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Hello, all,

I'm going to be flying to Germany later this summer, and I am currently investigating possibilities for either getting an instrument over there or renting one locally while in the country. One option I have is to take my F tuba over in its MW flight case, but since I've never actually flown with the horn, I wanted to see if anyone has experience with these particular cases. It's the kind that is made to fit a specific horn exactly (the red wedge that fits the horn without a gig bag), and in this case, it's made to fit my MW 45-SLP. Before I bought the horn, I believe it made the trip from Iceland to this country in the case without any damage, so I assume it's good to go. However, I know that some people specially prepare their cases for long flights overseas, and I wanted to see if there are any tips that might help insure a safe voyage. Any info would be great!

Aaron H.

Great cases! When I was stationed in Germany, we outfitted most of our horns with these cases and the horns never sustained any damage from air our ground travel. The cases showed some wear and tear and still functioned perfectly. There's always a chance that the gorillas will drop it but there's only so much worrying one can do.

There are a couple of weaknesses of the MW flight case design that you could address if you wanted to invest some time and money in the problem...

-The latches are small and exposed (not recessed). They would be relatively easy to catch on something and shear them off. The case can be re-fit with recessed ATA twist lock latches (like Anvil cases), but it requires some fairly substantial surgery on the case to make that happen. I actually had a MW case that was rebuilt in that manner and it was great. I would do it again were I flying with a MW case.

-The wheels are too small and placed in such a way that they are easy to damage and virtually impossible to service. There are other types of wheels out there, such as the roller-blade style wheels that mount to the outside corners of the case. I used those. If the wheels themselves broke or chipped, I could access them for service quickly and easily.

-The handles on the case suck. The one "good" handle is on the bottom bow end and is spring loaded. The other handle WILL break off in transit as it is exposed.

The key to these cases being so good is the interior form-fit. Don't try to overthink that part of it.

Tom wrote:
-The latches are small and exposed (not recessed). They would be relatively easy to catch on something and shear them off. The case can be re-fit with recessed ATA twist lock latches (like Anvil cases), but it requires some fairly substantial surgery on the case to make that happen. I actually had a MW case that was rebuilt in that manner and it was great. I would do it again were I flying with a MW case.

Yup. I was worried about the latches breaking, too, so I put a heavy ratchet tie-down around the case extrior for extra hold-it-closed-ed-ness. Seemed to work fine.

Tom wrote:
-The wheels are too small and placed in such a way that they are easy to damage and virtually impossible to service. There are other types of wheels out there, such as the roller-blade style wheels that mount to the outside corners of the case. I used those. If the wheels themselves broke or chipped, I could access them for service quickly and easily.

Yup again. Mine now travels on a little fold-up luggage cart.

The body of the case is amazingly well-built, but be prepared to replace wheels, latches, and possibly handles.