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Musicman no longer including hardshell cases?
- Thread starter jd56hawk
- Start date
Yep. Much unnecessary butthurt for a subject that is, um, subjective. Plenty more important subjects to get testy about than this one.
Please do!!
Yeah, the way that threads like this suddenly go from 0-100 is frustrating. This brand of defensiveness comes right from the EB forums and I wish it would stay there.
I'm glad you mentioned that, I used to be a (casual) member of the EB forums but it got ...intense... pretty fast. It's well and good to be a fan of something and talk up the good points but the idea that there can be no alternate and equally valid points of view is just silly.
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i think you’re vastly overestimating how valuable a musicman hard shell case is by a lot here, most dealers throw them in for free and the resale value is about the same as a mono case is, maybe less.
it comes down to someone at a store buying the bass and being like “eh can I get a hard shell instead” and the dealer most likely being like “oh yeah sure, it won’t say musicman on it though”
there’s no hard shell cases less than 30 years old that add significant value outside of “the cost of a hard shell case” to a bass for sale
Dealers be having a lot of hard shell cases lying around
It’s cool to prefer a hard case though and be dissaponted and stuff. it’s just not really a ripoff or anything that it isn’t a hard shell case. I’m bummed there’s no alnico musicmans left for the time being but it’s not a ripoff that they don’t offer them anymore
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I may be. Every mm bass I purchased new came with a case. They didn't charge extra. It was included. That's the way it should be at that price point. My point with the mono is that I firmly believe this is a cost control measure and some folks think it's not. Just calling it out. That's all.
Calling what out?
Can you provide the information as to what it costs MM to purchase the current HSC to what they will pay for the new MONO bag?
Here's retail:
From Guitar Center:
Ernie Ball Music Man 4980 Hardshell Case for StingRay 4 or 5-String Bass
9.99
MONO Classic Bass Guitar Case - Black
$249.99 (Sweetwater)
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/M80EBBLK--mono-m80-bass-guitar-hybrid-gig-bag-black
Bye.
i don’t know if it’s cheaper to have mono make the case it comes with, it probably is, it is contracting a company to print your logo on their existing product but what you were arguing earlier is that that amount of savings that musicman gets is at the expense of the person buying the bass. The problem with that is that is that the mono bag is just as valuable as the hard shell case.
And that's where we disagree. The hard case is more valuable to me. They're not going with mono because it cost more. They're pinching pennies. 2 issues there that are related. I ask the question: how many mono bags will you stack on top of each other and consider the bottom base safe. Not many. They didn't drop prices. They dropped their cost. We get less bang for the buck.
Just for the sake of discussion... These are photos of the hardshell case that came with my 1982 Stingray. This case spent 5+ years bouncing around in trailers, vans etc while I toured the Midwest back in the day. Since has been to hundreds of gigs in vans, cars, trailers etc until I bought a MusicMan branded fitted plastic hardshell case maybe five years ago because I wanted more protection.
So the case is 40 years old and still in use with another bass (an LTD B-204 FWIW). Yeah it's beat up, which is its job - to take the beatings so the instrument inside doesn't. I have serious doubts that any soft case or gig bag is going to give that kind of protection and last that long doing it. Here's the bass that spent all those years and miles in this case. Still in excellent condition, minimal dings, scratch's etc and I've gigged the crap out of it over all of those years.
So the case is 40 years old and still in use with another bass (an LTD B-204 FWIW). Yeah it's beat up, which is its job - to take the beatings so the instrument inside doesn't. I have serious doubts that any soft case or gig bag is going to give that kind of protection and last that long doing it. Here's the bass that spent all those years and miles in this case. Still in excellent condition, minimal dings, scratch's etc and I've gigged the crap out of it over all of those years.
Some of the above "logic" escapes me.
I worked for a company that provided imprinted gig bags to both OEM's (builders) and many Music retailers. They were nice bags, too- Solid padding, lots of pockets, durable cordura.
I'm certain that many here probably have this bag. It cost about 1/3 the price of a MONO.
If MusicMan simply wanted to cut costs, they certainly could have sourced a less expensive, but still quality bag.
You might be surprised at the number of case/gig bag suppliers at NAMM.
But they didn't- They went to MONO, regarded as a top-end (and top-priced ) supplier and spec'd out a form-fitted bag specifically for their instruments.
Preference for a HSC is a non-issue. You prefer to use one- go ahead.
However-
Stating that a case is more valuable because your instrument "spent 5+ years bouncing around in trailers, vans etc." is a pretty weak argument, seeing as if you used a gig bag for that- well obviously you should not.
I'm still waiting for the information regarding MM's cost differential between MONO and whoever makes their cases. I doubt Sterling Ball will bother chiming in, but I think it ludicrous to STATE as fact that the only reason was to increase profit. How is it that you are privy to that information?
I worked for a company that provided imprinted gig bags to both OEM's (builders) and many Music retailers. They were nice bags, too- Solid padding, lots of pockets, durable cordura.
I'm certain that many here probably have this bag. It cost about 1/3 the price of a MONO.
If MusicMan simply wanted to cut costs, they certainly could have sourced a less expensive, but still quality bag.
You might be surprised at the number of case/gig bag suppliers at NAMM.
But they didn't- They went to MONO, regarded as a top-end (and top-priced ) supplier and spec'd out a form-fitted bag specifically for their instruments.
Preference for a HSC is a non-issue. You prefer to use one- go ahead.
However-
Stating that a case is more valuable because your instrument "spent 5+ years bouncing around in trailers, vans etc." is a pretty weak argument, seeing as if you used a gig bag for that- well obviously you should not.
I'm still waiting for the information regarding MM's cost differential between MONO and whoever makes their cases. I doubt Sterling Ball will bother chiming in, but I think it ludicrous to STATE as fact that the only reason was to increase profit. How is it that you are privy to that information?
I think the basses are still, despite every component and material that goes into them being a lot more expensive than it was even two years ago, much cheaper than a fender or gibson and their value is for the time being despite circumstances relatively stable.
Being ripped off comes down to whether or not them saving money is by offering a product that is less valuable for the same amount of money. I don’t think the mono cases are less valuable though or that the musicman branded cases are more valuable
i think also the way the cases are made has probably never been on site in the factory, I think it’s a matter of switching contractors to making them. Given that the values of the actual product(cases) is very similar I doubt substantial money was really even saved. Unless mono is trying a thing where they’re underbidding all the other case contractors to get name recognition by being associated with more and more brands, I sorta don’t know if they’re saving tons of money switching cases. I think more likely and funny is Some goofball really believes in the mono cases and that’s fine!
Can't we like different things? I've never owned a bass that I gigged that didn't have a hard case. But I also rode around in a band van, and band things happen in vans that would damage a bag of sorts. I love my Serek case that came with my grand, super awesome for me now, but wouldn't have lasted 6 months back in the day...
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