Cut bell on a relic bass bone?

[heldenbone]

This may sound a little off-the-wall, and it is, I'll ask about anyway. I expect to be travelling internationally for a music festival and am dreading the prospect of surrenderring a musical instrument too large for carry-on to the inevitable American Tourister luggage testing that the airlines will inflict. With that in mind, I've been looking at my Olds S-20 bass trombone. Since it is single rotor, 9-inch bell, flat wrap f-attachment and relatively short slide, I've been meditating on the possibility a cut/screw bell conversion. It might then fit in a flat tenor case or snug plastic and foam gun case as a carry-on item roughly the size of a viola. Has anyone else done a similar fool's errand on an instrument with a flat wrap and small (for a bass) bell? What would it cost to get it done?

Thanks for any shared wisdom.

[BGuttman]

No reason why it couldn't be done. John Sandhagen (The Boneyard, located in California) has done cut bells on lots of instruments. With a cut bell you can use a rifle case and it will fit nicely in an overhead.

I don't know what it costs, but Osmun Brass in metro Boston does French Horns and the price may be on his Web site.