Acoustic guitar cases

Subject: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 06:13 AM

Yesterday I bought a Hiscox Pro ll GAD hardshell case. It has 6 latches, a good seal and no chance of case bite. It's light yet very strong,
Two things I don't like: only one neck support and minimal interior padding. But my D-18 fits like a glove, and the company will fix any issues at no shipping cost to you within the warranty period.

It's made me curious what YOU keep YOUR pride of joy in?

Cheers

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 07:10 AM

What I SHOULD s ay, to be fair to Hiscox, is that there's padding where it matters. You can also buy little foam pads from the company to glue in for a custom fit if required.

Price: around £170-£180
(UK)
Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 07:51 AM

The first thing I do when I get a new guitar is buy it a Hiscox Pro-ll case, and store the case that came with the guitar in the shipping box in my loft. So my two Martins and my Lowden are in Pro-ll cases, and the Martin ‘Geib-style’ and Lowden ‘Ameritage’ cases are in storage. My McNally was supplied in a Pro-ll, and I bought my Strat a Hiscox Strat/Tele case too.

The Hiscox cases aren’t as pretty as the Martin and Lowden cases, but they are considerably lighter and immensely strong. And, as you rightly say, the Hiscoxes don’t have those latch-teeth to bite your guitar.

Great cases, I love them!

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Sol
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 08:23 AM

I tote my guitar around in a canvass bag. I've dropped the bag a couple of times and damaged the geet but no worries, it's just one of those old Martins.





[And the band played "Believe it if you like."] ;-)

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: gillymor
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 08:40 AM

Sol, reminds me of,
"Well I got me a Martin gittar,
And I carry it in an old totesack,
Pawned it about two hundred times,
But I always got it back,
I'm A free born man...etc."
by Jimmy Martin.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 08:41 AM

Cheers guys.

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 09:33 AM

At bedtime, the D-18 goes in the Hiscox and the Hiscox goes in a shipping box. Very cosy :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 10:27 AM

My D18 lives in 80 quid’s worth of Calton Keith built for me in 1976.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 10:54 AM

I've a friend who's got a Keith Carlton, Ray. Yellow outer, blue inner. His Martin OM-28 lives in it

I was going to go Hoffee but had bills to pay and couldn't stretch to it. Why Hoffee? Well, just like the look.

Cheers

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 12:16 PM

The trouble is everytime you get a new guitar they give you a new case. i've got a pile of the sodding things, but I'm too old to go anywhere, except CT scans etc.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 12:16 PM

Calton, Fred, no “r”. Unfortunately, Keith sold out to the yanks several years ago and retired. Now they cost more than many people would pay for a guitar!

The first one I ever saw was yellow - most people back in the day had black cases although there were some blue ones made by/for Martin. The late Derek Brimstone turned up with it. I asked him where he’d got it as I was in the market for one and he would only tell me if I promised not to get a yellow one!

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 12:26 PM

I still have the Calton case I bought for my D28, box is gone case isn't. Must get round to selling it I guess.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 12:32 PM

Yep same company, Ray, I just wasn't being careful with the keypad!

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 01:18 PM

The last time I saw a used Calton for sale in the UK was just before covid. The dealer was asking £28 for it! Unfortunately it was for a Fender electric bass otherwise I’d have snapped it up.

I do know that there are a couple of smaller Calton cases coming up for auction in the middle of March but neither would fit a drednought.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 02:35 PM

As Backwoodsman said, there are nicer- looking cases out there than any Hiscox but it'll do the job and do it well. And the company offers good pafter-sales service. I've needed their help before and they didn't shy away.

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: leeneia
Date: 26 Feb 25 - 10:49 PM

I have no-name hard cases, and I put towels in them to keep the guitar from shifting around.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 03:18 AM

As long as it works, Leeneia. Guitar protection is mostly what we're after and as long as a hardcase gives us that- well, it doesn't have to come with an impressive tag. They give arguably a better fit and maybe a little more protection from the elements.

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 05:13 AM

”I have no-name hard cases, and I put towels in them to keep the guitar from shifting around”

I did that for many years, Leeneia, and I also had a couple of home-made cases (built by my dad who was a wizard with tools) for my solid-body electrics. In my middle-age years I began to be able to afford more expensive guitars which came with fitted cases, and my no-name/home-made cases left me when I sold the guitars that lived in them. Those old cases did the job for me though, and I was glad to have them.

I still use pub bar-towels to lay over the strings and bridges of my ‘expensive’ guitars in their ‘posh’ cases - old habits die hard! ;-)

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 11:05 AM

It always amuses me when I see, say, a 70s Martin advertised with “ohsc”. At least in the UK, they didn’t come with a case back then.

The advantage with the old UK built Calton cases was that they were built to order for individual instruments and there was no faffing around with extra padding involved. I believe Hiscox actually sells bits of extra padding for you to try and get a custom fit.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 11:19 AM

They do, Ray, and I bought some! As it turns out I don't need them as the Hiscox Pro ll GAD fits the D-18 like a glove.

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 03:05 PM

When you order an Hiscox, Ray, they want measurements of your instrument. When the case arrives, it should be a good fit.

The pads are more about making a guitar fit in a case that's slightly too big :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Mark Ross
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 04:30 PM

I usually carry my guitar in a Blue Heron gig bag, the banjo the same. I have a Mark Leaf guitar case that I've had for almost 50 years. The Mark Leaf was decorated with a Glenn Ohrlin painting of cowboy roping a calf. The Leaf case is for when I have to worry about the guitar. It has survived hitch hiking in zero degree weather, a freight train wreck, and drunken folksinger tap dancing on it. it does protect the custom made instrument from anything.

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 27 Feb 25 - 05:06 PM

Sounds like it's had a colourful life, Mark :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 04:22 AM

My first Calton mandolin case is colourful - Black! It came unused, from a mate who had the same make and model mandolin. When he took delivery, his wife took one look at it, said it looked like a baby’s coffin and wouldn’t have it in the house!

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 06:13 AM

Did you buy her a box of Milk Tray as a "thank you", Ray? :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 28 Feb 25 - 09:40 AM

Only if the case was delivered by parachute ....

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 01 Mar 25 - 11:45 AM

Behind enemy lines? :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 07:07 AM

The neck support on the Hiscox Pro-ll GAD is now at the 3rd fret or thereabouts. Some Martin cases are also like this. Why? A guess is to create more space for a strap. Or am I wrong and there's a different reason?

Cheers
Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: gillymor
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 10:49 AM

More room for your stash? :-)

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 12:38 PM

That's what I thought, Gilly.

I think I prefer the 'old' way, but that's just because I don't normally like change :)

Fred

Subject: RE: Acoustic guitar cases
From: Fred
Date: 23 Mar 25 - 01:03 PM

It depends what the change is, of course. When they increased my pension, that was change, and I didn't object to that!

Fred