Klarinet Archive - Posting 000664.txt from 1998/12

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bass clarinet airline carry-on
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 21:28:55 -0500

If you have contact with the airline prior to your
flight, and they inform you that your bass clarinet
will not be allowed in the passenger compartment of
the plane (or your apprehension is so great that you
wish to prepare for this eventuality), there is a
way to protect your instrument such that it will
survive the treatment it receives by baggage
handlers when they place it under (and remove
it from) the cargo hold of the plane.

Bass clarinet cases are not designed to protect
the instrument from the type of damage you fear.
As somebody previously implied, the keywork will be
damaged in a good bass case if it encounters enough
of an impact. Thus, you can prepare the instrument
for flight at home before going to the airport for
your flight:

(1) Purchase a carboard box that is large enough to
hold your bass clarinet case (you will not be
putting your case inside this box).

(2) Purchase an ample supply of large-bubbled bubble
wrap, and an ample supply of styrofoam peanuts/
popcorn (whatever you like to call it).

(3) Individually wrap each component of your bass
clarinet in the bubble wrap by laying a piece
of the bubble wrap flat and rolling the component
up inside of it. The bubbles should be on the
inside, in contact with the component. Tape the
loose end against the outside of the wrap, such
that you have a nicely self-contained protection
cocoon for each component.

(4) Depending on where your cardbord box opens (on a
long side, or from the top), you will want to fill
it a quarter full with styrofoam peanuts in order
form a protective layer along the opposite side.

(5) Place the lower (longest) component of your bass
clarinet (now well-wrapped and protected in bubble-
wrap) in side the box against (on top of) the styro-
foam peanuts already inside.

(6) Insert each individually bubble-wrapped component
of your instrument inside the box, adding styrofoam
peanuts all around each component as you insert it
inside the box.

(7) Leave enough empty space near the closing end of the
box, such that you may -- at last -- create a protective
peanut cushion at the closing end of the box by filling
that open space with peanuts, such that they are flush with
the closing flaps (or lid) when you seal the box.

Having done all of the above and taped the box shut, your
instrument is now very well protected against any possible
impact which might result from rough handling. The components
of your bass will not come into direct contact with each other
or (more importantly) with any rigid surface or barrier which
might bend keys or crack wood. Each component is literally
floating inside of a double cushion of air created by the
bubbles and peanuts combined. This packing methodology is
effective whether you're checking the instrument into the
cargo hold of a plane, or shipping it via UPS to another
part of the country.

Neil

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