Much has been made about the difficulty musicians have traveling with instruments. Â Airlines want them in the hold, musicians say no; some buy their instruments seats, the airline says no; customs says pay us a lot of money or we'll impound your violin, musicians say no. You get the picture. You might remember a few years ago when a musician by the name of Dave Carroll was traveling with his group Sons of Maxwell, when United Airlines broke his guitar. Â When they refused to have it fixed, the ensuing video he put together went viral, forcing the airline's hand. Â (Watch the video above)
Now it appears it may be dangerous for an instrument to sit locked in a room for any length of time.
A double-bass player with the interesting name of Ratzo B. Harris (must be a family name?) had a gig in a New York restaurant. Â He left the instrument and it's bow in it's case in a room overnight. Â When he arrived for sound-check the next day he "found the instrument with its back halfway off and a crack running almost the entire length." Â He was never totally reimbursed and, as you can imagine, a repaired instrument never sounds or feels quite the same. Mr. Harris tells another story about the cabbie whose smaller-sized car meant the neck of the double-bass had to stick out the window.
The driver managed to run the neck of the bass into a city bus.
By now, he's probably thinking clarinet lessons might be a good career move. Read Pop music? (NewMusicBox.com)