Posted on 09/10/2006 8:02:03 PM PDT by Westlander
Been there, etc.
That is a very specialized type of insurance that hardly anyone offers.
And then, it is expensive like malpractice insurance, and gets cancelled after one claim.
Musicials don't make what doctors do, either, so it is conceivable that insurance would be beyond their means.
Stradivarius isn't a brand carried by the WalMart down the road from the trailer park.
There was a reasonable solution. Travellers would carry their delicate goods themselves, purchasing additional cargo space (a second seat) when necessary. If you want something done right, do it yourself.
Reasonability of course has no place in our PC game of treating all citizens like terrorists so as to not offend anyone.
Excellent post and we are in 100% agreement. Why so many bootlicking FR posters find the concept of protecting a nearly-priceless antique musical instrument so difficult to understand is beyond me.
~ Blue Jays ~
The Ramones?
=]
Beautifully put, I'm trying to talk to my husband about this without him blowing his top at me, because he used to play in orchestra and has his heart with all these musicians whose instruments are considered priceless or at the very least, very difficult to replace. Apparently one cannot just pick up a violin and make the same music on it as you can on your own. That's something the non-musician doesn't grasp.
Replacing such a 'thing' is at the very least a hardship, even if it's cash value is insured. To make an analogy that my experience understands, it's like a cop replacing his K-9, or an Olympic equestrian replacing his Grand Prix Event horse. They are valuable, they are one of a kind, they took years of work to train and tune, and they are fragile and might be lost any moment. People do spend their lives transporting very valuable things whose loss would be devastating to what they do. And sometimes they lose them. If not in a aircraft hold, in a car accident, or a fire. All I'm trying to say is, these people spend their lives worried about this thing, and those who do not or cannot risk it find their lives limited by that and they don't go.
Right now Great Brittain is being very strict on this carryon thing.... What they decide to do in the future will be much argued about in a constantly changing world, like our own security. 10 years from now who knows what will be possible, allowed, and what it will look like. It's a messy process and some of the results are silly, but hopefully we work it out and end up with the right answer eventually.
The best sound a set of bagpipes ever made was when someone threw them into a dumpster and they landed on a banjo. :o) J/K
I would like you to let out of your sight a $20,000 investment in the hands of incompetents.
You play a carillon? How cool is that??? Many years ago I was able to go up in the carillon at the UMichigan campus and as a pianist myself, was suitably impressed. I'm envious.
Hopefully my band's going to Europe in the summer of 2007. My guitar player went there with a band in 1999 and he carried on his high dollar stuff in a case that could be stored in the overhead. Leaving it to baggage is asking for theft.
I don't let my 1953 Selmer Mark VI alto out of my sight either. Though, I've only flown with it once, it was in the compartment right over my head. =)
Do you both have the same friend with a 100k cello?
Generally, any instrument used professionally cannot be insured under homeowners/renters insurance, though..
Photographers are another group with air travel problems. Some guys have started using the airline freight systems to ship their gear. Once you have a verified account, you can package your gear on a pallet, drop it off at the freight office in the airport and pick it up at your destination. It's pricy, but it is treated carefully.
It isn't unusual for a major photographer to have $50,000 of gear shipped to a major event like the Olympics or the Superbowl.
Great horn! Mine was a Mark VI as well.
"Do you both have the same friend with a 100k cello?"
Nope. Nothing unusual about a $100K cello. There are quite a few of them. Most of the principal cellists in the major symphonies own one worth at least that much.
"How does insurance help replace a damaged Stradivarius? There is a limited supply, you know.
"
The heck you say! I've seen plenty of them on eBay, you know. It seems like every attic fiddle is a Stradivarius. It says so right on the label, you know.
You can buy them on eBay for around $20, and that's for one with a decent case and a bow of some kind. [grin]
Right - I wondered about that. Playing the cello could be an expensive undertaking!
Very often these types are also anti-copyright buffoons.
I just came back from Europe with an expensive instrument in tow. There was no problem carrying in on board. The security people just checked it thoroughly (as they should), and I was allowed to bring it on the plane. It's not reasonable to check in instruments. They are too delicate.
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