guitar cases

Subject: guitar case query
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 05:45 AM

One of those queries again - I'm getting a guitar case for Christmas (for the guitar which I am verrrrrrry slowly learning) and wondered if there was anything I should take into consideration when choosing it? Any info greatly appreciated.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:20 AM

Dear Fibula

The best cases available (IMHO) are Calton cases (very expensive indeed and a bit heavy but superb protection and quality - I use one for my mandolin) and Hiscox Lightflight cases (a moulded, strong and light case - I have one for my best guitar). The latter are not too expensive and, in my view are much better than the "traditional" covered fibreboard type case. Both are UK-made but are available from good acoustic instrument shops worldwide. Hiscox cases are supplied as standard with a number of luthier-made guitars and are quite similar to the original cases supplied with Martin and a number of other top US manufacturers.

If price is a limiting factor and you get a fiberboard type case, a slightly "domed" one will afford better protection to your guitar. Again, most good instrument shops should have a good selection.

Do take your guitar along and make sure it is a good fit in the case. If minor adjustments are necessary, it is usually possible to make a little extra padding with some foam and velvety-type material to match the original.

Do get the best case you can afford, it will protect your instrument from disasters that WILL happen if you take it out and about (talking with some 35 years experience here!)

Hope this helps a little,

mcmoo

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 06:33 AM

Thanks mcmoo. I have about 40 - 50 pounds to spend. I had a look in Hobgoblin Music yesterday and they had some in that price range. I'll go back and check them again later bearing your advice in mind.
Cheers!

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 09:03 AM

I have another, and differing opinion--since you are a beginner, I would guess that you are not using either a collectible guitar or an expensive, luthier built model, and you are not a traveling, performing, musician, so you don't really need the (very good) cases that Mcmoo has described.

I suggest a gigbag--a soft nylon/cordura case, with a strong zipper, a lot of foam padding, strap handles, and, often, backpack type shoulder straps, as well. It is basically a backpack for your guitar, and a good one costs about the same as a backpack--

The fiberboard case that you'll find in your price range won't be much more than a glorified cardboard box, but the gigbag is intended for heavy duty use--mine(which has all of the above features) cost $29 (about 20 pounds) and has crossed the Atlantic four times this year as checked baggage,made several trips to California (either as checked baggage or in the overhead-it is way less bulky than a regular case, and with the backpack straps, I can keep it discreetly tucked behind my back and 9 times out of 10, neither the ticket agent nor the flight attendents say a word when I take it on the plane)--

Another nice thing, you find a wide variety of them on the internet, and shipping is easy and inexpensive, sans guitar, since they fold up(a regular case is the same size empty or full)--

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Gary T
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 09:19 AM

For some general information, go here. For info from the same source on other subjects, go to www.frets.com, click on "Go to FRETS.COM Big Index Page", then down in "Departments" click on "Of Interest to Musicians". Lots of helpful stuff on caring for your instrument and avoiding certain possible problems.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 10:02 AM

Again, thanks. Indeed I am only a beginner and the guitar is mainly of sentimental value (though it's not a bad wee thing), but I may be taking my guitar on areoplanes quite a bit if I decide to take it back to Ireland each time I want to go home. Thanks for the help, and I'll be checking out Gary T's links.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Lady McMoo
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:08 AM

Given your price range, probably a hardshell plywood case (try and get a slightly domed one if you can) would be the best best if you're travelling by air. I managed to get a reasonably strong one not long ago for my octave mandola for 50 pounds.

Some of the soft cases MTed describes are quite nice but for any sort of serious travelling I would recommend a hard case.

Good luck

mcmoo

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Alliekatt
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 11:58 AM

Get a good gig bag. Hard shell cases weigh too much, regular ones fall apart in the rain, and will fall apart eventually anyhow, but a good gig bag (especially a scotchgarded one with padding about an inch and a half thick) will last you forever. Plus you can wear it on your back and take it everywhere.

But that's just my two cents.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:25 PM

I used a gig bag for ages before I bought hard cases for my guitars. (I've still got it.) It's much easier to walk with, as all the weight's on your shoulder, not at the end of your arm. Nowhere near as good protection, though. And the strap fastener squeaks! It drove me barmy (although RtS will tell you I was barmy to begin with). I'd say if you were going to get a hard case, get the best you can afford. I've got a Hiscox for my 12-string -- they say you can jump on them, but I haven't put it to the test! -- but a cheap Chinese job for my other one, and the difference in quality is very noticeable. If you're a few bob short just now, hang on a bit longer and save up: it's worth it if you take your guitar out.

Steve

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Bert
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 12:29 PM

M. Ted, You must be the luckiest guy alive. I would never 'check' an expensive guitar. I have had one of those above mentioned solid plastic cases severely damaged. I'm convinced that the only reason that the guitar survived was that it was a cheap old Yamaha.

I used to work in the baggage handling business and those machines have to be seen to be believed.

Another trick to taking a guitar as hand luggage is to - not use a case at all. I've never come across anyone who had the heart to ask me to check a 'naked' guitar.

All checked baggage should pass the 'throw it down a flight of stairs' test before handing it over to the airlines.

BTW, it's not the airline's fault if your bag gets damaged it's the AIRPORT that installs and maintains the equipment.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 06 Dec 00 - 03:14 PM

I have a Suzuki Dreadnaught that I travel with, and if it gets broken in transit, I will shed a silent tear, and replace it with something comparable--I have been lucky, and I really expected that this "travel guitar" would be in pieces by now, which is why I have given in and checked it, though with the gigbag, I can always carry it on and stash it in the overhead or in the coat closet--

The only damage I ever suffered was when I was using a hardshell case, and it was the case that was damaged--when I picked it up, the flat, bottom panel of the case was about three quarters detached--it looked like someone had tried to open it with a crowbar and had nearly succeed--the guitar was (miraculously) undamaged, but the case was a total loss--

A friend of mine, who plays with one of the more notorious metal bands, says that they only take instruments on the road that can be replaced easily, that way, they expect it to get broken, so when it doesn't, they feel lucky--

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 04:16 AM

Steve, as the man whom the Blessed 'Spaw immortalised in verse as "a total flake" I am in no position to call anyone else barmy (no, it doesn't stop me...)! What am I doing reading this thread anyway? I don't own a guitar and I don't think they do hard cases for kazoos! I do wince when I see fellow travellers asking for their instruments to be hand loaded, they never seem to be hand-unloaded and I've seen suitcases fall off trolleys in the past (some of the drivers of the luggage "trains" seem to be Schumachers-manque).
RtS

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 05:12 AM

Now you're scaring me! I shall have to travel home by ferry ( - do these cases float okay?). As for hard cases for kazoos - RtS, you could be on to something, I mean, what if someone was to sit on your kazoo unexpectedly and it with no hard case to protect it...?

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 05:17 AM

Fibs, the nation would rejoice! I've seen my wife eyeing the lump hammer in a sinister way... As it travels in my carry-on bag with my camera gear I'm always expecting it to be rejected as an offensive weapon during the hand search!
RtS

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,Mike Byers
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 06:43 AM

Several years ago, I picked up the late Gamble Rogers at Washington National airport. He'd actually checked his guitar on Eastern Airlines, an outfit known for its ability to destroy luggage, and I was amazed that he would intrust a guitar to them. But Gamble's case must have been made of quarter-inch steel plate: the sucker weighed about thirty pounds! He claimed that this case, with the help from socks and underwear for packing, was airline-proof. But then there's Tom Paxton's tune, "Thank You, Republic Airlines (For Breaking the Neck Off My Guitar)", so I'm not convinced any case is airline-proof. Baggage smashing machinery has improved over the years. If I were traveling a lot, I'd get the best hard case I could afford. Otherwise, a medium-priced hard case should do the job.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 08:44 AM

Roger, you've given me a terrifying image of some drug- or alcohol-crazed Millwall supporter, four-letter words shaved into his hair, swastikas tattooed on his eyelids,rings pierced into his razor-scars, ready to commit GBH (that's grievous bodily harm to you in the US) on anyone who so much as looks sideways at your kazoo -- a real Hard Case!! Mind you, it'd work, wouldn't it?

Steve

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: blt
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 03:30 PM

There's probably a gazillion stories about guitar cases, here's mine: my second guitar was a Stella--extremely sturdy, very small, which I finally found a cardboard case for. I was still in high school and riding a bus to school, living in northwestern Connecticut. One winter day, I slipped going up the bus steps, the case and guitar within went flying, ending up half-in and half-out of the nearly frozen river nearby. The Stella, constructed from some sort of ironwood it seemed, survived(in fact, it sounded better after it's bath)and lasted for years. Alas, the humble cardboard case immediately dissolved from the experience. It wasn't until I managed to buy a Martin D-28 with its splendid blue case (someone once remarked that the case screams "steal me, steal me")that I actually trusted that a case could protect the instrument inside it. The blue case finally died last spring after 26 years of service, many festivals, bars, cafes, and plane flights later. Incidentally, I never send my guitar through baggage--I clutch it and act like a maniac, insisting on the right to carry it with me. This has worked so far.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Bert
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 04:04 PM

I've said this before but it's worth repeating from time to time.

I once worked for a company that makes baggage handling equipment.

You see, you've got this conveyor moving along at a fair lick and there's a bag every four feet along the conveyor. The problem is, to remove your bag and put it onto a different conveyor, the one that's going to your plane.
The solution that these guys arrived at is a device that's euphemistically called a 'pusher'. It has a large paddle on it which 'pushes' your bag off the conveyor and onto the next one. Now they have to get this paddle to push the bag off and back out of the way again before the next bag arrives, remember the next bag is less than four feet away.

To do this the paddle has to move pretty fast, and it has to be able to move bags that can weigh 100 pounds or more. So it hits your precious Martin like a maniac with a sledge hammer and your guitar goes sailing into the air destined to overshoot the next conveyor. To stop the bag overshooting they put up a very heavy rubber curtain like those heavy weatherproof rubber doors that you see at airports. Your bag hits this curtain at high speed and drops onto the other conveyor.

The other scenrio is that your guitar in on the 'other' conveyor and the pusher lobs someone else's 100 pound of excess baggage in the air and it lands right on top of your guitar.

I offered to design a device that would match it's speed to the conveyor and carefully pick up the bags. But of course no one was interested.

Bert.

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 07:48 PM

Thanks for the info, Bert--I have always wondered about that--This also explains(sort of) why hardshell cases do seem to get damaged--the weight and shape of the case would seem to make it more of a projectile, than say, a soft duffle filled with dirty laundry--

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 09:07 PM

I once bought a guitar that had to be shipped to England from the US. The store packed it, hardshell case and all, into a cardboard carton and stuffed up every inch of space with old newspaper. It arrived OK. On a sadder note, I remember reading about a rock guitarist in the 70s who bought an old Gibson Les Paul in the US. It got to England OK,but a Customs Inspector insisted on taking it out of the case. He swung it up by the head fairly violently and the body fell off the neck!

Subject: RE: guitar cases
From: Troll
Date: 07 Dec 00 - 10:26 PM

I remember that case that Gamble had. It had a barometer and I think it sealed hermetically. That case would have withstood a thermoneuclear war!
He had it for sale in the old Sabine String Shop in Gainesville Fla. It was just too heavy to carry around. I don't know who finally bought it.

troll