Don’t trust an airline with your instrument

B.B. KING was famous for being inseparable from Lucille, his Gibson guitar. So much so that when taking a plane, he would book his six-string its own seat, often under the unimaginative nom de hache of “Mr Guitar”. It is understandable that musicians prefer not to check their precious instruments into the hold. Airlines do not have a history of treating them so gently. Even a steel guitar can be made to weep.

Perhaps the most infamous horror story resulted in “United Breaks Guitars” a series of revenge songs recorded by Dave Caroll that went viral in 2009. Mr Carroll watched aghast from his plane window as ground handlers tossed about his $3,500 axe, after retrieving it from the hold. Though the neck of his guitar was plainly broken, it took nine months and the release of three mocking songs before the airline coughed up $1,200 for the repairs.

That incident may have been...Continue reading