Have you ever been to a show or concert and wondered how they ever managed to get all of that gear to the venue safely? Well here comes the answer, flight cases. These are an absolute must for serious touring musicians. Super strong, durable and safe. Here’s a short look into guitar flight cases.
Being on the road for months at a time not only takes its toll on the artists involved but also on the gear. With sometimes dozens of crew members carrying all the gear to and from the transport, setting it up and stripping it down, gear can take serious beating. Also once everything is packed into its box to be put back on the transportation, its gets thrown around like the boxes empty not full of expensive equipment.
This is why we need flight cases for our guitars. These are no ordinary guitar cases. While a hard guitar case is strong and tough, flight cases take these attributes to a new level. They are super strong to withstand the beating they take on several month long tours around the world. Unlike a hard guitar case these are made from the very strongest materials, aluminium, polypropylene, astraboard. These are not joking, they mean business!
As well as being as strong as possible, they are safe. Locks on the outside prevent any one of the hundreds of people who handle the boxes from getting inside. Only those you need to get it, do so. Not only are they safe from being opened up and the contents stolen or sabotaged, they are all totally padded internally, with shock absorbing foam custom cut to fit your precious guitar.
Sadly all this strength and security means there has to be some sort of draw back. The materials used to construct these cases are not always light and the internal fittings add to the weight too. If you are playing at your local pub, do you really need to be carrying all this extra weight with you?
Not only are they heavy, they are very bulky. You are going to need some room to store these, so unless you have it you might be better checking out an alternative case.
Another negative point is that flight cases are pretty damn expensive compared with a regular hard or soft guitar cases. Unless you have top of the range gear and really move it around a lot, is a flight case really needed? Maybe you would be better off with a soft case, or if you do gig regularly a normal hard guitar case might be a better option for you.
As you can see flight cases do have a job to do, though generally its not with the average Joe. If you are heading out for a long stint on the road or have a really expensive guitar then flight cases might be just what you need, otherwise, check out your other options before splashing out.