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Musicman no longer including hardshell cases?

#124
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
When you pay 4/7k of your hard earned dollars for an instrument, artisans of luthiers work aside, you’ll be grateful and you’ll smile seeing a nice HSC given to you together with the boutique bass you’ve always wanted .. at least I would do so.
Sadowsky assembles instruments as Nash does; Nash gives a HSC and this is a plus for his service indeed.
Sadowsky gives you a semi-hard case IIRC which is not the same but something towards it.
Here we’re talking about a brand fabricating mass-produced instruments, which, as it is right IMO, has always delivered their products contained into solid cases since 1976, which abruptly stated that they will deliberately downgrade their service in the near future by replacing their HSC with soft cases !!!
I truly don’t believe this is a very wise move commercially.
Click to expand...

Given inflation, the cost of their basses might be less competitive if they come with hard shell cases. I already read lots of horror stories about what Music Man costs in Europe and Australia.
 
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#126
Having a case is important, but day to day I am going to use a gig bag more.
I don't take basses in a case to gigs.
Not sure I'd call it an "upgrade" though, I feel like it's somewhat important for a higher end instrument to come with a case that is suited to it, and then the gig bag should be the "add if you need it".
 
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#130
Dr. Cheese said:
Given inflation, the cost of their basses might be less competitive if they come with hard shell cases. I already read lots of horror stories about what Music Man costs in Europe and Australia.
Click to expand...
Correct but eliminating a useful piece of equipment and company history may not be the right tool to help keeping the production costs down, one doesn’t need a degree in economics for recognising this; what about next time then? Removing a string?
In principle, it’s the same as if, in order to lose weight, I decide to let one of my arms go!
What they are doing is obviously a downgrading measure, likely taken to contain their production costs.
Should this be enough, then it may prove to be a wise a wise move; I’m not of this opinion however.
 
#133
Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati said:
Correct but eliminating a useful piece of equipment and company history may not be the right tool to help keeping the production costs down, one doesn’t need a degree in economics for recognising this; what about next time then? Removing a string?
In principle, it’s the same as if, in order to lose weight, I decide to let one of my arms go!
What they are doing is obviously a downgrading measure, likely taken to contain their production costs.
Should this be enough, then it may prove to be a wise a wise move; I’m not of this opinion however.
Click to expand...

You can’t get something for nothing. Either folks pay more or accept cuts of some kind.
 
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#136
This company gets it all wrong as usual. So for what.. over 2k for a new Stingray bass we get a gig bag? What a joke. Still no affordable version of the Cliff Williams Stingray and a gazillion Dream Theater guitars. I must be the one of very few that dislike the new Stingray bass design. They'll reissue the classic at some point but it will be priced astronomically.

I actually like the gig bag with the Sterling Stingray basses however.
 
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#137
Most of my basses have hardshell cases. Never used one during the last 30 years. Always use gigbags - and if even more protection would be needed than good gigbags like the ones from Mono offer, I certainly wouldn't use the hardshell cases Fender or MusicMan basses come with.

Nice move from MusicMan - and I guess the ones from Mono are more expensive than typical hardshell cases.
 
#138
Fun Size Nick said:
Agreed - take a look at that case, it's nothing like an M80 or a Vertigo or a Sleeve, and isn't recognisable as a 'gig bag' as most of us know them. Resembles a student's violin case. Looks like all of the negatives of both hardshell cases and gig bags IMO.

Edit: link with full size pic here: Ernie Ball Music Man: New at NAMM 2022
Click to expand...

They're cut for the specific instrument like the hard cases. That's very advantageous from keeping it from sliding around, decreasing the energy going into it when the case comes to a sudden stop but the instrument has room to slide. It's an improvement over the normal Mono bags on that front. Other people commented in the thread about it being semi-ridgid and all that, but all that extra material from the custom cut should help it have more structurea s well.

I personally don't like the lack of straps (one of the big advantages in addition to improved drop protection of this style of case is carrying it on your back).
 
#139
I can go either way on this...

I have a few hardshells, used for instruments when they need to be in a truck. I use the same cases to transport any instrument that fits. I also have a few gig bags, great for car and truck interiors as they don't hurt the upholstery or the instrument.

Most of my instruments live "outside" on stands. The ones that don't live there do just as well in quality gig bags as they do in hardshell cases.

So... I'd rather buy hardshells as needed and not pay for them when I don't.
 
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