Can Pressurized Planes Cause Damage To Guitars?

[Digideus]

guys,

A friend of mine took his guitar to ireland last year to do some session work. He says that it was fine when he left home, all packed in its hiscox case. When he got to where he was going however, the instrument has had intonation problems from F12 up

He has scared himself cos some guitar tech told him that leaving it strung on a plane would have caused the neck to warp.

Ive never heard of a problem like this before. Does a planes pressurised cabin cause any sort of adverse effects on an instrument with its strings still on?

Its an Epiphone les paul by the way.

[thedoctor]

No.

[Digideus]

Thats what I thought

[westhemann]

No.

←

i second that.

long answer is that since the object of a pressurized cabin is to keep atmospheric pressure at normal ground levels,then it would maintain the guitar as well as it maintains a human.

[Devon Headen]

It still can't hurt to take the tension off the neck when there's a good chance it'll take a few jolts. No reason to take chances.

[westhemann]

It still can't hurt to take the tension off the neck when there's a good chance it'll take a few jolts. No reason to take chances.

←

umm...the string tension helps hold the neck straight.

[Devon Headen]

It also helps the headstock snap off. Just ask bluespresence. If it's in your posession the whole time, there's probably no problem, but I don't really know the whole flying drill, I've never flown commercially.

[bluespresence]

The pressurized cabin won't cause problems but the temperature and lack of humidity in the baggage compartment might. IMO it won't be permanent in any way but it could cause the neck wood to "move" and the guitar would have to reacclimate for a while before it was back to "normal". I see this often just shipping across the country. Truss rod adjustments are pretty common when I ship from cold dry Wisconsin in the winter to the southeast or southwest or when it's hot and humid here in the summer and I ship to a dry climate like Arizona, etc.....

And I also would loosen the strings to prevent the headstock from snapping off. Baggage handlers are not known for their careful handling of baggage.

EDIT: Funny....I was typing while you two were chatting. Good timing hey!

Edited May 4, 2005 by bluespresence

[Devon Headen]

LOL, speak of the devil.........

[Mickguard]

If the guy showed up with a guitar in a hard case, then it's not too likely they let him carry it into the plane. So are you sure it was in the cabin?

What has happened to me the few times I've flown with a guitar is this:

1. At the checkin they try to talk me into checking the guitar in as baggage. I look at them with shock and horror and let my eyes tear up and explain that it's my baby I just couldn't. And then I move on to...

2. As I'm boarding the plane, they'll try to tell me that I can't carry the guitar into the plane, I'll have to check it at the gate. That's when I bring out my cranky two-year-old (well, he's three now) and the flight attendant (usually female) gets all quivery and says she'll find a place for it and carries on herself, stows it in the musical instrument locker they have on board, and tells me she'll hand it to me as I get off the plane.

But I still tend to loosen the strings a tad, like down a half step or so, it can't hurt.

Anyway, isn't Ireland really humid? That'd be enough to throw off an Epi.

[jnewman]

I've never had any problems with my fender strat-shaped hard case... it fits in the overhead bins between bags and the doors that close the bins. I'm not sure one of the big rectangular ones would, though.

You can also sometimes get them to put it in the little coat closet in first class (is that what you meant by "musical instrument locker"? ).

[mledbetter]

I would agree with BP.. the temp probably has a lot to do with it.. At high altitudes.. it's butt-freezing cold and the cargo area isn't generally heated.. accompany that with a climate change in travel, and you could devinitely have some movement going on.

[xlr8]

I would agree with BP.. the temp probably has a lot to do with it.. At high altitudes.. it's butt-freezing cold and the cargo area isn't generally heated.. accompany that with a climate change in travel, and you could devinitely have some movement going on.

←

Finally a topic I'm probably the most qualified to answer, having been a pilot for 25 years and flying a 747 and all that.

Firstly a 'pressurised' cabin rarely climbs above 6000' but can go as high as 8000' so would you loosen your strings because you went to play in Denver?

Cargo holds are temperature controlled, usually around 15-18c or 59-65f if you prefer.

Guitars in hardcases are allowed in the cabin (yes even by the overzealous TSA) provided the type of aircraft you're flying on has overhead bins large enough to accomodate them.

My advice would be to keep your strings at the correct tension, always use a hardcase, leave your guitar in the case for as long as possible after flying to allow it to acclimatise slowly after your journey and make sure it's insured.

[LGM Guitars]

Having flown with guitars many times, and shipped countless guitars that end up on an airplane, I've never had a problem.

1. If you're taking it as checked baggage, no issues, keep it strung to full pitch, in the case, put it in the overhead bin and you're done.

2. If you are concerned it may need to go as checked baggage, keep the strings at FULL tension, and pack some extra padding around it. You're fine.

Lowering the tension is a poor idea, guitars ship on trucks in the winter all the time, they spend weeks in crates on boats coming from overseas. They withstand high humidity, low humidity, cold, hot, etc just fine. Rarely do I see a guitar come into the shop or the music store that has problems from shipping. I've never had a guitar ship out that had problems from being flown overnight, or on a truck for a week. In fact, the only necks that have really required adjusting are those that can't be shipped on a body and strung up. If you feel the need to loosen your strings, be sure and loosen your truss rod as well. Adding humidity or extreme temperature changes to a neck with the rod under tension is a good way to create a backbow that might not come out again. I have never understood why anyone ships with the strings loosened off, I have yet to hear a plausable reason for doing so and have never had an issue in sending them with the strings tight.

Anyway, I have never had a problem with taking guitars (electric or acoustic, dreadnought cases, rectangular electric cases etc) as carry on, sometimes you have to do the "if it doesn't fit I'll gate check it" line, but they always fit.

[bluespresence]

Firstly a 'pressurised' cabin rarely climbs above 6000' but can go as high as 8000' so would you loosen your strings because you went to play in Denver?

I didn't say loosening them has anything to do with pressure, temperature or humidity....it has to do with the guitar getting tossed about by gorilla's in the baggage handling area.

I have never understood why anyone ships with the strings loosened off, I have yet to hear a plausable reason for doing so

100% of the guitars I have shipped with the strings loosened have arrived with the headstock and neck intact....over 1200 guitars and basses.

100% of the guitars I have shipped with the strings NOT loosened have arrived minus the headstock.....3 times I forgot to loosen them. I have also received two that had broken due to the strings remaining tight while shipping.

When these get shipped from overseas they are packed 6 to a carton and a lot of cartons to a container. They are handled by material handling equipment and not subject to the human element of being tossed like a rag doll at the local UPS or airport terminal. A careless worker can easily toss one guitar hard enough to cause damage. Lifting a carton of 6 does not give you the same advantage.

I know we could argue this all day as it has been argued for years but I'm going with what I know from experience.

[thedoctor]

I don't remember if I told this tale before but in 1973 I went to Madrid and Barcelona on a prepaid tour. I brought a Gibson EB-1 with me for my godson in a case and left with two purchased Spanish guitars, in cases, and ALWAYS put them in the coat/jacket area in the front of the plane. I refused to check them as luggage and noone had a big problem with that. Try to do that today! I could have been a rich man bringing 40 kilos of C back from Spain because customs didn't even want to look! The new, best method of shipment is to FedEx your equip. to your destination 2 days before you go. I even send my suitcase FedEx so I don't have to carry a dang thing on the plane. The airline people don't treat guitars very nice.

[westhemann]

well now,if you ship in a hard case,you don't have to worr about the headstock.

my opinion is that if they hit it hard enough to break the headstock through a hard case,then loosening your strings isn't going to help a bit.

you are more likely to get a persistent backbow in the neck.unless you have a two way truss rod which fits snug in it's tightly routed channel.in which case the neck will never move very much at all from where your rod is set.

[bluespresence]

well now,if you ship in a hard case,you don't have to worr about the headstock.

Tell UPS that Two of mine were in hard shells with the headstock area padded to prevent breakage and they managed to drop them or throw them hard enough to break the headstock off anyway.

Like I said before I'm just going with my experience here and that has taught me to loosen strings. They're your guitars, ship them how you want to and I'll ship mine the way I've learned doesn't cause damage for me. Your experiences may be different......

[westhemann]

no argument here...i just don't see the logic..i see more potential setup problems than i see potential headstock breakage.

but all of my guitars have been shipped to me strung to full pitch.no problems here

[LGM Guitars]

I have never understood why anyone ships with the strings loosened off, I have yet to hear a plausable reason for doing so

100% of the guitars I have shipped with the strings loosened have arrived with the headstock and neck intact....over 1200 guitars and basses.

100% of the guitars I have shipped with the strings NOT loosened have arrived minus the headstock.....3 times I forgot to loosen them. I have also received two that had broken due to the strings remaining tight while shipping.

When these get shipped from overseas they are packed 6 to a carton and a lot of cartons to a container. They are handled by material handling equipment and not subject to the human element of being tossed like a rag doll at the local UPS or airport terminal. A careless worker can easily toss one guitar hard enough to cause damage. Lifting a carton of 6 does not give you the same advantage.

I know we could argue this all day as it has been argued for years but I'm going with what I know from experience.

←

I won't argue with you, I've set up probably 1500 guitars that come into local music stores, the only ones there are ever neck problems with are the ones that ship with strings loose. Never once have we had a broken headstock and that includes factory packed guitars (you know, cardboard boxes with the little thin foam bag around the guitar)

Either way, you're right, do what works for you. Like I said, my recommendation is to loose the truss rod off as well if you are loosening the strings.

[Daniel Sorbera]

well now,if you ship in a hard case,you don't have to worry about the headstock.

The reason the the headstock breaks is the energy from the drop gets transferd to the guitar at an extremely fast rate and the headstock is the weakest part. So if anything is going to snap when it's jolted too fast it's going too be the headstock. I read on frets.com (I think that was the url) that you stuff enough news paper and bubble wrap so that you have too cram your case lid down so the headstock can't move no matter what.

[thedoctor]

Do you remember the luggage comercials that had the gorilla dragging suitcases into his den? The gorillas have a union contract with the airlines until 2016! If you can wait till then, do so.