Hard cases now non essential?

[40Hz]

One thing gig bags can't give you is that inviting click-click-snap sound a hardshell case makes when you open it.

That's a magic sound dear to the hearts of musicians of my generation. Instills an instant sense of anticipation and excitement over what's inside.

It's the audio equivalent of a lovely woman smiling at you as she unbuttons her blouse.

Probably an age thing.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Got this idea from another thread called "Bass amps now non essential?" and did a search first but I've found nothing on it so I thought I start a similar thread on something that has - slightly - become obsolete.

Now, (means these days) when buying any new mid-end or high end bass it always comes with a "hard case". You know this squared vinyl/tolex things, that you have to carry with one handle and not being able to use both hands, say, like a gig bag that's formed like a huge backback. My opinion is, that if you REALLY need the protection of a hard case, you should go with a proper FLIGHT CASE in all instances. OR a properly made gigbag like MONO and the like if you want everyday soft protection agains scratches, rain, or anything else. The "in between" hard cases seems to make no sense anymore. Or at least, less and less If you have to protect it in that hard case, it is to be protected against such things that a flight case will do so much better. And to protect it enough from everyday rehearsal and transporting to a gig, a soft case performs so much better anyway. I e if you handle your bass with case/gig bag so hard that the actual bass will take some serious damage from any kind of hit or drop, chances are that it would do so just as well as with a hard case. And if you have to STOW something upon your bass residing in the case, I doubt a "regular" hard case will keep it up. Then the only thing would be flight cases.

1. Soft gig bag
2. Hard case
3. Flight case

Also, I find soft gig bags more malleable and forming after different shapes of basses and the amount of things than can be stowed into side pockets. Anything in there doesn't rattle around as much as in regular hard cases. And so on and on. Hard cases are very often just tailored to the one and only bass you've got.

By this, I mean "regular" hard case:

By this I mean a well made soft gig bag:

And, of course, by this I mean a flight case:

What's your opinion on this one?

My opinion is its all about how you're transporting your gear. I have both a hard case and a decent gig bag. If I'm just taking my bass somewhere in the car I don't mind using the gig bag, and I've done just that many many times in the past. But when we travel out of town an hour or two (typically) we use the band trailer and no I would not be comfortable using the gig bag in that situation.

As far as flight case style cases. No one uses those. Play some shows or work for production on some big shows. Big bands don't use them. Most of the bigger bands I've had an opportunity to open for use huge road cases that are custom made with shelves and they can slide multiple instruments in their factory hard cases onto the shelves that are built into the massive roadcase.

Tried to quickly find a picture but I'm not sure the name of the case I'm talking about. I have seen them a lot but never asked what it was called but it's essentially like this but the shelves are shaped to slide basses and guitars into each slot while they are in a hard case. So they are super protected.

 

[Snakeman1066]

Hardshell for everything

lol and i use flight cases as well

 

[DavC]

if my bass would go into the 'equipment truck/van ' , then a hard case ...

if it's in my vehicle , padded formed foam Gator is fine ..

 

[bassbully]

My hard cases have not been out of the house since I bought the basses.

 

[troy mcclure]

I am a weekend warrior, my basses travel with me in my car so gig bag for me. I have hard cases but have no use for them. If I was a touring musician and my bass stayed on a trailer or went in a plane. I would use hard cases at the very least if not flight cases. My basses are all replaceable, nothing more than $500 in the bunch so I am not over protective.

 

[MD Stingray]

Whether I bring my Squier or Fodera, my Harvest gigbag gets all the compliments.

My hard cases have not been out of the house since I bought the basses.

+1

 

[Kukulkan61]

Look no further! There's flight cases for everything! Should there be one for cigars, they should work just as well for carrots, your prayers has been heard!


Invalid Link Removed

 

[crucislancer]

Got this idea from another thread called "Bass amps now non essential?" and did a search first but I've found nothing on it so I thought I start a similar thread on something that has - slightly - become obsolete.

Now, (means these days) when buying any new mid-end or high end bass it always comes with a "hard case". You know this squared vinyl/tolex things, that you have to carry with one handle and not being able to use both hands, say, like a gig bag that's formed like a huge backback. My opinion is, that if you REALLY need the protection of a hard case, you should go with a proper FLIGHT CASE in all instances. OR a properly made gigbag like MONO and the like if you want everyday soft protection agains scratches, rain, or anything else. The "in between" hard cases seems to make no sense anymore. Or at least, less and less If you have to protect it in that hard case, it is to be protected against such things that a flight case will do so much better. And to protect it enough from everyday rehearsal and transporting to a gig, a soft case performs so much better anyway. I e if you handle your bass with case/gig bag so hard that the actual bass will take some serious damage from any kind of hit or drop, chances are that it would do so just as well as with a hard case. And if you have to STOW something upon your bass residing in the case, I doubt a "regular" hard case will keep it up. Then the only thing would be flight cases.

1. Soft gig bag
2. Hard case
3. Flight case

Also, I find soft gig bags more malleable and forming after different shapes of basses and the amount of things than can be stowed into side pockets. Anything in there doesn't rattle around as much as in regular hard cases. And so on and on. Hard cases are very often just tailored to the one and only bass you've got.

By this, I mean "regular" hard case:

By this I mean a well made soft gig bag:

And, of course, by this I mean a flight case:

What's your opinion on this one?

I use gig bags if I'm going to rehearsal or recording studio, friend's house to jam, that sort of thing. Hard cases for gigs, and while I've never had an issues that the hard case's extra protection comes into play, I think it's worth it if it does. Busy load in/backstage areas can be hard of instruments if you aren't careful, especially if you work a big show with a lot of people moving gear. I don't have any flight cases, but I would get one if I went on tour. A regular hard case is great for local shows, but if you go on a tour they can get really beat up.

I have two hard cases right now, a new Fender one with black tolex and an old SKB that I picked up in 2001. The SKB, despite hundreds of gigs, is a trooper. No cracks, all the latches work, good chance you could drop it off the end of a truck, loaded with a bass, and both the case and bass would come out fine. I don't have as much trust in the Fender case, but I figure if it takes a good hit, it will be enough to protect my bass but the case will need to be replaced.

In the end, it's a personal preference thing, I know guys that only have gig bags for their $3K basses, and if it doesn't bother them, good for them.

 

[rtav]

I use flight cases for my basses. I don't care about the weight or the bulkiness; all that matters is that if something happened to one of my basses while in its case I know I did all I could do to have prevented it and minimize any damage.

Overkill? Absolutely! Do I care? Absolutely not!

Link Removed

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Well then, the Sweetwater has got it all wrong, selling it off as a SKB case. And SKB too. Maybe a copyright infringement is on the line?

I'm sure they're just dissimilar enough to avoid any copyright or patent issues.

When I worked offshore, we put everything in Pelican cases, because they float.

 

[Honch]

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Honch]

Hey, don't get me wrong - I've tried hard cases that are very sturdy, and provide lots of protection. But I do think they're too heavy-duty for general use around town, and if you're gonna chuck something into a plane's cargo bay or a container, it doesn't hurt to get all the protection you can. Also, like I said, a lot of my case choice is dictated by my need to always have 2 basses, and I've never seen a 'double hard case' that seems very sturdy (Rockcase make one, but it's like their regular hard cases in the sense that the walls are quite thin and not well padded).

You said it too well, in your earlier post, I couldn't have said it better myself. And my underlining of your statement above is what I am really aiming at. And you can see Scotts video of what is rocking around INSIDE a "regular" hard case. But agreed I think those tolex/vinyl cases could be changed out to at least, SKB, Pelican, or all these molded cases. They do bring much better protection still. However more expensive.

 

[Honch]

I have an old generic hard case it will fit in if need be, but it tends to rattle around and I don't think it's much more protected in that thing.

This is my experience too. They rattle around... See video of Scotts flying tips.

I don't think it's well-insulated whatsoever, either. I think the gig bag is better insulated, and the bass survives just fine in it.

Yes this is my experience too. As for scratches and dents building up on any case, it should. Better to have the case beat up, than the bass inside. On a gig bag, they tend to last a little longer, and doesn't care too much about scratches and dents since the surface aint hard and "scratchable". You have to use a knife and deliberately make a scratch.

... because there are so many times when a hard case is neither required nor convenient. Also, taking two basses to a show is way more easy with gig bags. Even in terms of insulation for winter months, while a nice SKB or similar case would be well-insulated, I'll bet a good gig bag is way more insulated than some of the cheaper hard shell cases out there...

This is slightly what I am aiming at too. I think such "hybrid" and molded cases, like SKB, Pelican, Gator, et al is a far more better bet, than these thin walled "rattling around inside" tolex cases that ships with the instrument. Now, I can very well think that on acoustic instruments (ac guitars) they may have a somewhat larger reason for use. An acoustic body is more sensitive and should not fare well with a gig bag. Any gig bag. But this is bass forum, so let's keep it to mostly solid body basses.

 

[Honch]

One thing gig bags can't give you is that inviting click-click-snap sound a hardshell case makes when you open it.

That's a magic sound dear to the hearts of musicians of my generation. Instills an instant sense of anticipation and excitement over what's inside.

It's the audio equivalent of a lovely woman smiling at you as she unbuttons her blouse.

Probably an age thing.

And how many times have you forgot to open that last one? You always open the locks that you see, and tries to open it and goes "oh...there's one more somewhere". Always, when opening an aocustic guitar hard case, or arch top case, as well as guitar shaped hard shell cases, they always has this lock too at the lower bout, which you forgets to both open and forgets to lock so it is rattling about... you close all the other three that is visible, but ALWAYS forgets the one at the back...

 

[40Hz]

And how many times have you forgot to open that last one? You always open the locks that you see, and tries to open it and goes "oh...there's one more somewhere". Always, when opening an aocustic guitar hard case, or arch top case, as well as guitar shaped hard shell cases, they always has this lock too at the lower bout, which you forgets to both open and forgets to lock so it is rattling about... you close all the other three that is visible, but ALWAYS forgets the one at the back...

I always forget the one on the back of an acoustic or shaped case. Always.

I'm not proud of it. But I'll admit it just the same. Because I want to be loved for who I really am. Faults and all.


.
.

 

[BritBass 2]

I've always used the original factory cases both for transport and storage. Never had any problems plus I really like the way they look.

 

[Blue_Whistle88]

You said it too well, in your earlier post, I couldn't have said it better myself. And my underlining of your statement above is what I am really aiming at. And you can see Scotts video of what is rocking around INSIDE a "regular" hard case. But agreed I think those tolex/vinyl cases could be changed out to at least, SKB, Pelican, or all these molded cases. They do bring much better protection still. However more expensive.

Well, the moulded cases are a fairly recent invention (relative to the vinyl/tolex cases), and it looks they are becoming a more common design in that middle ground of 'hard cases'. The only issue is that, if you hit them really hard, they develop large cracks (especially in areas with protruding parts of the shell, like 'feet' and corners). Wooden cases are more resistant to this, as the damage tends to get more localised, though this only really applies to flight cases because the thin tolex cases crack quite easily too. So I guess the point is that plastic cases have more of a limit to how tough they can be.

However, companies might expand the plastic moulded technology to replace the wooden designs used for current flight cases, which could make them a bit lighter. But I think the amount of interior padding has more of an impact than the exterior material, so it ultimately comes back to the issue of cheap cases just not having enough of it. This is obviously an issue with cheap gig bags as well, so maybe it's futile to categorise things as 'soft, hard, and flight cases', and instead just acknowledge all cases as either soft or hard, with there being varying quality in each category?

If one was to do this, then in light of the recent development of moulded cases, it's probably true that plastic flight cases will gradually replace wooden ones (similar to how I talked about a 'double SKB-44' before).

 

[Bob_Ross]

When I used to tour, I used a soft case/gig bag inside of a very heavy Anvil Flight case (we had roadie's to carry it). That way when I got to the gig I could leave the Anvil Case at the hotel or venue and use the gig bag to carry my bass around locally. Best of both worlds.

I'm surprised more touring musicians don't do this, especially now that incredibly nice gig bags are so commonplace. First time I saw someone doing this was Pat Metheny in the mid-1980s: I worked with Pat's guitar tech (Mark Herbert) and when Linda Manzer dropped off Pat's new solid-body for a setup, it was in a gig bag inside an Anvil flight case. Seemed like such a simple yet brilliant idea. Like Russian Nesting Dolls.

[edit: notice how I dropped three names in a single post? ]

You can fold a gigbag in half and slide it under a seat, with just a little more effort you can do it with the bass still in it.

I guarantee you can fold a traditional tolex/plywood Fender-style case in half with only slightly more effort. Difference is, after you fold the gig bag in half the bass may be toast but the bag is reusable; you can only fold a tolex HSC in half once.

Well then, the Sweetwater has got it all wrong, selling it off as a SKB case. And SKB too. Maybe a copyright infringement is on the line?

Wouldn't be the first time SKB copied another manufacturer's design. Check out their shock-mount racks, the ribbed, molded plastic ones with the metal coil springs in each corner suspending the rackrails...then look at a Thermodyne shock-mount rack from the late 1970s/early 1980s.

 

[Rudreax]

View attachment 804121

What's the point of this?