Cases

Ray

Hello. Are there any case manufacturers in South Africa? If not, does anyone order from othereside good quality from manufacturers? Acoustic, electric, banjo, mandolin or anything strings. Thanks.

zohn

Not made in SA that I know of - if there were, they probably would be the same price as a graphite composite Calton. There are some average moulded (poly ethylene) Staggs and TKL's for about R700, but sadly none of the arched top laminated wood cases that are available in Canada and the US for top brand guitars.
I found a great Gator case in more or less the same league as the Famous British Hiscox cases, but it set me back almost twice the price of a TKL. The main problem with cases in SA, is there are only 3 sizes available: Classical, Dreadnaught and Jumbo.
Mine is a Dread case, but I re-did the inside so it hugs my Berg properly, with good channels for letting vapour through the whole inside of the case.

Ray

Yip that is what I have seen mostly. But if you get something special then you want to put it in something special. Does anybody think that there will be a market for good quality cases (mainly acoustic) in SA? Well, why not all sorts of guitars?

costafonix

Not unless you can compete with the likes of the big overseas manufacturers price-wise. Custom made cases for particular types of instruments probably have a small demand in S.A.

Keira-WitherKay

I think there is always a market for specialised or custom cases however i think that most people who want a really top end case want to travel with the guitar for road travel or shipping via boat the heavy stage cases are cool but as soon as one wants to fly with a guitar thats where strength and weight have to be considered and wooden cases would be too heavy so moulded cases become the option . Skb and tkl moulded cases for classical weight 3 kg and both are sturdy and i would leave my guitar in one and have travelled lots with skb cases so what i'm saying is depending on the users needs wood might not be an option . But i would suggest if someone is interested in building cases , they should build a few demo ones so customers can see build , weight ect and then make each one to order . Just as local amp and guitar builders do .

Bob-Dubery

What you can get locally are the sort of ruggedised flight cases - rectangular, not guitar shaped and with the heavy duty exterior that makes it look like an accessory for a Humvee.

This sort of thing

I remember looking at this option a while back. The good news is that they measure the instrument and build a case to fit that instrument.

Jack-Flash-Jr

X-rated Bob wrote: What you can get locally are the sort of ruggedised flight cases - rectangular, not guitar shaped and with the heavy duty exterior that makes it look like an accessory for a Humvee.

This sort of thing

I remember looking at this option a while back. The good news is that they measure the instrument and build a case to fit that instrument.

Where can one get these?

Bob-Dubery

Jack Flash Jr wrote: Where can one get these?

There's several companies that make them. Google "flight cases"/

Jack-Flash-Jr

Google indeed:

http://www.visioncases.co.za/

One of quite a few. Cool.

AlanRatcliffe

There was a guy called Barry Stott around Cape Town a few years back who made flight cases. I don't know if he's still around, but worth checking...

singemonkey

zohn wrote: We all want durable cases though, and the key is to provide just enough cushioning inside to absorb shock, by slowing and spreading the impact of short and spiked accelerations evenly, instead of transmitting them via too much and too stiff support.

My Gibson LP came in one of these:

A Gibson Protector (also known as a "chainsaw" case).

These things are awesome. A lot of people have bought them up for their more valuable vintage LPs. At first I resented mine because it was so bulky. But ultimately I realised the level of protection it confers.

But having seen ezietsman's gator case, that seems to me a wonderful combination of light weight, protection (it's also an artificial material which I imagine will deform on impact and reduce the shock), reasonable pricing, and I believe they come in quite a range of forms?

Keira-WitherKay

in my mind the skb cases offer all a muso would need in a case and is light weight , i once travelled with a fender jazz bass in one it had had a mishap the entire one corner of the case had shattered and broke off in little pieces to reveal the foam layer under the outer layer but the foam interior and the bass was 100% i have travelled numerous times with skb cases and no drama's , well not where the guitar was ever damaged , both solid bodies and even acoustics ....... the skl cases look much the same build as skb i owmn one of their classical cases but i'm yet to test em out on tour ......... with serious risk damage

DDR4LYF

Talking about cases, this is one I built for myself. It's a really fun project!

Unfortunately this one weighs a ton, but it kept my bass "as happy as a little girl!" to quote Mike Myers