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Hey,

In the near future I will have to travel a lot, especially by plane. I want to buy a stage piano that doesn't weigh too much. The piano must have 88 keys.

The price is not a problem. I will use a headphone so no internal speakers are necessary. The keyboard is for me very important. The keys must be weighted and should resemble as much as possible the keys of an acoustic piano.

If anyone has some ideas i would like to hear them.

kind regards

Robin

Hi Robin,

Weight is not your only concern. You will probably end up paying a surcharge for size for any piano that has 88 keys.

I don't really know of any keyboards that will meet all your requirements.

One that is being designed specifically for travel is at:
http://www.infiniteresponse.com/
but this one would also require a laptop or such to provide the sounds.

The Casio PX320 is one of the lightest ones out there, but by the time you put it in a rugged case, it would be probably be over the size limits of most airlines.

Good luck, I know there were threads about someone who had a Yamaha P series keyboard re-engineered specifically for travel.

Rich

Yamaha P85 with slim design is another option.

Thanks for the responses.

The yamaha p85 with slim design is het most interesting for me at this moment.

I will graduate this year from a maritime university and will go in the shipping buiseness.For my work I may take with me 50 kg(110 pounds)but because I also need a lot of other things the piano may not weigh too much.

My idea was to give it along with the normal luggage. With this I mean the luggage which you don't take onboard yourself. I found a traveling bag from yamaha to protect it. Now I wonder if it will protect it enough to survive the trip on the plane. If someone has experience with this I would like to hear it. Also I wonder if I would have to pay a surcharge for the dimensions of this bag (Yamaha YBS881 Signature Keyboard Bag for SLIM 88 Key Keyboards)The dimensions are : 53.25" L x 15.25" W x 5.75" D

If there is a surcharge I am willing to pay it if it is not too much.

greets

Robin

Robinn,

Transporting musical instruments, for any airline, is nothing new. It is how the keyboard is protected that is important. A traveling bag is great for auto transport, but not necessarily the best choice for air-travel.

Here is a site which may provide further info.

http://www.anvilcase.com/applications/music.html

88 key keyboards are not easy nor inexpensive to travel with by air.

To check your keyboard as luggage on commercial airlines you will need to place it in a IATA approved flight case. Some airlines may accept other cases if they don't know it is a keyboard, but these will not protect your keyboard and you will not be insured for loss.

A popular brand sold widely here in Amsterdam is Road Ready. A Casio PX320 or similar keyboard in a Road Ready IATA approved case
http://www.roadreadycases.comprodetail.php?sku=RRKB88W will exceed your airline bag weight allowance (30 lbs for the keyboard & 63 pounds for the case) and linear measurement allowance (long skinny things have higher linear inches and cost extra) on commercial airlines. Depending on the airline you fly, this will mean paying between 2 or 3 additional overweight/oversize charges. These overweight charges have been increasing dramatically with the price of fuel. After packing some music, a headset and a decent pedal, you will only have weight allowance left for a few pairs of underwear, your toothbrush and a pair of jeans and a tshirt!

For example, flying one way from Amsterdam to New York with your keyboard on KLM would result today in extra charges of euro 500/$750, which is enough to simply buy an entire new keyboard at your destination.

If you are going to be spending most of your time on a ship, you might be better off buying the keyboard at whatever port you are in and leaving it behind on the ship rather than traveling with it by air, unless your air travel is on company airplanes where the extra commercial charges would not apply. You could ship the keyboard via DHL (or your own company!) to your next assignment if needed.

Robin,

I am in the same boat, so to speak, having been a merchant mariner these many years.

If you can find a second-hand Roland FP 2 (it being superseded by the FP 4), you will find that it will fit nicely in an SKB 76-key flight case. The 88 keys are hammer-action and extremely sensitive. The case dimensions are still over what the airlines pass for free, but much smaller than a full-size 88-key case.

I too am waiting for infinite response to release their foldable keyboard, but alas it has only 76 keys, so your Chopin and Debussy will suffer. It does go all the way down in the bass, however, so your reference point in the left hand remains the same. Still, it sounds like a very attractive offering, though for the asking price ($2500) one could lug the above-mentioned FP 2 with case through a lot of airports. Since you will only be traveling on average four times a year, as I do, that may be the best option if you really want 88 keys. I have both the '2 and the '4, and though the latter is superior, the earlier model is still a great instrument.

Hope this helps,

Craig (2ae, Tyco)

After reading the post of "the Journey" I was a little bit depressed but I think and hope after my calculations that my problem is not that dramatic.

For example :
I buy the yamaha p85 (25 lbs)
I buy following case which is Iata Approved : GK-288-SLIM (28,7 lbs)
In total this is one unit of luggage that weighs 53,7 lbs (24,4kg). It is possible that I will have to pay a small surcharge because one unit of luggage may weigh approximately 50 lbs. After some research I concluded that this costs are not very large. In this scenario I have 56.3 lbs left for my other luggage.

The length of the case is 60.24 inch. At almost all airline companies that I checked it is possible to take luggage with you that is not larger than 62 inch.

Additionally I will buy one sustain pedal like the M-Audio SP-2 that I can put somewhere else.

If my reasoning is correct it should be possible to take an 88 keys stage piano with me. If anyone notices some mistakes that I made you would help me very much by answering my post.

If I made some mistakes and it is not possible I can try to get on a large cruise ship where there are often grand pianos in the different bars. When I am not on duty I could entertain the guests .

Kind regards

Robin

Robin,

Check on the length requirement again. My understanding is that most airlines use what they refer to as linear inches = lenght + width + depth to determine the size of luggage.

Also, there have been threads about cruise ships requiring insurance before they will allow you to play on their pianos.

Rich

hi ctnski

Because it took some time to write my reply I hadn't seen your post.

The solution of buying the FP-2 is to consider.

But are the keys of the FP-2 comparable with the keys of an acoustic or is there a big difference ?

At dragonplayer. I will check the limtations again. Thanks for the input.

At the cruise ships I will start as an apprentice officer and will climb the ranks hopefully to captain after some years. Maybe than I have sufficient authority to play on the piano.

greets

Robin

Robin,

I would not want to choose my ships based on whether or not a piano was available. I want to be free to go any where, any time. That is what makes this a fun and interesting vocation. Having a piano to play off watch makes it that much more attractive. While others are commuting one or two hours every day, I am sitting in front of my piano.

Dragon is correct also about the total L + W + H limitation, which is 66 inches standard. Anything more, you will be liable for a surcharge. You will not be able to get any 88-key piano into a case that will measure less than 66 inches. The SKB 5014W that I use has a total perimeter of about 76 inches, and depending on the airline and phase of the moon, they may or may not charge you extra. I personally have managed not to get charged extra, but I check in with my zillion frequent flyer miles and they cut me some slack. The 76-key case just looks so slim and compact that they don't bother. That, and I have a nice smile.

As for the Roland, I bought it untested for its size online, and was very pleased with the action and sound through headphones. I like it very much. The newer model, the FP 4, is a clear advance, but it is also an inch or so longer so it cannot be shoehorned into the smaller case. I bought a '4 for use at home, and I can go from my grand to my digital and back with hardly any change in the feel of the action.

The weight of the '2 and case together is about 51 pounds. You may or may not have to pay a surcharge, but if you do it will be minimal and if you are flying on company ticket, just put it on the travel voucher.

This is the best solution I have been able to find. The problem with using a smaller keyboard is that, as of this writing, they all suck and if you are serious in your music studies, the smaller compass can be disorienting. The Roland is a great digital piano and I am pleased with my purchase. You should be able to find a good used one on craigslist (no relation).

Hope this helps.

PM me if you would like my view on the state of the (shipping) union. You need to make a very important decision very soon.

Sea you,

Craig

Oops! Just noticed you were from Belgium, so forget about what I think on U.S. shipping. Hope you make a happy choice!

Craig

ctnesk: Great idea about shoehorning an FP2 into a 76 key case. Is there any insulation at all left between the ends of the piano and the ends of the case?

Standard linear inches allowed may vary by airline but is usually 62"/157cm. For example Northwest uses 62" as standard, charges two overweight charges ($300) for 62-80" (like the 76 key case) and three ($450) for over 80" (like the 88 key case).

http://www.nwa.com/travel/luggage/checked.html
http://www.klm.com/travel/no_en/travel_information/baggage/baggage_allowance/index.htm


I agree with ctnski, that having elite status on your preferred airline, flying in business or first class and being polite and helpful can sometimes get bags checked for free that normally would be subject to additional fees. However, recently, with record oil prices and the move to charging for all bags in various parts of the world, the procedures seem to be becoming more strict and formalized.

About that folding keyboard: will it for that money have equivalent quality of weighted keyboard to the current crop of digital stage pianos such as the FP7, RD700GX, etc.?

Ah, that is the question, isn't it? We are all waiting with baited breath to pounce on that little puppy. Stay tuned.

Sorry, the above post did not come out as I intended it to. My replies are in between the original paragraphs. Still new at this!

Craig