Magazine Holder as Harmonica Case
I was looking for a small, portable harmonica case like the Horner Flexcase M, but without neoprene and it's accompanying smell. I also ideally wanted something with little to no branding.
As many of you have probably learned, harmonicas often trigger airport security because they look similar to pistol magazines. One day, it dawned on me that there must be tons of storage options for magazines since they are (unfortunately) far more ubiquitous than harmonicas. So, I did some research and diecovered that harp dimensions very closely mirror "double stack" pistol magazines. There are tons of options for cases for these ranging from simple soft cases to terrifying tacticool cases. I ended up ordering this one, and have been quite happy:
The only downside for me is that it's rather militant looking with the MOLLE on the back. I suppose some folks will like that ????
Some years ago my harmonicas would every so often get an eztra look going through security, but at some point I think they upgraded the algorithm for the machines. I suspected as much when a TSA agent looking at the screen at the Burbank Airport looked up, smiled, and asked, "what keys?" I had three diatonics packed, and replied, "G, A and Bb." And he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. Not long after that while flying home from SPAH 2016 in San Antonio with about 15 harps in my carry-on, the agent watching the screen looked up, smiled, and said, "Looks like y'all flyin' home today ... hope you had a great time at the harmonica convention!"
I didn't know about harmonicas triggering airport security, but I think I may have experienced this last week. I just flew for the first time in a year-and-a-half, and the first time since I started playing the harmonica. I had one harp in each of my two carry-ons (I only have two so far). No issues on the first half of the trip, but on the return from O'Hare both bags got flagged for inspection. I couldn't see from where I was standing, but it looked like they were swabbing them for explosive residue (I don't think they opened my rollaboard because they would never have gotten it closed again...). I didn't make the connection with the harmonicas until I read your post, but I'm wondering now if that was what caused it.
Magazine cases seem like a cool idea for harmonica cases, though, and I'm going to keep that in mind when I get enough to need a case. Probably not for flying, though...