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Here's a case I built several years ago but never used....



It weighs 52 1/2 lbs. with the tuba inside it. Any ideas on how to lighten it up a little?

This might be silly, but can you recover that weight from the horn, and not the case?

How much do the valves and slides weigh? If you remove all of the removable stuff, would you come in under weight?

Can't believe that is a homemade case, looks great!

6 mm plywood, 5 ply (Halex)

Wow! That must have been a nightmare to see! I'm glad your horn came through OK.

I was hoping that the added strength of the 5 ply plywood would make up for the thinness. It really IS very sturdy stuff, but I can see your point of view, especially considering your woodworking experience.

I read here suggestions of putting the horn in a gig bag, wrapping it thorougly in bubble wrap, and then encasing it in a sturdy corrugated cardboard box. This makes a lot of sense to me - in a fall, instead of having the structural integrity of the case being preserved, thereby transferring the energy of the impact to the horn, the cardboard box just absorbs the energy and crumples. Besides, I would assume that if I were to buy a horn, this would be the method of shipment anyway.

Any advice would be gladly accepted, especially from those who have used this method, or who are knowledgeable with the physics involved with such a situation.

Goodgigs,

Thanks for your kind words!

(He now steps up on the soapbox)

It seems to me that just about everything worth doing in life entails some kind of crapshoot; the best we can do is try our best to avoid crisis by careful preparation.

I'm a firm believer (as are other regulars on this forum) that driving is the best way to travel with a horn. In fact, I have driven close to 1000 miles (in each direction) to pick up horns that would be classified as "beaters", just to avoid the possibility of in - transit shipping damages.

However, where I part company with this policy is traveling overseas, etc., where driving just isn't feasible. Where some might turn down an opportunity to play in an "exotic" place for fear of damage to their axe, I feel life is too short to dismiss "once-in-a-lifetime" chances because of this, or some similar reason.

Bob, "who doesn't want to be 80 years old and stare at a perfect tuba in the corner at the expense of missing some exciting playing experiences" (...apologies to Mr. Denney et al.)

(He now trips and breaks his pelvis as he steps off said soapbox)

Tuben,

No, there isn't, but I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to add some 3/4" strips of wood to span the large (top & bottom) pieces of plywood. Of course that would also add to the weight, as well, but it sounds like a good idea.

Would you recommend something like this?



-B

P.S. I wish I had known about carbon fiber panels BEFORE I put this thing together......

Another thought -

How's about some kind of coating that could be painted onto the plywood? Fiberglass might be too heavy, but maybe there is something else that someone out there has had some good experience in using?

roweenie wrote:Another thought -

How's about some kind of coating that could be painted onto the plywood? Fiberglass might be too heavy, but maybe there is something else that someone out there has had some good experience in using?

Several here, have recommended truck bed liner (Like rhino shield)....

https://www.google.ca/search?q=truck+be ... hisham.com" target="_blank

____
P.s I fiberglassed my old Boosey EEb wooden case. The bell area is now super solid and all the seems are tight. It now, also, weighs about 12 lbs more than it did, weighing in at 49lbs...

Yes, they are also 1/4" (6 mm to be precise ) but at least they are somewhat smaller and have the extruded aluminum edges giving them a good amount of stability. There's really no flexing that's noticeable at those points.

I was thinking about the cardboard box idea - how's about lining the inside with a layer of 1" foam board insulation? It wouldn't add much weight, and it would give the box a little more rigidity. I have shipped horns this way with no problems.

I gave some thought to a cardboard & foam box, when we were booked at something across country last spring. I'd have put my little Eb tuba in it, so it would have been considerably smaller than what we're talking about here.

I was looking at the insulation foam you get at the big box "hardware" stores, pink or green depending on the store, which I would have glued to itself and the cardboard. Vaguely recall that there may be a glue specifically formulated for this foam, but maybe not. The lid would be on the end. What I had not worked out, was a good lid design that security couldn't accidentally put back wrong. A case like that would not be terribly strong -- at that size, maybe I could stand on it, if all went well, but a serious impact would likely be fatal. But I was hoping the cardboard would look more vulnerable. I've heard that someone, a few years back, checked his tuba just wrapped in bubble wrap, no case, on a flight to China, and it worked OK. My theory is that the airline handlers don't want to wreck stuff, they just push these suitcases around all day with no idea what's inside, and after a while it's just another case. Give them an obviously flimsy case (though really a lot stronger than it looks because of 2 inches of bonded foam), and they'll give it a break.

But in the end we had loaner tubas at our disposal, so no tuba travel needed. That would have been a very long and expensive drive, by the way, really out of the question.

Donn,

That is a good point. A cardboard box marked "fragile", etc. might get treated a little differently than a big hulking wooden box.......

I suppose you could avoid the "TSA incorrectly closing the box" by requesting to be present during screening (which is provided upon request, according to their website). Most larger airports have a place that is specifically set aside for screening oversize luggage, hazardous materials, and luggage carrying firearms. I would imagine the screening could be carried out there.

Incidentally, which part of the horn would you all consider to be most vulnerable in an accident? The bell? The pistons?

This horn has a detachable bell (the bell will be traveling in its own similarly-built case which lies within the parameters of size and weight, with lots of room for socks and the like) so that is not a consideration here.

I've got another question:

I've seen cellists and guitarists stow their axes overhead on aeroplanes. How do they get to skate past the 22"×14"×9" maximum size allowance for carry on luggage?

I actually think that this horn, without the bell or case, would fit in the overhead also. Its dimensions are 28"×18"×9".....

I don't think your case will fit in the overhead.
Where are you traveling?
Peace ASG

roweenie wrote:I've got another question:

I've seen cellists and guitarists stow their axes overhead on aeroplanes. How do they get to skate past the 22"×14"×9" maximum size allowance for carry on luggage?

I actually think that this horn, without the bell or case, would fit in the overhead also. Its dimensions are 28"×18"×9".....

Depending on where you're flying, don't bet on the overhead being available.
It seems that every time I fly for business, I end up on a plane so small that I can't even stand up. I'm only 6'-0" tall (ok, maybe more with shoes on).
Every time I get on one of those little planes, I have to hand over my carry-on bag so they can put it under the plane. The overhead bins just aren't as big on those little planes.
My most recent flight was from Raleigh to Chicago on just such a plane.

Here's my logic:

Standard guitar case: 10" x 48" x 15"

Detachable bell tuba without case: 9 1/2" x 30" x 17".

(They'd better have a pretty good excuse for denying permission considering these stats).

See what the TSA says: Musical Instruments

... with special attention to this possibly somewhat irritating distinction:

TSA wrote: Pack brass instruments in your checked baggage.

Bring your stringed instruments, within carrier size limitations, as carry-on items.

I believe this is fairly recent policy, thanks to vigorous lobbying from AFM possibly among others, and I suppose the popular youtube thing about the broken guitar may have helped. We may need to get something out there for a broken trombone or something, but sequels are a tough business.

But the TSA isn't there when you board the plane and they don't have any real reason to care about any of that. They see the tuba when it gets to the x-ray machine, which could be an issue right there, don't know. Past that, you're really dealing with the airline. The main accomplishment of the legislative action was supposed to be some standardization of their policies, as opposed to significant liberalization. Whether it's now effective I don't know - they gave the bureaucracy a couple years to work it out, and the stuff I see on line is mostly a couple years old. If you care, that's a job for you - track down recent information on airline policies.

*

roweenie wrote:Her answer to me: go to the airport with your horn and ask the people working there at the counter what they would do!

That would be the check-in counter, I presume. Without a boarding pass, you'd have a hard time getting to a gate, to talk to that crew, and they're closer to the final call. The flight crew trumps them, though. Without a real airline policy on the point, you don't know what's going to happen when you try to go. They of course would rather see you check the thing, so they don't have much incentive to offer you a variety of reassurances. I guess this means kind of lawyering your way through this, if so inclined. That is, if you can make a solid case based on the official rules, and you're willing to bet that they'll back down if presented with that case.

How about this: Put strings on it and call it a guitar! Mount the bridge down at the bottom of the big side, and tell them it's an experimental variation on the principle National Reso-Phonic guitars are based on. This is going to be basically a lap steel, so you don't really need a neck, but you'll need to learn to play open tuning with a slide, like you've done it before (and with no neck you'll have to know the positions blind.) You can tell them you're taking it to someone who'll be able to play it for real, but it will help a lot if you can play it right there. I don't know, maybe a neck would be worth thinking about, since it would give you some place to put the head. Extra credit for hooking the valve pistons up to string dampers, and figuring out some way to incorporate that into your act.