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Richard Jernigan -> RE: The Visesnut guitar case (Apr. 18 2016 16:21:55)
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Wow.
I had forgotten that he used Ramon Montoya's Esteso in the demonstration. I've played that guitar a little bit---I don't think I would have confidence enough in any case whatsoever to stand on it with that instrument in it!
But Richard Bruné seems to be okay with it.
I have a Reuer case I bought years ago from Guitar Solo in San Francisco, while the store was still on Clement Street. It´s immense, heavy, thick fiberglass-foam construction (though not as immense or heavy as the Mark Leaf case I have.) The story was that the maker would demonstrate by throwing it out of a second story window onto the pavement below---but he used an old beater guitar.
The Reuer case has been retired. The last time I used it was when I took the Ramirez blanca to Bali for a couple of months. The foam beneath the cloth lining has turned into some kind of thick syrupy black goop....not due to Bali I think, it was in an air-conditioned room the whole time, except when it was flying.
The Ramirez has logged about a million airline miles in the Mark Leaf case, and only went astray once. I didn't trust the latches on it, and I don't have a cover to fit it, so I would wind glass filament packing tape around the whole case, covering and securing the latches. After they began opening up your luggage to look for bombs I started leaving a small roll of tape in the string compartment, but they seem to have been satisfied with just X-raying it.
The Arcangel and a collector's item classical went from Honolulu to Austin via UPS, in Karura carbon fiber cases in case covers, packed in thick tri-wall cardboard boxes.
The Arcangel came from the USA to Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands in a fairly standard molded plywood double arch case, case cover, bubble wrap and a thick cardboard guitar box. I went to the terminal to meet the plane. The baggage handler moved the fork lift with a capacious box up to the side of the plane. He didn't run the lift up quite high enough, so rather than climb down, fire up the fork lift, raise the lift less than a foot and climb back up, he looked around for something to stand on. The guitar box looked about right, so he laid it on its side on the floor of the fork lift box and stood on it. The Marshallese ground crew foreman was standing next to me. With the calmness I had learned to employ with Marshallese people I said, "Rikín, that's my guitar he's standing on."
Rikín sauntered out onto the ramp and spoke quietly to the baggage handler, who stepped off the guitar box and waved to me in apology.
After the baggage had been unloaded and checked by the drug dog, we opened up the cardboard box and looked the guitar over. It was okay. It was time for me to catch the commuter flight back to the north end of the atoll. Rikin said,¨Richard, some time you come play that guitar for us?"
"Sure."
RNJ
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