The problem is that the mandolin bare naked is 2 inches longer than the maximum length for carry-on.
And I'd be scared carrying it on a plane without rigid protection. I can too well imagine some tired passenger, bleary and hasty after twenty hours of travel, dropping his rigid suitcase on top of it, and then shoving vigorously, trying to get the bin closed.
I have a design for a box that meets airline checked baggage limits. However I can't fit both instruments in it. Even if I get creative and put one in upside down and head down, I still end up with only 2/3 of an inch of foam between the box sides and the instruments and between one instrument and the other. Even if I put them crosswise I can't get more clearance than that.
I don't have a computer program to model this but my intuition starts shifting nervously as I imagine the box being bashed and thumped and bumped with the instruments jiggling inside in the flexing foam. If I made the box oversized (but within limits of what they will carry) I could do it, but it's probably cheaper to check a second box.
Whereas the octave mandolin can have an inch and a half of foam between it and the box walls if it goes in the non-oversized box by itself. Plus I can fit the octave mandolin stand and music stand in separate compartments in the box. They won't have any padding, but they won't hurt the instrument rattling around in a separate compartment, and they're neither easily damaged nor particularly expensive.
And a smaller box would give more flexibility in terms of loading things into cars, and taking things to filk circles and such.
Weirdly enough I keep getting distracted by wonderful ideas on how to make the box more interesting. A latching mechanism using a central gear that drives two racks in opposite directions. Electrowire and LED decorations.
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And I'd be scared carrying it on a plane without rigid protection. I can too well imagine some tired passenger, bleary and hasty after twenty hours of travel, dropping his rigid suitcase on top of it, and then shoving vigorously, trying to get the bin closed.
I have a design for a box that meets airline checked baggage limits. However I can't fit both instruments in it. Even if I get creative and put one in upside down and head down, I still end up with only 2/3 of an inch of foam between the box sides and the instruments and between one instrument and the other. Even if I put them crosswise I can't get more clearance than that.
I don't have a computer program to model this but my intuition starts shifting nervously as I imagine the box being bashed and thumped and bumped with the instruments jiggling inside in the flexing foam. If I made the box oversized (but within limits of what they will carry) I could do it, but it's probably cheaper to check a second box.
Whereas the octave mandolin can have an inch and a half of foam between it and the box walls if it goes in the non-oversized box by itself. Plus I can fit the octave mandolin stand and music stand in separate compartments in the box. They won't have any padding, but they won't hurt the instrument rattling around in a separate compartment, and they're neither easily damaged nor particularly expensive.
And a smaller box would give more flexibility in terms of loading things into cars, and taking things to filk circles and such.
Weirdly enough I keep getting distracted by wonderful ideas on how to make the box more interesting. A latching mechanism using a central gear that drives two racks in opposite directions. Electrowire and LED decorations.