[sdiy] carry-on minisynth

[ASSI]

On Friday 16 April 2004 15:01, daryl groetsch wrote:
> this is a question for anyone who has flown in the
> states with homemade synth equipment in their carry-on
> luggage. i'm playing a small west coast tour and will
> be flying from portland to LA and don't trust the
> baggage handlers with anything fragile. my concern is
> maybe a bit paranoid, but is there any risk of my
> equipment getting confiscated or me not being allowed
> to board? i know bombs probably look pretty different
> than synths, but... anyone have any stories or advice?

I've traveled with a QY20 mini sequencer / GM synth in much less 
paranoid times and they would always sniff it for explosives and each 
time I would have to demonstrate that it works (one time I had 
forgotten to charge the accus and just barely made it through the demo 
song). For the sniffing part you have to give it into unknown hands 
anyway, without any protective packing, and it might be impractical to 
to demonstrate a synth when you don't know what kind of power supply 
might be around around. These days I'd be very reluctant to mess with 
multi-colored patch cords in the presence of an armed guard that just 
doesn't know what the heck you're doing... at least, avoid any FX 
sounds. ;-)

What you can do is call up the airline and arrange that the stuff is 
checked beforehand, put in a sealed box and travels in the cabin with 
you - they are used to musicians trying to stay close to their 
instruments. If you have a flightcase for the thing (I'd recommend 
getting one anyway), they'll just tape it up with stickers that get 
destroyed when tampered with. That way it will be handled with much 
more care and you escape the vagaries of being denied by over-cautious 
security staff.


Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46 microQkb/Omega Andromeda XTk/30 sonic heaven]>+

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