Official Luthiers Forum!

Bruce and Dave we love you both! Please remember:

"The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress."
-- Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Jeff

Bruce, For the record..."I never trashed your product without regard"... I'm frankly a little disappointed that you feel that way.

I also never intended to bare a hatchet and feel no need to bury one.

As a rookie builder, I rarely, if ever, can contribute anything significant on the forum as to the state-of-the-art when it comes to building. But I feel I can contribute an opinion on quality. My opinion was in that spirit and not on your product...and I know that Dave's was as well. It was based on my actual comparative observation of a product that others, novices and pros alike, might consider when evaluating quality and value. I value those opinions from others as well. If we start attacking messengers who bring educated opinions, we've lost the value and purpose of the forum.

Let's consider the air cleared and move on with the knowledge that the argument produced progress (nice quote, Jeff).

...and BTW, best of Luck on your TV interview...make sure you arrange to have a web-based copy for us to look at. We're all rooting for you!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Here is by far the best option in selecting a case. Let the buyer decide. Some folks have probably scraped the bottom of their pockets just for the guitar. They might be happy to get it shipped in a an inexpensive case and then upgrade the case at their convenience. If they are like me, it leaves the case, goes on the wall on a StringSwing, and happily lives there the rest of its life (and hopefully my life) with the case just taking up attic space. Just as there is an upcharge for wood, inlay, etc, provide the same option for cases. Let them know that if they want a custom case, such as Calton, you will have to order it early in the build process and it will increase their down payment, final cost and possibly delivery time. If they want a cheaper case, pack it accordingly for delivery with extra protection. Once in the customers hands it is up to them to care for the instrument in accordance with the warranty. To conclude this ramble, give the customer what THEY want.

PS. Bruce and David, don't make me put a knot your heads Don A38388.5840625

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don,
I agree 100% Dave-SKG38390.4025231482

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Guitar cases all seem to have these teeth that point down from the
latches on the lid. If a gust of wind blows the case closed while you're
pulling the instrument out, the case will "bite" the top. Excuse me for
being opinionated on this one, but this is a "case" where exceptionally
stupid design has become the standard.

How about:

1. A lid and hinges that are stiff enough so we don't even need those
stupid latch guides to mate the top and bottom latches.

2. An option for nylon webbing and buckles that won't ruin your
hardwood floor or your guitar, and that won't cause you to need a tetanus
shot or arow of stitches when you walk by without paying attention. I'd
gladly take an extra 26 seconds to close my guitar safely in its case if it
would would protect me and my wooden floors and furniture from injury.

3. Replaceable velcro straps that fall into place when the lid is closed.
These wouldn't be the main latches, but I've seen too many people pick
up a guitar case after they forgot to latch it. Oops!

4. Another option would be a zippered edge around the case.

The closest I've seen to this is the Pro-Tec case which is great, but not
available in a heavy-duty, flight-ready version and not available, as far as
I know, for archtops or jumbo guitars.

There's been a lot of talk about what constitutes good value, but not so
much about what constitutes a good case, The whole world of case
design, IMHO, leaves much to be desired. I'd like to see the building
community pressure some of the case-makers to implement a few of
these cheap, simple suggestions. They're applicable to any case in any
price-range, and the only real requirement is that the product be built to
address the needs of the customer - protecting the instrument. Why
that's not happening is entirely beyond me.

I'll admit I'm an aficionado and a hobbyist and not an experienced
builder, but I'd be hard-pressed to find a case right now in which I'd feel
comfortable delivering a hand-built instrument to a customer.

inntoon, I have two archtop guitars living happily in Pro-Tec cases, so they do, or at least did make them in that size. It's been probably at least 10 years since I bought them, so I don't know what the current situation is.

Mattia, according to this blurb I found, Hiscox cases are exported to Holland.

Colin

"Established in 1985, Hiscox Cases Ltd. is the brainchild of Brynn Hiscox, a professional guitar maker. Being acutely aware of the lack of quality cases on the market, he used his engineering background to design a case that stood up to his exacting requirements. Brynn's customers demanded cases that had higher protection but with LESS WEIGHT.

Hiscox cases are sold world-wide - exported regularly to Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and the US."

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Mattia, I've been trying to stay a bit clear of this thread do to the extremes of opinions. But I'll go ahead and throw my $.02 in.
I used to use of-the-rack TKL cases as they had sizes that fit all of my guitars. Not a bad case but I had one get stepped on during shipping and the top flexed enough to break the neck off and crush the top. Insurance covered it so that's not the issue. But I agree with an earlier post in that the true goal of a case should be to protect the guitar and that wasn't happening in my opinion so I looked elsewhere.
I came across Ameritage Cases and love them. They are extremely strong and well made. More padding than the TKL cases I used and much stronger construction. Drawback: they are quite heavy. Shipping sucks with one of these as not only are they heavy but bigger too. So the box has to be bigger and some carriers won't ship anything over 108 calculated inches (lenght plus girth). One other drawback is that they use a vinyl material to bind them with. This gets cut and marred very easily. But the plus side of this is that I wrote the president of the company (Tim Flynn is his name) and we had a pretty long discussion as to what they could use that would be better. We're still trying out various ideas but is says a lot to me that the president himself is willing to work with a customer to make the situation right. Not just send a field rep out to make the situation go away.
I assume they will ship overseas to you but you'd have to check that with them. But they are definately worth looking at. Good luck with your search. Paul

If someone with knowledge of the most popular cases used by custom builders could list them, perhaps the Alpha Builders could vote on what they have found to be the best. I've only used TKL and have limited knowledge of all of the other good ones. I recommend a poll only...no comments needed.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

The Calton case from Canada is the best I've seen so far...

[QUOTE=Pwoolson]
I came across Ameritage Cases and love them. They are extremely strong and well made. More padding than the TKL cases I used and much stronger construction. Paul[/QUOTE]

Mattia, As I said above...I too think the Ameritage cases are well worth the money. They look and "act" like a much more expensive case. That to me is real value

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Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Thanks Dave for cleaning up all the above posts. I applaud what you did, sir.

Mattia,

You can have a look at Hiscox cases (or buy one if you like!) you can take a look in the small Irish music shop (I forget its name) that is near Waterstone's bookstore on the Spui

Thanks for the tip, Russ!