Hard Case Repair

[Zako]

So i bought a bass off ebay,
Real nice guy, shipped fast, bass was in exact condition as described. Shipped in a nice case.

But the case was locked Asked the seller, he said it shouldn't be locked and that he didn't have a key for it.

The latches wouldnt budge no matter how hard i tried, so i broke in with a screw driver. The latch wouldnt come off or open up, so i had to rip off the entire mechanism. On both ends mind you, only the middle latch is the standard Hoop one. On the ends its a flap down latch that locks into place somehow with a circular lock.

Sooo long story short, is there a place that sells replacement parts for Cases? I just want another 2 standard hoop latches that come on almost every case to replace the other ones i had to break, its a nice case besides having only one latch

 

[santucci218]

well, i would have told you that most of those keys are universal to the company. for example. the key for my ibanez rg550 case also works on every gator case i have come across, as well as TKL. So i would have said dont break it, just go to a local music store, haha.

BUT.

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[Zako]

well the case was from the 80's if that makes a difference

But thanks a lot for the link

 

[Pilgrim]

If you've broken the material of the case out, then the only thing I can recommend is fiberglass repair - you could take it to a fiberglass company and have them repair it - which is NOT going to be cost effective.

But you can go to the auto body store, buy fiberglass repair materials and a book on doing the repairs, and probably glass in new material. It will be smelly, messy and time consuming....and you must have a garage or other space to do it in. NOT something you do in an apartment or home.

If you broke off the latches but didn't break the body material, then you can probably buy fender washers and a pop rivet setup, then re-mount new latches using pop rivets through the fender washers to distribute the load from each latch over a wide area.

 

[R. Laevinus]

...I haven't got any advice for this particular case, but in future, I reccomend bolt cutters.

Then you'd only need new hoops and wouldn't risk hurting the case proper.

 

[tdvt]

These guys have those parts.

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[grifff]

Is there any place that would sell keys? My case came locked also except I was able to pick the lock.

 

[ddnidd1]

Is there any place that would sell keys? My case came locked also except I was able to pick the lock.

Try a locksmith. Usually the case keys are just luggage keys. You probably won't get the exact key but something that will work.