suffering travellers
Trevor
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
LOL Treabhar Maybe my playing would be considered a deadly threat. Heh
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
So, where were you today, Deb? *grin* Looked out for you, but no joy.
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
I'm So So Sorry Zina. I was down fighting off a cold yesterday or just plain beat. But I do feel better now. Had one of those weeks wrecked my car, cat cut her foot and needed stiches, didn't get much practice in. Holy cow I'm not about to ask what else could happen.
I thought of you and figured that you probably wouldn't remember. Hope you don't think I'm a big flake. I really would like to hook up soon. I may need to get directions though. Thanks so much for the invite. Actually I do kinda sound like a big flake huh.
Deb
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
Blufiddle:
Take the fiddle. It's no big deal. If they give you a hard time, crying might work, but asking/demanding to speak to the supervisor, or the supervisor's supervisor, all the way up the line to the president of the company if that' s what it takes, might work better. Don't fear the bigwigs. Some of them are nice, some are mean, some are smart, some are stupid, but 99 percent of them know nothing about musical instruments. You might have to educate them. And they might have to rearrange a few pieces of carry on luggage on the plane. So what? They do this all the time. Remember, the customer is always right, and there are plenty of other airlines. (At least, that's what you want them to think, no matter how inconvenient it might be for you to change your plans. Airlines are desperate these days.)
Just go.
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by carolsviolin
Re: transporting violin
Don't forget that a fiddle which to us may be relatively inexpensive but still a great instrument to play (monetary value and quality don't always equate) may nevertheless be the most valuable single item being carried in the aircraft cabin, more than the usual run of electronic toys such as digital cameras and laptop pcs. A valuation certificate from a reputable source may be good to have around as evidence.
Trevor
# Posted on June 8th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
An early bit of good advice was to loosen the strings slightly. It is also advisable to tape the pegs to stop them from shifting further in the reduced pressure and lower humidity of the aircraft cabin.
Trevor
# Posted on June 9th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
Yipes, Deb, what a week! Hope things are looking up for you. Not to worry. Let me know if you need directions, the website has a map, as well, pretty easy, really. http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS
zls
# Posted on June 9th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
Thanks Zina I think I can find it from there. I have another question if anyone's still there on this thread.
How do you make sure that your MD disks don't get erased going thru the Airport???? Help
Deb
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
You can always just hand them to the security guys, although they claim that the machine won't erase anything like that nor ruin film. Still. Safest is best.
zls
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin - problem with digital camera
Zina,
I returned from a holiday in Menorca last weekend. On that island I took 309 photos + 4 short videos with a digital camera, all stored on the 128MB memory card. The lcd display clearly indicated what was stored on the card. When I got back to the UK all that could be downloaded to my pc were the first 30 photos and the 4 videos (which were taken at intervals over the holiday). No trace whatsoever of the other 279 photos! Very disappointing, as you may imagine. I immediately took 310 test photos round the house and neighbourhood and all these downloaded with no problems. The camera seems to be perfectly ok.
I can only surmise that the machine at Mahon airport when we left might have done something to the memory card. I carried the camera visibly in my hand when I passed through the machine. I think next time I'll follow your advice and hand it to the security person before I go through the machine. Interestingly, I didn't have this problem three months ago when I took the camera in the same manner through the security check at Munich airport on my way back from Hungary. Very strange.
Trevor
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
What a bummer, Trev. *sigh* I hate it when things like that happens. No magnets anywhere, i suppose?
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin
Thanks!! I'll just hand them to the security guys like you said.
I can imagine your disappointment Trevor.. I would hate to go to Willie week and have loads of great music and classes recorded only to come home and have it all vanished.. Strange that it only erased some of your pictures.
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
Easiest if you take the media cards out of the camera or recorder and put 'em in their storage case, then hand THAT to the security guards. You can leave the camera in the case to be scanned as usual that way. Saves just a little bit of time all round.
zls
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: transporting violin (and digital camera)
It has further occurred to me that it only needs a quantum of radiation in the right place to reverse the polarity of a *bit* on a memory card and so render a portion of the memory inaccessible and invisible to software. Our 757 on the way home from Menorca was flying at 38,000 feet and it only needed a stray cosmic ray at that altitude to reverse the polarity of one bit on the card. Perhaps we can now absolve airport scanners!
Trevor
# Posted on June 11th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
Deb & Zina, many thanks for your sympathy and advice. Actually, losing holiday pictures is nowhere near as bad as losing an audio recording. One can, in principle at any rate, revisit a holiday location and retake photos, but once a music performance has disappeared into the ether then it's gone for good. Some years ago, when I was playing in an orchestral concert in which the soloist was an international pianist, I asked a friend to record the concert from the balcony, so I gave him a tape recorder, stereo mic, and a couple of audio cassettes. He religiously carried out his recording duties for me, changing the cassettes at the appropriate time. Afterwards, I discovered that he only had inserted the stereo mic plug into the headphone socket ...
Trevor
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: transporting violin
Heh heh Treavor I might sheepishly admit that I have bone-headed a few of my own recordings. Leading to the desire to give myself a good "arse-kicking". I have a great Marantz cassette recorder - a little touchy though if you don't have the settings right. All to easy to bump and change a setting by accident. It's bulky, so I thought I would get something compact like a MD recorder. Now figuring this bugger out is like getting an Associates Degree or something - ha.
I agree Trevor, a musical performance is a rare moment in time that can hardly be duplicated. If it's especially great even your memory can't hold on to all the details. I can listen to something I love over and over.
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
Dirk was sitting righ in front of me too.
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by deblittle
Re: transporting violin
God, was he really? It's a wonder that you could hear anything over his pipes, then. It was pretty funny, really, this little encampment of pipers all over one end of the tables, how often do you see that many pipers in one session? Not often, thank god, or we'd have no hearing left!
The guys sure were funny, anyway.
Somewhere I have that tape recording. But I can't remember where.
zls
# Posted on June 12th 2003 by Zina Lee