Is this REALLY asked too much? RANT

[Zork]

All I want is a decent bass case that is NEITHER black tolex and black plush interior NOR tweed with red plush interior.
Seriously, can it be so hard to offer something cool or at least some variety? I can't see it anywhere.

[dubkitty]

depends on what you mean by "decent." Guitar Fetish has bass cases in a variety of non-black/tweed options. not exactly flight cases, but they'll do. Gator also has a light grey case similar to the Les Paul-sized case i bought for my Eastwood Wandré that's better quality but commensurately more expensive. have you looked on eBay? cheap cases abound there.

[Zork]

It's not so easy. Guitar Fetish is not really an option as shipping, import taxes and so on to get it to Germany would be bonkers and the paisley decor is a bit too much for my taste. The light gray Gator case is probably the only widely available case in not black and not tweed and looks very nice, but reviews, especially on Sweetwater, turned me off pretty quickly. Ebay has a lot of SKB style plastic cases and black/tweed cases around here and that's it. I found cases on amazon with purple and blue and golden interior ("crossrock" brand) that look nice but they don't ship to Germany. I have nothing against black or tweed exterior, I have a nice tweed case for my Tele with green interior and I would buy a case with black exterior/any colour except for red interior in a heart beat but I can't find one. Nowhere. And it's totally stupid, it makes no sense at all that every brand offers the same two variants only.

[dubkitty]

that's problematic...i essentially can't order anything from Germany now because shipping is so prohibitively expensive.

[Blackened Soul]

I’m usually more can I find one that will fit something.. could care less about color.. did you know no one has made a case that fits a long scale flying bass in over a decade.. and custom cases are expensive….

[Zork]

did you know no one has made a case that fits a long scale flying bass in over a decade.. and custom cases are expensive….

Well, in this very special case (pun totally intended) I wouldn't care for colour either. But I only look for a case for my Bass VI which shouldn't be so hard. These days I keep the guitars I have at home mostly in their cases and have only 3 selected ones in the living room in stands. I change over from time to time, though. But since I do it this way, I noticed again how I reeeally enjoy opening a case with a guitar I haven't seen for some days or weeks. It's really kind of a small sensation and I enjoy that "wow" moment even more, when the colour of the plush or velvet or whatever matches the guitar finish and I open the lid and it looks just super nice. It's a bit like finding the perfect strap for a particular guitar. Cases are expensive and if I shell out the money, they should definitely be some kind of icing on the cake and not the same boring thing over and over again.

[Zork]

When I was a kid I started out with a Squier Strat (in a shitty gig bag). At about 15 I had saved up some money and I wanted to buy an Epiphone Les Paul. So I went to a guitar shop and asked for one and the guy said, well, I have one but I also have a Heritage Les Paul on sale and you should have a look at it. And he goes to the storage and comes back with a brown Gibson case, opens the lid and there was a Les Paul Gold Top in this super thick pinkish purple plush bed. It was absolutely amazing, especially since I didn't know golden guitars existed and had never thought about cases could be something cool. It was literally some sort of epiphany and I remember this feeling firmly to this day. For 15 year old me it was at the same time a bit too "sexy", but then again, the Heritage was a much better guitar than the Epis and it really was sexy! So I bought that guitar and everywhere I went with it, everytime I opened the case, everyone around was like "wow, how cool is that!?", me included...

[dubkitty]

i was really happy, perhaps unreasonably so, to discover that the case for my Guild Aristocrat has blue velvet lining. probably the best case i have…i’m reasonably sure i could throw it down a flight of stairs without consequence. honestly makes the White Falcon case seem a bit cheap in comparison.

nowadays i try to buy cases in colors close to the guitars. obviously this goes out the window with white guitars. i got tired of having to label identical black rectangular cases so i know which one’s the Jazzmaster, which the Lead II, and which the Hopf. when i get cases i try to buy different colors, e.g. of the 3 Les Paul-sized cases one is brown faux alligator, one tweed, and one grey. life is easier when i can go “brown guitar, brown case.” i foresee a problem with my Gretsch Jet-sized guitars because i’ve gone through Gretsch’s offerings and still need one case, and aftermarket Duo Jet cases are rare. the one for my original Pro Jet came from eBay and remains the only non-official Jet case i’ve seen. no, Les Paul cases do not fit.

[Zork]

Hm, I thought I'd have another look on the Gator Journeyman case and they have them on their amazon shop at 38% discount. I ordered one but I'm prepared to send it back. The quality on these seems to be all over the place.
Wish me luck they send me a good one!
I would have preferred to get this one (i love the rounded corners, the silver piping and the vibrant blue linning) but the seller won't ship: https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/ ... 02-74-7660

[dubkitty]

i have their equivalent to your case in a Les Paul size to fit my Eastwood Wandré. it’s a solid case, but the cloth covering is bubbled in one spot on the top. if i wanted to be difficult i could have returned it, but i don’t care that much. other than that it’s a nice case. still trying to figure out a way to fix it that won’t leave visible marks.

[Zork]

So, the Gator Journeyman case came in today. It is indeed a very beautiful case. Quality is okayish. The padding is a bit too thin, so the bass moves a bit inside the case when the lid is closed. The burlap exterior looks nice but I bet it would look horrible and be completely ragged after one week of touring in a van. It doesn't have feet on the underside(s) which feels the most cheap to me. I mean, come on, they're selling this as durable deluxe bass case and they can't even install some feet to save some pennies on production costs. Otherwise I can't complain but there are cheaper cases with better quality. If you're in EU and look for high quality and affordable cases, have a look at Fame, the house brand of Music Store in Cologne. I'll keep it, though: The blue velvet linning looks just super cool with my refinished Bass VI:



My wife usually doesn't care AT ALL about my musical stuff but even she said how cool it looks so it must be quite special.

[Zork]

Is anyone up for a photo thread for cool guitars in cool cases?

[dubkitty]

it just struck me that the answer to the case covering getting fucked up is to varnish it like people do with tweed Fender amps. it'll take a minute to find the right stuff and it'll certainly be a pain in the ass, but it'll work.

[Gone Fission]

People usually use amber Bullseye brand shellac for aging tweed cabinets and cases. It’s easy to use, touch up, and clean up. Shellac is alcohol soluble, though, so it’s a bit vulnerable among musicians and music fans if you get my drift. But a finish-only ding or scratch is easy to repair or conceal with a new application.

If you don’t want the amber effect and want quicker drying (which is just hours with the normal Bullseye amber) the clear Bullseye sanding sealer, including the spray can version, have no added tint (though it may pick up color with age, I think from UV?) and dries very quickly because there are no additives to slow the drying. Another application of shellac will melt the last layer if there’s a problem.

[dubkitty]

this is precisely what i was going to spend a couple of hours Googling. thank you! i can use this not only on the Wandré case, but also as a preservative for a couple of yellow tweed cases that were reliced by my cat of the time…she loved digging her claws into guitar cases, but only the yellow tweed ones. she also destroyed the original soft case for the Pedaltrain Jr. i now use for my loopers. i found a Gator polyethylene case intended as a gear catch-all that fits perfectly.

FWIW the Gator Wandré case has metal feet on the back and the side, but not on the bottom which is slightly irritating. i suppose i could add them if it becomes an issue, but it’s kind of odd. i think that’s the only shaped case i have without bottom end feet.

i needed a brown case for the Kondor so i cheaped out and got a $60 flat case off eBay. it IS possible to make a cheaper case than you get from GFS…the vinyl contrasting trim on the ends looks like it was done in a middle school
sewing club. just about good enough to keep the guitar from getting beaten up in the back of the car. nice interior, though.

it seems like the cut-off point for cases of passable quality is about US$100-120. the low end is really low.