The Illustrated Case

[stonetone7]

I'm sure most of us have at least one case - bass, guitar, pedals - that has amassed a bunch of stickers over the years.

I have two, each holding my earliest bass and guitar. And looking at them today it's almost like those stickers have a weird bit of archaeological significance: I found this one during the beach gigs in Rehobeth; my drummer gave me this one; and this one got all melty when its case fell in the campfire. They can represent layers of history, and result in a case covered with stories.

Or maybe they're colorful bits of nonsense. In any event, let's see them!

 

[stonetone7]

Speaking of stories, the sticker below used to be a bumper sticker for Community Loudspeakers that said "We'll blow your doors off."

But over the years wear and tear on this hard-gigged bass case resulted in an incremental, progressive shortening of that logo. First it was "we'll blow your doors" and then "we'll blow your do" and then (I swear) "we'll blow you" and then, finally, "we'll blow."

Always good for a laugh before the show.

 

[McG]

I haven't put stickers on cases in ages. This one goes way back. The oldest case I have.

My fav sticker on it.

 

[stonetone7]

None of the my cases younger than 15 years have any stickers. Maybe it's a phase we grow out of, or maybe we just collect our memes on our phones these days.

But sometimes we still get surprised by the odd sticker here and there, and it's kinda nice to have a place to put them.

 

[lfmn16]

Actually I have one sticker on one case. The rest are all sticker free.

 

[cholyoke]

My oldest case has a bunch of chemical hazard stickers courtesy of my chemist father. All of the new cases are totally free of stickers.

 

[stonetone7]

Those are different, and different is cool!

Seems like a lot of old cases here. Is this a phase we go through? Maybe the cases that get stickers are for keeper instruments that will never get sold?

Thanks, guys, fun stuff!

 

[dbase]

Obviously I haven't had many gigs over the years.

 

[cholyoke]

My bass at the time had tons of stickers, too. As did my car. I do think it is a phase. I never put stickers on basses, cases or cars now.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I have one bass with a plastic case, good for stickering, or in my case paint-penning. Here's the top:

The back:

A detail showing my favorite part of the top:

This part of the top was done by my GF:

This detail from the back is a tribute to some music legends that are no longer with us:

 

[dbase]

Thank God I don't see my name on the case. Whew!

 

[bassstrangler]

Sticker free and extraneous paint free as well since 1986.

 

[bassstrangler]

Thank God I don't see my name on the case. Whew!

The D in dbase doesn't stand for Demeter?

 

[stonetone7]

I have one bass with a plastic case, good for stickering, or in my case paint-penning.

A literal work of art, stunning!

 

[PaulReside]

Don't have a photo but my favorite is on my chapman stick case, "talent does what it can, genius does what it must" I was in a band called Genius at the time.

 

[Relsom]

I put this leather bound plywood briefcase to use in the early '70s and retired it sometime in the '80s. While the stickers themselves are kind of boring, the case itself really brings back some memories and could tell ya some stories.

 

[sacahill42]

Back in 1985 or 1986 a good friend gifted me a brand new Modulus BassStar and put it in a HSC that was held together mostly by duct tape (and a bit of chain for the handle). Over the years it accumulated stickers, but it has been long retired in favor of a gig bag. The oldest sticker on the case is the one from Stars Guitars (which is where he got the Modulus:

 

[LBS-bass]

I put this leather bound plywood briefcase to use in the early '70s and retired it sometime in the '80s. While the stickers themselves are kind of boring, the case itself really brings back some memories and could tell ya some stories.
View attachment 3655830

I've only seen one other Snake sticker like that and that goes back quite a long ways to my earliest days playing music on the east coast. That Dean Markley sticker is older than dirt, too. Memory lane.

 

[stonetone7]

Help save our tassie devil? Awesome.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I have one sticker on one of my 3 basses, but none on the cases. Seems every time I put one on the cases they never stuck or just got ripped up in the constant loading/unloading/carrying.

Those are very cool though.