Advice wanted: taking a flight with my bolt-on bass

[Daren Allder]

Hi,
In January, I'm flying with BA in the UK to get to a weekend gig. I don't have a flight case for my bass (Sandberg TM5), just a soft bag.
So, I either need to get a suitable hard/flight case (£££) for it, or find a way to travel with it. BA won't allow it in the cabin: even if I take the neck off, that's too long for hand luggage.
Have you ever taken a neck off and put the body in your suitcase, than wrapped the neck up as a parcel (lots of bubble wrap etc.) to go on the hold?
Am I asking for trouble? Should I just bite the bullet and fork out for a good hard case?

 

[OldFunBass]

I don't know about in the UK, but here in the states there are often equipment rental places that will rent you a flight case. Works fine if you have a common shaped bass, like a jazz or p shape. I would be afraid to dismantle my bass to head out of town for a gig. If you did not get it back together perfect it would make for a bad gig. But you may be more skilled at that than I.

 

[garp]

While a hard case might seem like an extravagance for a single out-of-town gig, to OldFunBass's point, if you're traveling for a paid gig with just a single instrument, with disassembly/reassembly (twice) plus the pre-gig set-up and a possible shim, Murphy's Law is more likely than not to creep into your plans.

 

[user362432]

It's cheaper to buy Squier and fly with it.