Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Car Travel With DP - Will It Hurt My Keyboard?

I just bought an 88 key Korg SP-170 - one of the big reasons being the light weight so that I can take it along when I visit my mother 150 miles away (one way, mostly interstate). I bought the Gator GKB88 Slim case for it. Should I be concerned about damaging the keyboard? I have an SUV and can let the back seat down so that it can lay pretty flat.

I told the dealer I wanted it to be portable but didn't tell him how far.

Thanks for any comments or tips.

Pam, I think some common sense would apply. Your piano has already traveled from Japan to you by boat, right? As long as you don't pile heavy things on top of it and take some care, what can happen? In the worst case you break a key which can be easily replaced.

If you're planning to play in a combo and move it around from club to club, I'd invest in a flight case.

I'd put a rug or blanket under it to cushion the bumps. Some SUVs ride like a truck, which is pretty hard on something lying on the floor without padding.

I think the reality is that, similar to flying, the points where there is the highest probability of an incident is the beginning and end of the trip. In other words, you are far more likely to cause damage during tear down/packing and setup/unpacking than the actual trip itself. Unless your mom lives at the end of a heavily rutted jeep trail or you're fond of trying to pull several g's around corners, I don't think it'll be a problem as long as you're sensible about it.

The loading and unloading, yep. I always get the encased keyboard as close as possible to the stand it will be on, because once in a while there will be an awkward door or other obstacle which causes a bump/knock/drop, and it usually can be gotten through with instrument still IN the case and therefore unharmed.
I have Gator cases also, and wish they had more padding. If you have contact with a local piano dealer, ask for the leftover padding that surrounds a piano shipped from Asia. It's a 1/4" thick foam/styrofoam type sheet, and will add significant protection to the inside of your case without adding much thickness.

A light weight padded "gig bag" is good enough if you are the only person to move the piano. That is all you need for moving the piano in your own car as long as you are careful never to drop the piano or smack it into something as you are loading it

You'd need a hard rigid case only if you were to give the piano to a porter or baggage handler who would likely pile other luggage on top of your piano. Or if you were like me and did not want to always have to top load the gear. I prefer the rigid case just so I don't have to be careful.

Bottom line is don't worry. The piano likely saw far worse abuse wile in the back of some UPS trucks on the way to the store.

But in the UPS trucks (and ocean going containers) it was in a purpose-built styrofoam end-pieced box not suited for repeated loading and unloading. I have used the original box until I got a real case. It'll last you 5 to 30 moves, depending on care and rain. You will at some point drop the keyboard or smack it into something; anything from icy sidewalks to pre-occupied caterers will get you. It's just a matter of time and how often you move the instrument.
I'd definitely recommend against a gig bag for just about any regular moving. My only use of one is inside a road/flight case whose foam had deteriorated; I ripped out the remnants and put a gig bag in to replace the foam, but the primary protection is the solid sides of the original case.

BTW, my comments about the use of good cases don't really apply to the OP, considering she already has one. She might consider putting a rolled up blanket on the floor under hers, since the Gator cases don't have a lot of padding internally.

Thanks for the comments - I'm hoping the Gator bag with a thick blanket under it will be ok. Actually, the soft case seems to have pretty good padding considering I'm just going to slide it into the car, then slide it out and straight into the back door of the house. I just woke up very early this morning worried about this! One of those things, I guess, since I've never had a portable instrument before. I just really don't want to break it!

I've come up with a similar system. Buy a simple gig bag and then I make a plywood case that just holds the bag. The wood case is bare inside and the bag provides the padding.

Bare wood cases are easy to make, just six sides glued together make a hollow block then you saw the block in half, one half is the case the other the lid.

Same system works for both guitars and keyboards