RinconMtnErnie - Posted - 06/18/2023:  20:40:39

I bought a BAM Overhead case several years ago, during Covid. I didn't get a chance to use it until recently. So I've only used it on one airplane trip, but there were three legs each way for a total of six, and four of the planes were smaller commuter plans with less overhead space.

The BAM Overhead case is as small a case as you can get. It's just big enough to hold a fiddle/violin without a bow. The bow is transported in separate tube that straps to the case. It's a great case for air travel! If you have to, you can take the bow tube off. I did this on one flight where it looked like overhead  space was going to be tight, but in hindsight it was unnecessary.

I wouldn't want to use it for anything but air travel. Not having bow storage inside the case would get old real quick.

For unrelated reasons, earlier this year I bought a small forager pocket that I attach to my belt. I got it to keep rosin, a tuner and a chin rest barrel wrench handy, especially out in public. I did this because I have multiple cases, and I don't want to have multiple cakes of rosin or tuners for each case. Plus I had somebody knock a rosin cake off a table when I was playing out once. My double fiddle case won't hold a shoulder rest, but I'm not using shoulder rests these days so the forager pocket is all I need.

Because I hardly put anything in the pocket, it doesn't bulge out very much. It works best with a shirt that is tucked in, or an untucked shirt that is not buttoned. The particular bag I have is the Mystery Ranch Forager Pocket.

Because I don't use a shoulder rest, it made sense to take the forager pocket on my airplane trip. I could have used my phone tuner app, but the tuner is light so I took it. I left the chin rest barrel wrench at home in case it was too pointy for TSA security purposes. I did add some extra strings in the original cardboard envelope. It would have worked better if I had moved them from the original envelope to a plastic bag.

Regarding the case again, I did an unintentional drop test from knee height. It was a case of juggling hand luggage. It would have been better to have the case on my back, but I had a work laptop with me and it was more important to protect that. Anyway, I dropped the case with the fiddle inside. No harm done!

That's it for this topic. At some point I need to review my tenor viola, but I'm waiting until I get a new case for it.

Edited by - RinconMtnErnie on 06/18/2023 20:43:09

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