New Gibson Acoustic Cases

[stein]

I've found most stores, even GC, will label the cases they keep in the back so they at least know when they've found the one that came in with the guitar. A little plain manilla string hang tag.

 

I agree. However, while GC seems similar from store to store, how they are run and how the employees do their jobs can vary greatly.

 

There are 3 around here. One seems to be run like a real music store like you describe (at least on the surface), and one seems to be run by an absent manager with a group of kids who appear to have no training or guidance on what their jobs might actually be.

[Jumboluther]

Could you possibly post a photo of the guitar sitting in the case, looking straight down into the case, and the open case with no guitar in it, photographed the same way?

 

There should be several raised portions of padding in the case: over the fretboard, a thin raised pad over the top around the bridge area, and a fairly thick raised pad in the bottom under the upper bout. These pads are all covered by the cat fur lining, but they provide the support (in addition to the regular padding all around the body) that holds the guitar in position in the case. Plus, of course, the double neck rests in the standard case.

 

 

I'll try to take some pix tomorrow. You're right, however, those pads and braces are indeed there and the guitar seems to be generally immobilized when the lid is closed. But when the guitar sits in the open case, there is at least a half-inch of movement in any direction. That leads me to believe the guitar could shift if bumped hard. BTW, I put the AJ in my Martin Marquis deluxe Geib-style case today and it fit very snugly--almost a little moreso than the Martin does.

[j45nick]

I'll try to take some pix tomorrow. You're right, however, those pads and braces are indeed there and the guitar seems to be generally immobilized when the lid is closed. But when the guitar sits in the open case, there is at least a half-inch of movement in any direction. That leads me to believe the guitar could shift if bumped hard. BTW, I put the AJ in my Martin Marquis deluxe Geib-style case today and it fit very snugly--almost a little moreso than the Martin does.

 

 

We may be splitting hairs here a bit. I just checked on the fit of my SJ in the standard case. With the lid open, I can move it about 1/4" in any direction. When the lid is closed, however, the padding in the lid presses down on the fretboard over most of its length. You can see a permanent imprint of the strings in the padding over the fretboard. That's a pretty standard fit, I believe, and is certainly safe for normal use.

 

As everybody has pointed out, that's probably not what you would want in an airline transport case. Even if I'm shipping a guitar in the case inside a regular cardboard guitars-shipping box, I fold up a small piece of toweling and place it over the bridge, to make sure the guitar can't move vertically in the case.

 

This caution is the result of an airline baggage handling accident to my old J-45 back in the 1960's, which resulted in Gibson re-topping the guitar--unnecessarily, but that's another story.

 

It may be that the TKL cases with the black fur lining are different from the blue fur ones that I have. If the fur is less "furry", for example, it might allow a little more movement.

 

IF you want to see a loose fit, look at many of the cases that came with Gibsons and other brands during the 1950's and even 1960's. The guitar would practically rattle around in some of the cases unless you put additional padding in it.

 

At the other extreme is the custom G&G Cali Girl case I have for my old J-45 now. When it was new, the padding was so tight that I was afraid to try to put the guitar into the case for fear it would crush it.