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Topic: Flying with Metal Lap Steel |
Justin Brown
From:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
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Posted 11 Sep 2017 2:01 pm |
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| Does anyone have experience flying with a metal lap steel as a carry on? I'm planning to bring my cast Clinesmith on a trip soon and I imagine it might confuse the TSA. I just have a soft case for it so I don't want to check it if I can help it. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 12 Sep 2017 7:41 am
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You should have no problem flying with your lap steel. They may ask you to open the case, but it's pretty obviously a musical instrument and not some sort of weapon.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
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Andy DePaule
From:
Saigon, Viet Nam & Springfield, Oregon
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Posted 20 Dec 2017 5:21 pm Flew with my Clinesmith.
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I Flew with my Clinesmith aluminum in the Heron case over my shoulder as carry on.
No issues at all.
_________________
Inlaid Star Guitar 2006 by Mark Giles. SD-10 4+5 in E9th; http://luthiersupply.com/instrument-gallery.html
2017 Mullen SD-10, G2 5&5 Polished Aluminum covering. Custom Build for me. Great Steel.
Clinesmith Joaquin Murphy style Aluminum 8 String Lap Steel Short A6th.
Magnatone Jeweltone Series Lap Steel, Circa 1950? 6 String with F#minor7th Tuning.
1956 Dewey Kendrick D-8 4&3, Restoration Project.
1973 Sho~Bud Green SD-10 4&5 PSG, Restoration Project. |
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Steve Wilson
From:
Morgan Hill, California, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2017 6:52 pm
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| I once flew with a small Pignose amp and was called aside after they xrayed my suitcase. The wires, battery and magnets called it to their attention. They made me get it out and prove it was an amp by playing my steel through it. My lead filled bullet bar also caught their attention. |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2017 7:03 pm
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| Steve Wilson wrote: |
| My lead filled bullet bar also caught their attention. |
TSA confiscated my bullet bar at MSP once. Luckily it was only a Dunlap. |
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Emmett Mahoney
From:
Hawaii, USA
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Posted 21 Dec 2017 9:17 pm
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| I've flown with my Rick Fry Pan from Hawaii to all over Asia, US mainland and Europe many times and was only asked to open it once. (TSA thinks its a banjo when they look on the screen, haha) You should be fine. |
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Justin Brown
From:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2017 11:49 am
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| It went fine for me. They did pull it for additional screening on my return flight but it just took a minute. I just wish I had thought to ask if I could take a picture of the cool looking X ray image of the guitar. |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 22 Dec 2017 4:05 pm
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I haven't flown since 2009, and honestly, I've never flown with a guitar. I'm wondering, on a slightly related note...is it possible to fly with a lap steel in carry on? I looked at several airlines with their posted limits on carryon dimensions...to give an example, American Airlines posts: "Shouldn’t exceed 22 x 14 x 9 inches"
No way to get even a short-scale lap steel, even with a headless design, to work, at least by those requirement.
Can anybody give some "real world" advice? Are you generally dependent on the airline allowing it as an exception to the posted rules? Planning to head to Hawai'i in 2019, and would like to take a guitar, but don't want to end up at the airport and have it marooned... |
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Steve Wilson
From:
Morgan Hill, California, USA
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Posted 23 Dec 2017 9:53 am
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| The shortest steel I have is my 22.5" Ricky Academy. It will fit in a violin case. I was able to get it in the overhead with little problem. It has been a while since I have flown, so maybe things have changed? |
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