Good gig bags (I have a Reunion Blues for both my good guitar and for my banjo) cost what the run-of-the-mill hard case cost (i.e., $125-150). The better-to-best hard cases (Calton, etc.) cost $600+. I have a hard case for each guitar, even the one in the Reunion Blues bag. I have a hard case for my mandolins, for my fiddle, and even an old fiddle case that do for my uke.

I never use a gig bag if the instrument is going out of my hands, but try not to schlep the hard case if it's staying near my side. Moonjen ought to see about a good Reunion Blues or Levi case (but don't go for the light ones) and save her joints from bursitis and such.

Another good type of case is the -- damn, can't remember the brand -- which is a gig bag exterior glued to light-weight panels, something like hardened styrophone, inside. Rigid but not heavy, with little blocks which can be moved about inside to cushion many different shapes of guitar. They cost a little less than bottom-line hard cases, and work better for most times than a gig bag. I have one which at the moment doesn't have an occupant (I sold the Danelectro U-2, the Les Paul and Tele have hard cases, and the ES-335 won't fit). Wish I could remember the brand.

Whatever, the point about transmitting energy to the instrument only holds if the instrument sloshes around within the case, and this is true of any case that isn't a good fit for the instrument. If it's loose, the case stops and the guitar doesn't, usually driving the end-pin and block up into the body. Nasty kind of break, too. But a well-fit hard case is still your best protection.

BTW, if the hard case has an arch to top and back, it's stronger than a flat-topped one, unless it's one of those anvil road cases.

Bob Clayton