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If I'm carrying a guitar in a gig bag, could I be denied entry..?


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I do not think you need to be worried. Some officials can be offended if you look like a hippy, so you might decide it is worth looking fairly smart when arriving. Officials generally only use accusations of illegal working to deny entry to persons they dislike for other reasons. Only worry if you want to spend many months in Thailand.

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5 hours ago, moonhiker said:

Could the IO assume that I'm one of those busker hippies and turn me around?

Yes, they could. The only thing it will depend on is what day it is and the mode of the IO that gets the great opportunity to welcome you to the wonderful Kingdom of Thailand.

 

 

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Depending on what airline they may not let you on because it is oversized for the cabin. Happened to me on Cathay Pacific a couple of years ago going to the USA and coming back home here. Honestly, no IO will look at the gig bag and guitar as a negative. Just put it down in front of the counter so they don't see it around your shoulder when doing check in. Big question is how many times have you been here in and out. 

 

What I mean not allowed on the plane is I had to go and wrap the guitar in a cardboard box and then put in oversized baggage. And get this, this is a small to medium sized acoustic not a full size.

Edited by holy cow cm
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34 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Guitars go through as special luggage the same as a surfboard , pushbike, golf clubs etc. its dropped and picked up from the special luggage desk. If you try and take it on as hand luggage they will tale it off you, its to big, it goes down the slide at the gate with baby strollers and gets loaded underneath

I have flown from Europe to Thailand on three separate occasions with guitars. Twice using gig bags and once in a hardcase. All were hand carried on board. No questions from airline, immigration or customs in Thailand.

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2 minutes ago, Toosetinmyways said:

I have flown from Europe to Thailand on three separate occasions with guitars. Twice using gig bags and once in a hardcase. All were hand carried on board. No questions from airline, immigration or customs in Thailand.

I suppose it comes down to the airlines policy, My experience has been the opposite, 6-8 trips with a guitar, at check-in they direct you to special baggage or taken off you at the gate. Where do you put the guitar when on the plane, a guitar in a hardcase wont fit in the overhead bin or under the seat in front ?

If by chance it fits in the overhead bin, I would be more concerned about the damage others could cause by stuffing a bag in on top

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54 minutes ago, FarFlungFalang said:

You can take a guitar as carry on if it’s in a soft case.

No not always. as I said from personal experience here at Suvarnabhumi and SFO, Cathay Pacific says no. Year before all other airlines said ok, but something for some airlines change.

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9 hours ago, bbi1 said:

Don't dress like a hippy, meaning get a nice clean haircut and don't wear old ripped clothes with food stains on your shirt, then you should be fine.

Precious advice indeed, to live on this planet!

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Been going back and forth to Thailand from US for 20 yrs straight, usually with a guitar, sometimes hard case, sometimes gig bag, EVA carrier.

Usually no problem. One year they said prefer if I carry in case broken, it would be my fault. I don't seem to have bookmarked FAA page on carry on music instrument, but fairly clear airlines "must" allow carry on of guitars (a few small exceptions). Try googling that and print the page out, put it in your bag.

Last time I flew a year ago, check in tried to give me some song and dance about limit to 41", "Company policy" excuse. I said there are very few guitars less than 41" overall, and your company policy is trumped by FAA regs. They hemmed and hawed, finally face saved by saying "Ok, this one time" (wasn't going to challenge that).

Last several trips when I get to boarding, they have me board right after wheelchairs so as to make sure I get room in closets. That is nice. Overhead bins are also longer than they used to be and can fit a bag in... just keep eye on to make sure tons of other carry ons aren't on top. Detune your guitar, maybe even put some socks near neck.

I've brought used guitars and new guitars. Occasionally I've checked them as fragile baggage, no problem (knock on wood), sometimes because I brought more than one guitar (I live here on retirement).

Keep a smile and friendly attitude regardless of how nuts check in may be. For immigration I sometimes open bag I'm carrying just to make sure it is one piece, show it to officers: they usually are interested just to break the boredom of job.

You can get a playable guitar here for around $100, but $30-40 ones are total pieces of <deleted>. Do not busk! 20k baht fine if no work permit and easy pickings for shake down. Some clubs may have "arrangement" with local police so you could do a few songs, but is it worth the risk?

Oh, and bring a set or two of spare strings (can be spendy here). Especially if staying at beach. Murder on strings and anything metal, lucky if last 3 weeks in my experience. Lots of guitar sites have advice pages on traveling with guitar. Check them out.

Having a guitar with you is good way to meet people. For some reason a person with a guitar seems more "approachable" than just sitting at beach with a brew.

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44 minutes ago, Emdog said:

Been going back and forth to Thailand from US for 20 yrs straight, usually with a guitar, sometimes hard case, sometimes gig bag, EVA carrier.

Usually no problem. One year they said prefer if I carry in case broken, it would be my fault. I don't seem to have bookmarked FAA page on carry on music instrument, but fairly clear airlines "must" allow carry on of guitars (a few small exceptions). Try googling that and print the page out, put it in your bag.

Last time I flew a year ago, check in tried to give me some song and dance about limit to 41", "Company policy" excuse. I said there are very few guitars less than 41" overall, and your company policy is trumped by FAA regs. They hemmed and hawed, finally face saved by saying "Ok, this one time" (wasn't going to challenge that).

Last several trips when I get to boarding, they have me board right after wheelchairs so as to make sure I get room in closets. That is nice. Overhead bins are also longer than they used to be and can fit a bag in... just keep eye on to make sure tons of other carry ons aren't on top. Detune your guitar, maybe even put some socks near neck.

I've brought used guitars and new guitars. Occasionally I've checked them as fragile baggage, no problem (knock on wood), sometimes because I brought more than one guitar (I live here on retirement).

Keep a smile and friendly attitude regardless of how nuts check in may be. For immigration I sometimes open bag I'm carrying just to make sure it is one piece, show it to officers: they usually are interested just to break the boredom of job.

You can get a playable guitar here for around $100, but $30-40 ones are total pieces of <deleted>. Do not busk! 20k baht fine if no work permit and easy pickings for shake down. Some clubs may have "arrangement" with local police so you could do a few songs, but is it worth the risk?

Oh, and bring a set or two of spare strings (can be spendy here). Especially if staying at beach. Murder on strings and anything metal, lucky if last 3 weeks in my experience. Lots of guitar sites have advice pages on traveling with guitar. Check them out.

Having a guitar with you is good way to meet people. For some reason a person with a guitar seems more "approachable" than just sitting at beach with a brew.

 

Why detune?

 

This is an edit as I've just Googled about flying with a guitar.

 

From Taylor's website. (Taylor are a major guitar manufacturer.):

 

"3. No need to de-tune before flying.

Whether your guitar is in the plane’s cabin or the cargo hold, the air is pressurized, which means there is no additional stress on the guitar. The idea that you should slacken the strings before flying (or extended periods of non-use) is a leftover notion from a bygone era, when guitars were built without adjustable truss rods, which made it more difficult to counteract the tension of the strings on the neck. Modern guitars have adjustable truss rods, which are factory-calibrated to balance the natural forward-pulling tension of the strings. Any damage that occurs to guitars during air travel usually happens as a result of baggage handlers, not air pressure. And a detuned guitar won’t provide any greater protection from impact in that scenario (we’ve done our own extensive drop tests). In general it’s not good to have your guitar strings heavily slackened for extended periods of time. The neck will start to back bow without the counter-tension of the strings."

Edited by macahoom
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On 1/28/2020 at 6:49 PM, moonhiker said:

Could the IO assume that I'm one of those busker hippies and turn me around?

That "hippie immigration law" dates originally back from 1979 – which must be about that time when the hippies began to hire long tail boats and sail from Koh Samui to Koh Phangan's Haad Rin "Sunrise Beach" to make bonfires, and play and sing, during the full-moon nights – so that law has been in force when I numerous times, mane years later, traveled with my various guitars in and out of the Kingdom; mainly in, as I have all four here after I moved permanently to an island in the Golf.

 

Immigration-hippie-notice.jpg.9c0b5d9639abae19e7143537872ab673.jpg

 

I was never asked anything by neither immigration officers, nor customs – however, I had my guitars "travelling" as fragile luggage, which must be safe enough as never anything happened apart from scratches on the case. As they are all 1960ies vintage guitars, so some scratches and marks over about 50 years makes a vintage look appear on the cases (photo is from 2020)...????

 

wIMG_9234_Guitar-case_head-cut-w300.jpg.67c713992e1bab5953a7a633a824201d.jpg

 

Edited by khunPer
Removed a failed image upload
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6 hours ago, macahoom said:

Detune your guitar, maybe even put some socks near neck.

I've never detuned my guitars when travelling – guitars seem to be perfect in detuning itself over time – if the socks have been used I would however be very afraid of have the strings spoiling by acid fumes...:whistling:

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   7 hours ago,  macahoom said: 

Detune your guitar, maybe even put some socks near neck.

 

1 hour ago, khunPer said:

I've never detuned my guitars when travelling – guitars seem to be perfect in detuning itself over time – if the socks have been used I would however be very afraid of have the strings spoiling by acid fumes...:whistling:

 

The quote "detune your guitar, maybe even put some socks near neck" was not mine.

 

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Thanks, folks, lots of interesting stories, advice! I was considering bringing one of my expensive electrics, which I would not dare letting out of sight... But I realized I wouldn't need any kind of additional stress while travelling in SE-Asia (the next time I'm going, I'll travel for months between Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and maybe Cambodia too). I'll probably just take one of my cheaper Charvels, take the neck off (will have a luthier install threaded inserts) and put it into my big, checked in luggage, problems solved. ???? 

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I suggested detuning guitar just as one more step to possibly reduce chance for breakage. Strings put incredible pull on neck, so I reckon lowering tension anywhere can't be a bad thing. It is not that hard to tune a guitar, so why not?

I've taken a tele or two in suitcase... works for me. There is a brand ("VoyageAir"?) of acoustic that has a folding neck & custom bag that looks like laptop bag when laptops were big. Have no experience so can't comment on quality of sound.

I've lightly scuffed some bags and cases, added some stickers to make new guitars look a little old... customs probably just concerned you're bringing one in to sell rather than personal use.

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