Tuba Flight case

[sloan]

MTS is a type of case.

Here is their website:

http://www.mtsproducts.com/pgs/mhc.html" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I've known people who have flown with these cases ALOTand have had no trouble whatsoever.

I have flown my King 2341 in this type of case with zero problems. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to draw *some* conclusions.

I have flown my Yamaha 621 in a Yamaha case a similar (small) amount and have had zero damage to the instrument - but moderate damage to the case on every trip. Nothing Gorilla Glue and Gorilla Tape can't handle - but the case will never be mistaken for "brand new" ever again.

The strength of the Yamaha case is the solid block of Styrofoam (TM) that encases the instrument. The case itself is little more than a cosmetic wrapper around the Styrofoam. The weak point is the plastic case - which is shaped a bit too closely to the contours of the tuba, especially in the bell area. This piece of the case is just begging to be flexed and cracked.

I wonder if I can fly my 36J from BHM->DCA in its TWO cases. Individually, they just might be under the size limits (and Delta doesn't charge me for overweight bags). I'm sure I could fit all of my usual belongings in along with the tuba. The big problem would be transportation once I got to DCA.

At least, Joe would approve of the construction of the 36J cases - nice solid wooden bricks.

I'll probably wimp out and drive, with the 36J in a gig bag in the back of my car.

[imperialbari]

I think the cheapest solution is found locally, as the costs of importing a case from the US hardly are justifiable. I have no knowledge of the FInnish market, but I doubt it would be less productive than the one I know about.

The people to buy from are those making cases for rock music stage gear. They likely buy their latches and the edge reinforcements from the same sources as the American makers do. And they likely know how to take measurements for a case which might be called an irregular pyramid stub. At least its profiles are trapezoids.

Make the case roomy enough to hold the largest tuba you own or plan on buying. Either cut foam linings for bottom and lid, which should resemble the milled styrofoam known from Yamaha or other Asian cases. If you don’t glue the foam to the case, you may have alternative linings for other tubas. You also may glue in a more basic flat or waved foam lining and then supplement with a sufficient number of foam wedges. The latter approach may allow for the tuba staying in its gig bag within the case for easy local transports. Anyway the bell should have an interior support of either some sort of inflatable ball or a styrofoam cone keeping the bell flare from touching the outer walls of the case.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

Those vault cases look mighty impressive. What do the various sizes cost?

Klaus

[ds_le_moulin]

I have sent e-mail to ask infos. But I am still waiting for them.

I will publish them when I receive them.

[Kory101]

I've flown dozens of times with my old 822F in the Yamaha Hard Case.

These are not the greatest cases (as stated before, they are molded very closely to the shape of the tuba and the outside made of plastic) but it was all I had.

A few things I do to give the tuba more protection

1) Strap the tuba into the case so it wouldn't move around AT ALL during transportation

2) Either fill the bell with clothes, a beach ball or something to help absorb any shock while it's getting moved around

3) Secure the latches so the case WILL NOT pop open. Duct Tape or something else.



After 5 years of schlepping my tuba around, the case took a lot of hits, but my tuba came out just fine every time.

Take a little extra time and pack your instrument well and you'll be glad you did.

Your wallet will thank you.

KM

[Tom]

That MTS Vault case is interesting, but it's not an entirely new idea. It seems to me to be based on the design of Pelican cases, though obviously modified for a tuba and with some more user friendly features. Every tuba flight case is going to be heavy, bulky, and hard to transport and I doubt this new MTS case will be much different in that respect, but I do think that this is probably the best and most practical flight case design I've ever seen offered, especially for the "casual" tuba traveler.

That said, the road cases Klaus mentions might work well in your situation (I don't know). I work in the music business for an orchestra that tours and does run-outs regularly, and part of my job is also presenting big touring acts (with and without orchestra) in our hall. 99% of the cases we own or have come through on a tour are Anvil cases. The rest are custom wood cases we've built in our own shop. The orchestra owned Anvil fleet probably numbers 100+ cases, some of which are still going strong after more than 30 years in service. We've taken them all over the world on flights, have had them on countless trucks and busses, and have used them to ship equipment we rent to other orchestras. When the touring groups come through, EVERYTHING is in an Anvil case, from the $200,000+ sound consoles to grand pianos. These cases live on the road 24/7, 365 days a year, get air freighted around the world, etc. and the guys that move them around aren't exactly careful. Something to keep in mind if you'll be on the road a lot and have a big vehicle to transport the thing in.

[bud]

12 years ago I flew with a wood (heavy) case- airline didn't flinch, didn't charge me anything extra. That's not the case anymore!

I've flown with a tuba on the plane in its own seat- can be very stressful dealing with security and flight attendants, especially on the smaller regional jets.

I made the mistake of flying a pt 6 I used to have in the wood case that it came in. The case showed no signs of damage but the tuba got hurt.

I've had a tuba get hurt in my walt johnson case too, but that was only once out of many flights. I suspect that the damage did not occur outside of the case, TSA.? My johnson case is for most F tubas. Best part is It weighs in at 49 pounds with the last f i flew with.

I used to have a Meinl Weston red alluminum case. Never had any damage. weighed in around 70ish with my mw 2000 if I remember right.

I have a Unitec "Lightweight" flight case now. The tuba has not had any damage. 6450 weighs 66 pounds. Tuba is safe. Unitec will custom make a case for any tuba without charging extra. They already have the measurements for many tubas. Make sure you get the "Lightweight" because the regular, if they still make it, is too heavy for flights.

One tubenetter has one of the first new super durable MTS for his 6450. Its more durable than the Unitec but I think he said the that the 6450 weighs close to 100 pounds. Won't get you onto any flight these days, but he says that he would feel comfortable taking a sledge hammer to it.

Another friend has two kevlar cases that he got from eastern europe. they are super light and super form fitting. lighter than anything being sold in america. but he said he paid 2000 for each.

[ds_le_moulin]

Thanks to all for your answers which are interesting.

About the Unitec case: is that the ''lightmodel'' ?? (!) 66 pounds are quite a lot, I was expecting less when I've seen on the web page lightweight...

I've bought once one of these Carbon-kevlar case from eastern europa. It was not at all nice quality: the hinge was broken before I use it, the wheels were not fixed correctly. And even if I get them the right measurements of my tuba, the case was a lot too big. The idea is great, but the realization is awful. It was couple of years ago maybe the are better now.

Unfortunately I don't have any Melton tuba... I know that these case are good, but I don't believe that they want to sell one for someone who doesn't have one of these tuba. And if it doesn't suits correctly it's bad too.

About the MTS, I am waiting the answer about the weight but the price seems to be quite interesting: 750$ !
I hope that there some foam on the to by the bell, it can be useful. Can someone post photos ??

[bud]

The Lightweight Unitec Flight case with a 6450 is 66 pounds. the 6450 is a 6/4 CC tuba. That is the lightest material that Unitec makes.

The latest vault MTS shown in Bloke's pic, their most durable model is more durable, larger, and heavier than the lightweight flight unitec. I really doubt that this model will be at $750 though. Is that right?

For traveling on tour trucks at work, some of our tubas have very big, square, very heavy cases on wheels that were custom made by some case company that does cases for everything, especially sound equipment. These cases would never make it onto a commercial flight if you wanted to travel on your own but might work if your ensemble has chartered its own flight. Maybe these custom case companies that usually have nothing to do with tubas could figure out something for you that is lighter.

[ds_le_moulin]

How heavy is this 6450 tuba ? Or how heavy is the case without the tuba ??

I red a 2nd time the e-mail from MTS, it's really written 750.00 $. I think it's quite cheap.

If I buy one of these case, I would buy something that I can put in the plane. It's what I would need in the next years.

I have also thought to do some kind of home made stuff, but it was very difficult to find the right foam. And the easiest way would be to have some foam that I could inject and then close the box...that would be the greatest thing, but I have never founded it.

[BAtlas]

I've had a couple different experiences with flight cases.

I'll start off by my experience with this case...

http://www.tubaexchange.com/accessories ... ID=UNI-5/4" target="_blank

I bought this case when I bought my Gronitz PCK from Tuba Exchange. If anyone knows the stigma of the Gronitz tuba, the metal tends to be very thin making them more dent prone.

Needless to say, I get on airplanes and freak out (as any good tubist probably should). I think the real bottom line is to be meticulous in the way you pack your horn. Make sure there is no empty space inside the case so the tuba can't have motion inside the case (Force=Mass x Acceleration). If you have packed your tuba properly, whatever material you use (I usually use sweaters and towels to save on luggage space) should be able to absorb a great deal of the shock if said tuba were dropped.

That being said, I've had some of the outer pieces of this case knocked off in transit (such as some of the corner bracing). This is case is MORE than sturdy enough however. I will say that, fully packed this case comes to about 95lbs. I can usually get on a domestic flight with that. I am being forced to take my Eb to Germany next week because of the ~$800 charge on my CC.

I feel that I've also been very fortunate as I usually am flying between Kansas City, MO and San Jose, CA and always fly Southwest. They normally are very careful with my tuba, because they know it's a musical instrument.


And a brief word about Besson cases...

I've seen dozens of these cases get knocked around, I had a friend who had both of his wheels knocked off on separate occasions. I'm also fairly certain that my 983 received some minor damage due to poor handling. If you do end up with a besson case, hope for one of the older ones with the wheels on the inside. The new cases with the wheels on the outside are WEAK.

My $.02

[sloan]

I have an old wooden GWW form-fitting case originally built for a Holton 345. I'm stripping off the Tolex, removing the original under-engineered hardware, sanding off the remaining glue the best that I can, epoxying all of the seams that hint at failure, and I'm going to then have the two halves coated with RhinoShield, outfit it with heavy-duty hardware/wheels, and then rebuild the interior to better cushion a tuba from impacts from various directions.

This is a neat-looking case, fill fit in most all back seats, and a few sedan trunks.

Will the final result be a "flight case"?

Will my 36J fit in it?

[miz-zoutuba]

On that Unitec case:

The "sides" and "lid" have about 1.5 inches of dense padding on them covered in cloth.
That places the bell not far from the end of the case.
The "bottom" and "top" where the tuba body is built up thicker in attempt to hold the tuba level with the bell hanging into a more open section of the case.
There is a velcro strap to hold the tuba still....yeah right.

My school owns several of these. We do not fly, but they work to get on our trailer with out damage.
We keep the tubas in gig bags inside the cases to make them fit better.

[Tom]

I think Unitec is being confused with MTS and that various models are being confused with one another.

Unitec has a big, heavy plywood "box" that was their only flight case offering for years. It has dense grey foam in it and the outside has a carpet-like covering (amp felt) in grey or black usually. They have a generic fit. Lots of schools ended up with these when they purchased their St. Petes through the tuba exchange.

A few years ago Unitec built an all new version that is the Alan Baer model. That's the "lightweight," I believe. They are custom built to order, as far as I know.

MTS has built plastic cases of various shapes and sizes for many year for all sorts of tubas. They are known around here for small, medium, and large sizes. Lots of people manage to scrape by flying with these because the *look* rugged, but it's not recommended.

The Vault model introduced in this thread is the new flight case by MTS.

It should surprise nobody that a fully loaded flight case will tip the scales at 60+ lbs. and that the size will draw the attention of the oversize bag police. In my opinion if you're only thinking in terms of oversize and overweight baggage fees and you "need" to fly with your tuba, you're taking the wrong approach. Consider protection first then worry about how big the case is and how much it weights. There is a way to fly with (almost) anything. If it's big enough and heavy enough you may have to air freight it, but you can still get it on a plane if you must. Don't want to deal with it yourself? There are plenty of companies out there (like RockIt Cargo) that will do it for you for a hefty fee.