Which case should I take

[Chris W.]

Hey cafe. I'm going to the Swannanoa Gathering in August. I'll be flying into Asheville with my Northfield, the usual mando accessories, some clothes, my backpack, and a few electronic goodies (phone, laptop, etc..) I have the TKL prestige hardshell case that came with the Northfield, but I also have a Travelite F-style case. Which case would you bring and why?

[MysTiK PiKn]

TKL

Protection. The case is sacrificial. Mine certainly is. Trash the case, save the mando. Does yours serve another purpose? Bands on the road use $serious$ cases for good reasons; most of them unpredictable.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I always use my Travelite to take any of my 3 mandolin outside my home. Mike Marshall trusts one to protect his Lloyd Loar,& several Cafe members use them to protect,Gils.,Dudes,Ellis's etc. The really great thing about the Travelites,apart from being light,is that the soft but tough,padded outer covering,doesn't show scuffs,scratches or anything else like a harder outer case might do.If you use the shoulder strap loops on the Travelite with a strap,you'll never know you're carrying it,
Ivan

[Ray(T)]

Came across Tim o'Brien on an internal flight in NZ several years ago and he was using a Travelight (or something which looked like one). If one is good enough for a Nugett..........

I suppose it depende whether you carry it on or have to check it in. If the latter, I wouldn't trust either.

[UsuallyPickin]

It is all a question of whether you are carrying on your instrument or you are shipping it as baggage. Or if you are concerned that your mandolin will get bumped into baggage. Flight cases are heavy to carry around but if I fly I usually carry my instruments in one. If I am going to be carrying my instrument with out the dubious assistance of other people I will carry it in a lighter case. I have never had a mandolin kicked into baggage . I did have a guitar treated that way that survived that experience sans flight case. An experience I wish not to repeat. The other opinion I will share is a liking of backpack straps on cases. No matter what weight a case is more easy to carry on your shoulders than in one hand or from a single shoulder strap. About Swannanoa it is built in the foothills so everywhere you go is generally both up and down.... not far but not level. Bring comfy shoes. A second note. Many of the rooms do not have A/C....... R/

[JeffD]

I think either will work fine for the airline if you are careful. But at Swannoa there is a lot of walking frome here to there, and I found that even a light case gets heavy in a hurry. So take the lighter case and be happy you don't play long neck banjo.

[Chris W.]

Thanks everyone. Yes I will carry the instrument on board. No way would I ever check it. I think I'm leaning towards the Travelite case. The shoulder straps sound like they will come in handy. I'll be sure to wear some good walking sneakers too. Didn't think about that. I live on the beach and wear flip-flops most of the time. Since some of y'all have gone to Swannanoa, anything else you would recommend to bring along??

Thanks

[MikeEdgerton]

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. If you plan on putting that case in an overhead compartment keep in mind it won't be alone and those folks flying with carry on luggage will jam it in as hard as they can. I watched a guy place a fiddle in a Travelite type case in the overhead and shut the door. A while later the flight attendant opened it and he was screaming because they were putting suitcases in with his fiddle. Be realistic about what could happen. Just because others have traveled with no problems doesn't mean you will.

[mandroid]

My own gear Fiberglass Eastman .. love the back pack carry straps ..

I Have a Timbuk2 bike messenger bag for the other stuff ..
I'd tend to not want to set my [Handle only] case down, in a festival setting
Since That gives someone else a chance to grab it..

[UsuallyPickin]

A poncho or umbrella, handkerchiefs and a water bottle or sealable coffee mug ...... Western North Carolina has high humidity very warm temps and thunderstorms ......
This is a great camp with pretty good jamming also ... R/

[Ivan Kelsall]

If you use a Travelite with 2 shoulder straps & carry it like a back pack,the weight almost vanishes & leaves both hands free for 'whatever' !,
Ivan

[liestman]

I would carry on the mandolin in the TKL and check a suitcase as baggage, into which you have put a gig bag with straps that you can use to carry the mandolin around Swannanoa.

[David Smith]

A travelite in the overhead works fine and you will be glad for the lighter load when you get to Swannanoa. You will wear typical summer duds during the day but you may need a light (rain) jacket for the evenings which can do double duty in case of a shower. You will really enjoy The Gathering. Classes are fun, the teachers accessible, jams fantastic and evening concerts worthy of a stadium. The mandolin world is pretty small so we get to know and learn from the greatest players in the world and meet some of the nicest people on the planet.

[mandroid]

I have Checked my Mandolin* as Accompanied Luggage and packed it in it's case within a duffle bag

strapped onto my back pack frame . so well padded with things like my Black Funeral attendance Suit Bag around it.
*1922-A4 Original hard shell case .. I needed a friend but my mandolin had to do..

[Steve Ostrander]

Travelite. They're light AND protective. You could throw your mando across the room in a Travelite and it would be none the worse for wear. Don't try it at home, though.

[sblock]

I might be expressing a minority opinion, here, but I -- and many others like me -- would sooner opt for a hardshell flight case, like a Calton or Hoffee, than a Travelite case. The two different types of case both have their own advantages, as others have already suggested. But they also have their drawbacks. The "best" choice here, IMO, depends very much on how you assess the risk that the mandolin will be removed from your immediate control during air travel. If the mandolin is almost certainly going to be placed inside an overhead bin in a large-body aircraft flown by an airlines that treats musicians fairly decently, then the Travelite case is the clear winning choice. It's lighter and convenient, yet fully protective under those (limited, controlled) circumstances. But not under other circumstances!

If you think (as I do) that there's some non-zero chance that your mandolin is going to be taken away from you and stored inside the airplane's luggage compartment, together with all those hard passenger bags, then I would not trust a Travelite. You're better off with a durable flight case that gives more substantial protection. And if you wind up, during your connecting flights, on a small commuter aircraft that doesn't have overhead bins large enough to stow a mandolin case, they definitely will take it away from you. And if you wind up boarding a crowded aircraft of any size late in the boarding process, when the overhead space is mostly taken up, then the flight attendant will definitely take away your mandolin and store it elsewhere. If you're lucky, it will go into the onboard closet -- so it pays to be nice to the attendant! But if you're not lucky, it will wind up in the luggage compartment along with the bags. It might even get rained upon during baggage handling. Is your case waterproof? It might be placed on automated conveyor belts or slid down chutes or ramps, to land with a solid thud. So, how lucky do you feel?!? I would much prefer to travel with my mandolin inside a carbon-fiber Hoffee case, which also has a lining of Thinsulite underneath the padding, to better protect against thermal shock. Yes, this type of case weighs more (and costs a LOT more, alas!) than a Travelite, but -- to my way of thinking -- it's a small price to pay for the added security against potential assaults by airline baggage handlers, the vagaries of the weather, and so forth. My mandolin is worth thousands, and so is the OP's Northfield. My case only cost hundreds. I fly a whole lot (I have Gold Premier Status on United Airlines) and I often take an instrument with me. In practice, only VERY RARELY does it leave my immediate control, but I have to be prepared for that eventuality. So it's a Hoffee or Calton or Pegasus (etc.) case for me...

That said, if the OP's choice has to be between a TKL case (rather limited durability, not waterproof, and definitely not that well padded) and a Travelite (lighter, much better all-around protection, not waterproof, and certainly not very durable), then pick the Travelite! And one last virtue of the Travelite is that it's basically a "sacrificial" case. If it gets bumped hard, the case suffers damage, but not -- hopefully! -- the mandolin. But the case is so inexpensive that you just buy another one for the next trip when it gets dinged or ripped or the zipper breaks/jams, which it will!

[outsidenote]

What I do is to take a case like a travelite and I carry my mandolin on my back when I check in. I make sure not to take anything else on board except a very small bag with a book and my iPad. I stand facing the check in person and they don't even see the mandolin. I have always been able to carry it on. I fly out of JAX to CLT fairly often.

I do worry about it though and haven been brave enough to take my Ellis. I take my nice Gibson A9 though.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From sblock - "You're better off with a durable flight case that gives more substantial protection.". Unless the mandolin case is going to be subjected to a LOT of crushing pressure,i wouldn't agree. A Travelite despite it's lightness, is still a hard shell case with a well paded interior & a padded exterior as well. As for being protected,if a case is stowed in the a/c baggage hold,then the biggest chance for it being damaged is when it's being un-loaded from the a/c. If a hard shell case is dropped,then it's likely to suffer damage,even if the mandolin inside is ok. Cafe member Peter Jenner had his Hiscox case dropped from the baggage hold during a visit to Cuba & the corner was completely smashed off, making the case unusable.I gave him my own unused Hiscox case to replace it when he visited me. If the same thing had happened to a Travelite,the case itself would have suffered hardly any damage (IMHO) & the mandolin inside would still be ok as well. We must remember that when it comes down to weight,the heavier the object,the harder the impact when it's dropped.
From outsidenote - "I do worry about it though and haven been brave enough to take my Ellis" -Guess which case my own Ellis is in. I'll give you a clue - the name begins with Travelite !!!
Ivan

[MikeEdgerton]

I've made this offer before but I'll make it again. As long as you're my weight or less I'll let you stand on my Calton case with my F-5G in it if you'll let me stand on your Travelite with at least as valuable an instrument in it that you own. Take my word for it, you really don't want to do this.

Travelite cases have their place. They are great in a controlled environment but no match for an uncontrolled environment like a cargo hold of a plane. If I had my choice of what I was going to carry around a festival it would be the Travelite but if there was a remote chance that my mandolin was going to be checked I'd want it in a hard case because you don't know what is going to happen. The drop would be the least of my worries.

[Ryk Loske]

This whole kerfuffle is going on in the world of mandolin. A small instrument carried in a small case. The difference in weight from the Calton we have and the Travelite is noticeable but certainly not onerous. Mike's test cuts right to the core of the discussion. I've schlepped mandolins in a Calton up and down hills in camp situations and have always appreciated its protection. If you think a flight case is just so awful a burden to carry around .... pack a gig bag for when you're at camp and protect your instrument in a flight case when you're traveling.

Ryk

[UsuallyPickin]

The weight of a mandolin case whether it is flight rated or not is not an, " ownerous " haha burden either way. Guitar cases are a different story < sigh. But still my concern for my wooden friends out weighs , hmmm , my desire to lighten my load..... R/

[Rush Burkhardt]

I travel a lot, and when I travel my mandolin goes with me, in the airplane [hundreds of thousands of miles; I've NEVER had to check my mandolin!] or car or on my back, in a Travelite case! PS I have several other options, including a beautiful TKL.

[sblock]

Those who use Travelite cases have pointed out their many virtues. But face it, these are not hardened flight cases, and they simply will not support heavier loads in the way that a fiberglass or carbon-fiber case will. Mike Edgerton has mentioned this already. A Hiscox case, though hardshell, is -- in my opinion -- just not in the same league as (say) Calton, Hoffee, Price, or Pegasus.

Travelite cases are not water-resistant, and they will not protect your instrument for very many minutes in a rainstorm.
Travelite cases do not withstand significant crushing loads the way a fiberglass of carbon-fiber flight case will.
The long zippers on Travelite cases are truly an Achilles heel, and if these get pinched or crushed during transport, they won't close -- or open!
The canvas on the outside of a Travelite case is easily cut or abraded.
The padding inside a Travelite case is not especially spongy, and it therefore subjects your instrument to significantly higher G-forces when dropped from a height.
Basically, a Travelite case protects instruments by getting crushed itself. It is, in this sense, a sacrificial product. And it works pretty well in that regard, but you have to be prepared to buy a new case every so often. Good thing they're pretty cheap.


A Travelite case just doesn't perform like this or like this l.
So, if your mandolin ever gets placed in with the checked baggage -- despite your best efforts to keep it out! -- you may not want it inside a Travelite case. You're safer in a hardshell flight case, I'd contend.

[Austin Bob]

I have to agree with others above in that I would not take my mandolin on an airplane without it being in a Calton/Hoffee type of case.

The Travelite is a great case, and would be ideal for walking around campground, unless you happen to get caught in a heavy downpour with no shelter available. But it simply won't take a heavy crush load that might occur on an airplane. It would probably be fine 99.9% of the time, but I prefer not to gamble with a mandolin that I plan to keep the rest of my life.

My Hoffee also has a Thinsulate lining, which can help to add a bit of extra protection from temperature changes as well. I'll gladly trade all that extra protection for a few extra pounds.

Even with a hardshell case, it's still lighter than a banjo or guitar.

[almeriastrings]

Those who use Travelite cases have pointed out their many virtues. But face it, these are not hardened flight cases, and they simply will not support heavier loads in the way that a fiberglass or carbon-fiber case will. Mike Edgerton has mentioned this already. A Hiscox case, though hardshell, is -- in my opinion -- just not in the same league as (say) Calton, Hoffee, Price, or Pegasus.

The problem is that it totally depends on what kind of trauma they are subjected to. This is, of course, a problem in that you can't know this in advance....

If I was going to toss a mandolin down a flight of concrete stairs, I would personally prefer it to be in a Hiscox or Travelite over any of the others. These cases over excellent shock protection and have low self-weight, reducing G forces from impacts. They have "bounce" and very good inner suspension. CF cases are not the best for impacts - and if they are damaged, they are virtually impossible to repair. I know a couple of people who have had bad experiences with CF cases to date, they were both damaged after sudden impacts (one was an Accord guitar case, the other a violin case).

If someone was going to jump on the case - well, it would be toast in a Travelite. Same if it hit a sharp object (I had a banjo arrive once where what looked the a forklift prong had gone into the case - a TKL). Fiberglass has a lot going for it in terms of compression resistance and good impact resistance.

It is all about compromises and what you might reasonably expect to happen... no case is 100% ideal for all possible eventualities. I have quite a lot of cases (guitar and mandolin), including several Caltons, a Pegasus, Hiscox, TKL's, and a few others such as Eastmans... the Calton dread cases weigh a ton.... any mandolin case feels light by comparison. Mostly, I prefer the Pegasus for mandolin and the Hiscox for guitar.