Sojourning with Your Six String

It’s hard to believe that in just a few short weeks another summer will be upon us, and with it will come the heat and mosquitoes, the poolside barbeques, the occasional summer blockbuster, and, more likely than not, some beat-the-heat getaways.  For any guitar enthusiast, a vacation is a rare opportunity to get some peaceful alone time with their instrument.  It is also a wonderful thing to have a guitar (or two!) around for family gatherings, community jams, and the like.  Whether you’re organizing a family trip, heading off to camp, traveling for business, or just hitting the road in search of adventure, taking a guitar along can be a bit disconcerting or cumbersome.  In keeping with my duties as your friendly neighborhood guitar slinger, I wanted to pass along some perspective and advice, based upon many years of fielding questions on this topic.

Perhaps the most common query is whether or not one should travel with their primary guitar, as opposed to purchasing a second guitar to be dedicated to travel.  Clearly, there are pros and cons to each, but I generally advise folks to consider purchasing a travel guitar for a number of reasons.  Most importantly, traveling with a guitar involves a certain degree of risk.  Between baggage handlers, environmental fluctuations, and vacation homes stuffed with rambunctious kids (and, later in the night, rambunctious adults), it is not hard for your six-string buddy to meet with a nasty accident!  Having seen guitars in every imaginable state of disrepair—shot, burned, run-over, pancaked by frat boys, cooked in a car—I can assure you that having a less expensive guitar around is worthwhile, if only to avoid such needless emotional trauma.  Most guitars that are dedicated to travel also have the advantage of being quite compact, making them easier to tote around and more airplane friendly.   Yet, I find that many folks who purchase travel guitars ultimately come to rely on them for day-to-day use, either as a couch guitar, the around the town guitar for jams, or as a re-purposed complimentary instrument (I keep one strung for Nashville tuning).  The proliferation of travel guitars has also resulted in a host of good short-scale options for children.  And then there is also the unintended benefit: While traveling in Europe some years ago, I ran out of space in my bag, having failed to consider the space needed for gifts.  Being a reasonably resourceful guy, I soon discovered that my trusty Taylor GS Mini was also quite effective as additional storage for small items like clean underwear and socks—no checking extra bags here!  This is all to say, there are a lot of good reasons to consider purchasing a smaller, less expensive guitar for travel.

On the other hand, there are plenty of reasons that one might want to forgo a travel guitar and take their primary guitar along for the ride.  Should you decide to go this route, there are a few things to keep in mind, apart from general precautions and maintenance (for example, being mindful of humidity conditions or the risks of drunk people in the vicinity of your guitar).  If you are driving to your destination, just try to avoid any scenario where the guitar is left unattended in a car, particularly during extreme weather.  When traveling by plane, it is advisable to check the type of plane beforehand.  Believe it or not, a full size guitar will fit in the bulkhead/overhead of most large planes (e.g., 747 or bigger), but smaller planes will have a partitioned bulkhead that will not accommodate a full size guitar.  It is true that the Musician’s Union successfully lobbied the FAA to be more accommodating for musicians and their instruments, so it’s not a bad idea to print off their regulations to have with your guitar.  Yet, the extent to which you are accommodated is ultimately at the discretion of the flight crew!  For this reason alone, investing in a flight case (like the Calton or Hiscox cases we carry) is not a bad idea, as you never know when you might be required to check your guitar.  On a related note, really solid gigbags (like a Mono or Access Stage 3) can also be effective for travel, especially as they appear more compact and malleable to flight attendants, but they present more risk if you are forced to check them.  First class and business class passenger will always be given extra consideration for storage (overhead or closet), but upgrading your coach/economy seat to priority boarding is a good and fairly inexpensive way to ensure that you have first crack at overhead or closet space.  Finally, it has always been my experience that limiting my carry-on items to my full-size guitar and a satchel of essentials (i.e., small carry-on) is a good way to get the flight crew on my side.  If I have an additional bag, I’ll check it (and pay the stupid fee) long before I’ll hand over my guitar!  Just remember it always pays to be nice first when dealing with the airlines…

Should you be preparing for a killer music-making summer vacation or just getting ready for another business trip with your guitar, we wish you safe travels!  In the meantime, we are here to answer any questions you might have about travel guitars, flight cases, or proper etiquette with ornery airline attendants.  ;-)   -  L. Petsch, June 2018