Don Ross' guitar destroyed. Prepare to cry.

[cary]

Originally Posted by Willy D

At the risk of hitting the "political" button - after several trips through US airports, this good old Canadian Kid has observed that most of the TSA agents I have seen would not be welcome in my country, home, or general vicinity without adult supervision ... rant over

That wasn't political at all. I dare say most of my fellow Americans would agree with you. The TSA is a travesty.

[martingitdave]

That's enough to make any guitar enthusiast angry and sad.

[justonwo]

Originally Posted by cary

That wasn't political at all. I dare say most of my fellow Americans would agree with you. The TSA is a travesty.

How dare you insult our beloved TSA!!

[MBE]

I'm shocked that Air Canada is stepping up so quickly. I have had many dealings with them, and most of them end with me saying to myself, "I will never fly with AC again". Until I find myself in a position once again where they are the only option...

As nice/right it is of them to cover the costs, they really need to investigate this and find out who the heck handled such an expensive item with such utter disregard. I really hope the culprit was caught on camera, and that at the very least they lose their job.

[BOOSE]

What I cannot get my head around is WHY?

I mean why on earth would someone do this random act of vandalism, what are they getting out of it?

[seannx]

Do we know if the case was locked? If so, that damage could have been done trying to break the lock and pry the case open. Alternatively, rough handling could have sprung the case open, causing the guitar to fall out and be damaged. Also possible, is that someone inspecting the guitar was in a hurry, and tried to force it back down in the case without being properly aligned. Imagine pushing the guitar in hard, with the back portion of the lower bout hitting the edge of the case.

[guitararmy]

Sure looks like it came out of the case and was crushed by other luggage...
I had one of my guitars inspected on a Southwest Airlines flight, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it in the same shape as when I checked it in.

[cyclistbrian]

Originally Posted by BOOSE

What I cannot get my head around is WHY?

I mean why on earth would someone do this random act of vandalism, what are they getting out of it?

I think it is just as likely the result of extra careless handling during luggage inspection with the uncanny avenue of covering up the "oopsie" by putting it back in the case.

Having said that it's just as bad. People should own their mistakes.

Flying stinks on so many levels. Between the airlines themselves and the random and malfunctioning security apparatus there is zero joy in air travel.

I mean it's nice to get there in a few hours and not have to go through the port authority, and possibly spend several days sitting next to screaming kid or an escaped axe murder like on the bus. But is there any other industry where "first class travel" simply means you board first and can actually move your legs?

[scuzbucket]

I knew all that percussive stuff would be bad for it in the long term.

[justonwo]

It's hard to imagine that someone would take the guitar out of the case and smash it. I wonder if they simply forgot to close the latches after inspecting the guitar? I can see where it may have fallen out of an unlatched case, was damaged, and then put back in. The person who discovered the mistake was probably not the same person that made the mistake. Regardless, someone at the airline should have owned up to it.

[Maryc-k]

Someone took the guitar out of the case, and then dropped it. Instead of admitting it, they put it back in the case and said nothing.

[Von Beerhofen]

So what might TSA's response have been then?

Something like 'During the flight the case became vaccuum and when inspectors opened it a rapid compression followed when air was violently sucked in. That's just not our fault.'

Ludwig

[Howard Klepper]

Hanlon's razor.

[devellis]

Looks to me like the guitar suffered an impact to the butt end on the face side, with the binding perhaps the point of contact across the bottom of the face. I actually think this could have happened with the guitar in the case if the impact was significant enough. In essence, the guitar would move in the case with enough force for that edge to smack into the case interior really hard. This wouldn't require that the case show any damage beyond what is evident or that the guitar be damaged outside of the case. But it would take a heck of an impact and a more-or-less "perfect" landing right on the bottom edge of the lower bout to do that damage to a guitar inside a good case.

The way the top has buckled suggests to me the kind of impact I'm describing but I'm no expert. If I'm right about the type of impact that caused the damage, I would expect more surface damage to the binding if the guitar incurred that impact outside of the case. If it happened while in the case, the binding wouldn't get scratched or superficially damaged but I would expect the type of buckling we see here. Also, I think an impact that severe could have caused the strap to move out of its original location,depending on exactly what that location was.

Obviously, this is all speculation on my part and the damage is pretty horrific, no matter how it happened. In a way, it might be even worse if it happened while the guitar was cased because it would take a heck of a lot of force for that degree of injury.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Hanlon's razor.

I learned a new term today. Thank you, Howard.