soft cases, size/brands?

Bob Holo

Selmer bodies are 470 long by 403 at the big bout and 102mm deep at the tail so I suppose another 2.5cm deep at the bridge to account for the arch of the top & back + the bridge, so 130mm would be a good assumption for depth. I guess that's 18.5" by 15.875" by 5.125"

Be careful about the "snug" thing Gary .... depends on what's snug. The sides and neck can take a pretty good deal of pressure but the downforce on the bridge ranges from about 6lbs on old Castellucias with those low bridges up to about 16lbs on some of those high bridge Favinos. So if you put a GJ guitar in a case that puts even 4 or 5lbs of pressure on the bridge, it's pretty much like stringing it with 13s when its in the case. You can mitigate this by loosening the strings when you put it in the case if it does put pressure on the top. I saw the pictures of the guy showing how he had to sort of force the zipper shut that last few inches on the Mono case and... the pocket on top for putting things like gig-books in a pocket directly over the bridge which might increase pressure on the top... sort of made me pause... I've never used a Mono case and so I don't know if the case touches the top - but it seems like it might. Actually, I don't know if the wolfpack puts pressure on the top - I should have checked. It seemed deeper than the guitar's body - but I should have checked it anyway. The hard-soft cases Dupont uses for the Nomades have enough room - I know that... checked them... But a good test for a case is to put a piece of paper on the strings over the bridge, put the guitar in the case and go to the gig. When you get there, if the paper is imprinted with the outline of the bridge and strings - then... well... ouch.

I'd love to see one of these hard-soft case companies come up with a quasi soft case that was styrofoam everywhere else, but just had one carbon bow or i-beam over the bridge area... something to stop pressure & impacts there. That's the one downfall of all soft cases is that they don't do much to protect the single most fragile part.

pinkgary

Cheers Bob, i'll do that. Which means i may go back to the Tribal Planet one, which does have a protective bit over the bridge area. It's pretty solid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXB9jpYhX1k

Definitely gives more protection for the bridge than the mono.

Bob Holo

Haha... great video. Never seen this one. Case makers go a little loco showing their wares. Calton & ... I forget the name... the British super-case... OH... I remember... Hiscox... they have one where the guy puts it on the roof of his car... backs out of his driveway and drives over it after it falls off... Reunion Blues has a cool one too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAm8Te0FXzA

jscook777

Thanks Gary. I'm thinking of getting the dreadnaught size to avoid putting extra pressure on the top from zipping up a snug fitting case. Have you noticed any extra squeeze on the top from the classical size case?

pinkgary

I haven't noticed any & i know Macca has been using one for years without his top sinking or bridge falling off or anything. I'm gonna try the paper test today when i go out busking, i'll let you know the result afterwards.

marciero

I'd love to see one of these hard-soft case companies come up with a quasi soft case that was styrofoam everywhere else, but just had one carbon bow or i-beam over the bridge area... something to stop pressure & impacts there. That's the one downfall of all soft cases is that they don't do much to protect the single most fragile part.

Bam makes a hard/soft case that appears to have stiff lid, but cant tell for sure. They call it a case. Unfortunately, they only make it in classical size. It's the "Classic for classical". It's not the composite case-I have one of those for my nylon string. Judging from the fit of the case I have, and assuming it;s the same fit as the hard/soft case, the selmer is not going to fit.

Mike A

pinkgary

Ok... The paper had an imprint where the bridge ends are on the Mateos.

But not on the Dupont.

So,.... Can't really say.. Depends on the guitar. The bridge on the Mateos is about an inch longer than the Dupont. I was quite surprised when i tried to put the Dupont bridge on the Mateos when i first got it (you know, tinkering away, looking for the ideal sound), and there was a 1cm or so gap between the bridge & the Moustache markers. Not sure if it's taller though, i guess it must be. I should measure it really.

bopster

After tweaking my Dell' Arte Robin Nolan so it's gig ready, I too started looking at padded gig bags. I found a few more not mentioned in previous posts:

Stagg
Grizzly "Samba"
Ultimate Support Series One

I finally settled on a Crossrock CRDG300D for the features and price ($69.00 US):

http://crossrockbags.com/en/ProductShow-64.html

The measurements are on the site for all the bags (without the conversion from metric), and this one fits Favino sized.

HCQ

Bopster, This looks good and they have Favino size. Great!

bm7b5

I posted on this somewhere - if you are going soft case check out MONO CASES. Sturdy, sleek, and the classical size fits my dupont like a glove. Pocket room, nothing bulgy. Been using daily all over US with out a single problem. Fits in overheads, although I travel with it C-clamped into a Case Extreme because who wants high blood pressure during a flight? Best "gig bag" I've ever seen/used.

www.monocase.com