Holiday,trip, case and the guitar
Holiday trip requires a special care for the guitar. Primarily, temperature changes are important.
In previous articles, we have provided some tips in order to get the best conditions of the guitar in different means of transport. A very important issue is to know if we need to take it during the trip.
Regarding the air travel, according to many musicians, the fact of transporting the instrument in the cargo hold is a problem, including the warm cellar where the temperature is similar to the cabin one.
Since February 2014, the European legislation allows musical instruments as hand luggage. In most companies, the maximum dimensions are 30cm x 120cm x 38cm and the instrument is considered as the only hand luggage. These are the standard measures of a guitar; they are exact or lightly limited for a hard case, which makes possible the transportation of many instruments.
With regard to this, we must take into account the low-cost companies, where the option of bringing the instrument in the cabin during our journey is determined to the space availability.
As a result of this normative reform, before you were to be worried about the extreme temperatures, pressure difference and the possible blows done by the porterage service; now, we must only take into account the differences in pressure as a consequence of the height. For that reason, it is advisable to loosen the strings, besides it was in the cabin.
In addition, we must take special care in the car. Initially, it is always advisable to take the guitar in the passenger compartment, since the temperature could be very high in the boot and this fact could cause damages.
However, despite carrying the guitar in the passenger compartment, we must keep in mind that the air conditioning tends to be working, so the temperature decreases considerably in comparison to the outside temperature.
As a consequence of this fact, when we travel to the coast, where there is a high relative humidity, we must be careful about keeping the case closed until it is tempered; since due to the humidity and low temperature in the case, the water vapour has to condense on the surface thereof, so if we open it, the condensation process will occur on the guitar and it will get wet.
Finally, we must not forget that, when we travel with the guitar, one of the most important factors is the kind of cover or case that we use.
If the weight is not a problem in our trip, the use of a hard case made of ABS, fibreglass or fibrecarbon is always recommendable. They are cases which protect from possible squashing, due to the hardness of its materials. In addition, it protects from beats, thanks to the interior fibre padding, and sudden changes in temperature, because its closure achieves tightness.
We could say that the most suitable material, taking into account the weight, the benefits and the price, is the guitar case manufactured using fibreglass, which offers a very stylish look and there are fibreglass guitar cases like leather too.
Moreover, you can always hire a travel insurance; but, even so, the loss of our guitar is difficult to reward with money for lovers of the instrument.
