TubeNet

Hi !

Again one flight case topic. Sorry for that.

I am wondering if it's really a good solution to have a tuba inside a gigbag inside a flight case.

The main issue is : If the case drops, the tuba because of it's weight, might collapse...

I often heard stories like that. But never from someone that had the straight experiment...

For example these flight cases look quite good. It seems made with good material : http://www.rouillardcases.com/products# ... duits/c9xa" target="_blank

But the solution that I was proposed is to put the tuba in a gig bag inside the flight case. Somehow, I am not completely convinced. Of course, is something falls on it, or if it has to face some hits, it will be no problem... But it's not possible to know what will happen in an airport...

THanks for your replies.

I designed and had built a case for a tuba in a gig bag.

The tuba was a Getzen G-50 and the case was built by Anvil Cases. I looked at what others had been doing with various degrees of success and came up with something different...

The tuba fit inside a Reunion Blues gig bag and then into the case sideways rather than back-down. The horn was held in place by the bottom bow (which kept it from shifting from side-to-side and rolling front to back) and I used a ball on the bell end so that the bell was NOT touching any of the four sides of the case. The side that was down was on a block of dense foam (think of the area where the top bow meets the bottom bow- that's the part that was along the bottom of the case). This design allowed the valves and slides to "float" in air and I did not have any part of the case that came in contact with them. Still, despite the minimal contact the case had with the horn, I made sure that the tuba was not flopping around in the case (which is how most damage actually occurs).

One of the big reasons that I did the case that way is that I figured I was minimizing the risk of damage to the valves and slides. I exposed the bell (inevitable) and bottom bow to the potential for the most damage, but also felt that they were the easiest parts to repair (or overlook some damage to) in the event of damage on the road.

The case did great and the tuba was never damaged at all while it was being used. This included two trans-Atlantic flights, multiple inter-continental European flights, ferry rides, train shipping, and something like 5 years of regular bus trips.

Thanks for the tipps !

Since the Accord case company refused to make a suitable case for my tuba, I am searching for other solutions...

After digging out different ways of injectable foam and that kind of stuff, I thought maybe the easiest would be to put the tuba in a big enough case inside a gig bag, and fill the case with different sized bags containing that kind of product (http://www.storoshop.ch/epages/Storopac ... cts/109219" target="_blank) or (http://www.storoshop.ch/PELASPAN-Chips- ... -a-050-cbm" target="_blank)

This stuff is light, should absorb the shocks quite well, and is pretty cheap.

Did anyone try that out before ? It seems to be a decent solution, and allows to use the same case for almost any tuba...