Well I made it. Not sure if I mentioned this on the last post but I called every single Moog dealer within a 2 hr. radius from my house in New Jersey and not a single one of them had the ATA case or a Gig bag. So I ended up buying a generic 61 key keyboard bag labeled “deep” from Guitar Center for $29. It has only modest padding and was about 10" too wide at each end but did the trick.
I wrapped corners, etc w/bubble wrap then took straps to fold back the loose ends of the bag. Step 1 a success.
Airport morning (yesterday 5:50am). I arrive at Newark expecting a ghost town. Hope. Mile long lines at all 3 check in points of terminal C. The packed keyboard berely fit through the xray machine. Waiting in anticipation for the TSA employee to say “what the fu..”, he turned and pointed. A 2nd guy says “what’s this!”. I say “a ‘vintage’ synth” (HA!). He took some cotten swabs and checked for GSR, didn’t even bother to open it, I was on my way (Step 2 completed).
Arriving at the gate with about 10 mins of time before door closing, a pair of business me in suits out hustle me to to the podium. The steward busts one of the guys because his laptop bag is too ‘thick’, she points to the steel “if your bag fits here…” thing in the corner, I figure I’m screwed.
I exercise Victor Wooten style ninja technique by placing my other bag to the side (it just barely would fit in the overhead), turn slight sidewise (so it looks like a sharks fin!) and manager to make my way through “have a nice flight”. (step 3 done).
Walk down gang plank, this thing is getting heavy (good thing it’s not a Voyager or a Matrix 12). Plane is packed, but way in the back (i’m in front of plane) there is a spot in the overhead that is perfect except it’s ontop of two pieces of lugage). Sliding the my prized possession in, I sit in my seat. (step 4 in the books).
Just before landing, I asked the nice lady if I can move to the free seat I saw in the back of the plan. Goodness. After landing and the “ding” sound, I jump up, carefully pull my Moog down and onto my lap just before the animals break loose.
Talk about stress. Maybe if I was made of money and could just buy a new Stage at Guitar center it wouldn’t be such a big deal but I got this TE in perfect condition from a guy on eBay that was 1 hr. from my house and he never even played it.
In retrospect, I think I would have done better and with alot less hassle shipping in a well wrapped box. I fully expect that Moog will wrap and do that for my LP’s journey home after the upgrade.
Irony: I saw about 5 other people in the airport with Guitars (one 5’ short woman even had a full scale bass on her back); They were all calm cool and collected. I think a modular in 41 pieces would be easier to transport!
Thanks for the tips guys. Really looking forward to the factory tour, the demo room and meeting a few of the good people that do what they do for us.
Glad you and your baby made it okay.