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Thread: Cases and covers

  1. #1
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    Default Cases and covers

    There have been a few posts about cases lately, and they have got me to thinking. I have a million dollar idea, but no capital, so if someone wants to take this and run with it, you have my blessings.

    Think about it for a minute. If you need a case to help prevent your mandolin from being damaged, and a case cover to keep your case from getting damaged, how do you keep your case cover from being damaged? Why is there not a cover for the case cover? There you go, entrepreneurs! The market is wide open, and a fortune is just waiting to be made!
    Don

    2016 Weber Custom Bitterroot F
    2011 Weber Bitterroot A
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  3. #2

    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Ah, the perennial CCC (Case Cover Critique/Complaint).

    My annual reply:

    1. Provides environmental/weather protection (temp changes, precipitation, etc)

    2. Much more comfortable for travelling/sharing space (no hard or sharp edges, attachment points for shoulder strap, etc)

    3. Much more storage space

    (I've never thought about them as protection from "case damage" )

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  5. #3
    Orrig Onion HonketyHank's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    No, no, no, no -- the case cover is soft and easily torn. Don't cover it with something equally soft and fragile. You need something hard and durable. Thus you need a case cover case. (which might need a cover)
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  7. #4

    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Quote Originally Posted by catmandu2 View Post
    Ah, the perennial CCC (Case Cover Critique/Complaint).

    My annual reply:

    1. Provides environmental/weather protection (temp changes, precipitation, etc)

    2. Much more comfortable for travelling/sharing space (no hard or sharp edges, attachment points for shoulder strap, etc)

    3. Much more storage space

    (I've never thought about them as protection from "case damage" )
    my thoughts exactly!

    Here's my case and case cover...love them both!






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  9. #5
    plectrist Ryk Loske's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    I buy a quality instrument that i can't afford to replace. For which i buy a quality case that i can't afford to replace. For which i buy a case cover to protect the lot.
    Ryk
    mandolin ~ guitar ~ banjo

    "I'm convinced that playing well is not so much a technique as it is a decision. It's a commitment to do the work, strive for concentration, get strategic about advancing by steps, and push patiently forward toward the goal." Dan Crary

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  11. #6
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Don, That is hilarious! You made my day!
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  13. #7
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Many thanks to those who replied and recognized that I had my tongue firmly in cheek.

    Hank’s was my favorite. Of COURSE the case cover should be protected by a hard case!

    It kind of makes me think of the nesting Russian dolls.
    Don

    2016 Weber Custom Bitterroot F
    2011 Weber Bitterroot A
    1974 Martin Style A

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  15. #8
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    There’s a very simple answer to this problem. Move to the UK. In nearly 50 years of mandolin playing, I have yet to come across a mandolin case cover.

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  17. #9
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    There’s a very simple answer to this problem. Move to the UK. In nearly 50 years of mandolin playing, I have yet to come across a mandolin case cover.
    Case credibility here in UK is having it look like you did 10,000 gigs, with half torn off stickers for bands that split in 1975 and festivals that went under years ago. I think some people take the mando out, leave the case in the sun to fade for a while then kick it round the yard some for added authenticity. Don, there's your alternative enrichment plan: Don's Pre-Weathered Cases - slogan, 'You Owe it to The Musician You Might have Been'.

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  19. #10
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    The problem I’d have is if it had pockets I fill them with more junk I really don’t need!
    Have we started St. Patricks day Festivities a little early? This smacks of late night, tail end of the bottle brainstorming.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  21. #11
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Maxr that is truly a million dollar idea! People spend huge amounts of money on instruments that have been heavily “relic-ed”, so why not a heavily relic-ed case as well to go with it? Scratches, rips, tears, wear spots, lots of stickers and of course duct tape! You say you haven’t been playing for 50 years my friend? No problem! Now any newbie can look like an old pro!
    Don

    2016 Weber Custom Bitterroot F
    2011 Weber Bitterroot A
    1974 Martin Style A

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  23. #12
    Registered User mingusb1's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Think about it for a minute. If you need a case to help prevent your mandolin from being damaged, and a case cover to keep your case from getting damaged, how do you keep your case cover from being damaged? Why is there not a cover for the case cover? There you go, entrepreneurs! The market is wide open, and a fortune is just waiting to be made![/QUOTE]

    Good topic/thread! And once this "cover cover" or "cover case" is produced and ready for market we could shoot some "case cover cover unboxing" videos for youtube and the like!

    Z
    Member since 2003!

  24. #13
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Don’t cases become naturally “reliced”? My Calton guitar case will be 50 in just over 5 years time and that’s still going strong.

    I suspect that case covers may have originated in the orchestral world. A, now deceased, fiddle playing mate of mine kept his antique fiddle in a cloth bag which went inside a case and the case had a canvas cover. The need for covers for case covers is something I’ve often puzzled over, particularly when somebody raises the subject on the cafe so it’s really not new to me.

  25. #14
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Well, the first (and only time) I took my Stradolin and it's vintage case out of the house, it was pouring rain. I put the case in a trash bag to run between the house and the car. I've been thinking about a length of gortex that I've had up on my shelf for years, but I'd have to learn how to sew sealed zippers. Could be more trouble than it's worth.

  26. #15
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Quote Originally Posted by Sue Rieter View Post
    Well, the first (and only time) I took my Stradolin and it's vintage case out of the house, it was pouring rain. I put the case in a trash bag to run between the house and the car. I've been thinking about a length of gortex that I've had up on my shelf for years, but I'd have to learn how to sew sealed zippers. Could be more trouble than it's worth.
    How about one of those 100% waterproof tote bags you buy in sailing shops - the ones with the roll over neck and plastic clips fittings? It might be nearly as effective and convenient as your trash bag...

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  28. #16
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    I have a case cover for my old calton, my bandmates sure liked giving me a hard time last few winters when I used it.

    This year when we had a practice and it was -20 and lower with the wind chills no one seemed to give me a hard time about it
    I should be pickin' rather than postin'

  29. #17
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Quote Originally Posted by maxr View Post
    How about one of those 100% waterproof tote bags you buy in sailing shops - the ones with the roll over neck and plastic clips fittings? It might be nearly as effective and convenient as your trash bag...
    Hey, it would float if you are on a sinking vessel!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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  31. #18

    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Dry bags, tennis racquet bags, sleeping bags, mover's blankets...people prefer these to the convenience of a form-fitting bag? Is it because Bill Monroe said it wasn't part of anything? Or because orchestral players use them? Image is a demanding lord I guess.

    Seems an inconsistency - with so much talk here about supporting businesses catering to mandolin players, why not give them your business instead of the boating shop or sporting goods store?

    I wonder - how many would spring for a replica gunny sack?

  32. #19
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Perhaps we should be thinking outside the box here. Perhaps that extra-extra-layer of protection could come in the form of a carefully executed steel cage, to protect the instrument, case and case cover, much like a Tone-Gard (maybe its the Cover-Gard.) And if that doesn't get you quite there, a protective plates of celluloid, like pick guards, could be attached to the Cover-Gard. I'm sensing a level of instrument protection not even dreamed of by the master case designers like Günter Schmergel!
    “Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.” -- Aldo Leopold

  33. #20

    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Rumor has it, Calton is coming out with a new mandolin case that doesn't even have space for a mandolin. It's simply meant to be carried with nothing in it. Pre-orders have sold out.

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  35. #21
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Quote Originally Posted by Timbofood View Post
    Hey, it would float if you are on a sinking vessel!
    Women, children, and mandolins first - sorry, mandolins and mandoliners first...

  36. #22
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    A while ago I was searching the net for a new flight case for a guitar and lit upon a Spanish site. The illustrations showed what could be a perfect answer, the only problem- it was all in Spanish and I don't speak Spanish! Answer, hit the "translate" button and Lo and behold, I've found a site advertising "Air Guitar Cases"! A whole new world of commercial possibilities opened up in mind's eye that instant. Air guitar strings, air guitar straps, air guitar tuition etc, etc. 'Tis a wonderful world we live in.
    Practice random kindness and acts of senseless beauty.

  37. #23
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Originally Posted by Old Man In
    A while ago I was searching the net for a new flight case for a guitar and lit upon a Spanish site. The illustrations showed what could be a perfect answer, the only problem- it was all in Spanish and I don't speak Spanish! Answer, hit the "translate" button and Lo and behold, I've found a site advertising "Air Guitar Cases"! A whole new world of commercial possibilities opened up in mind's eye that instant. Air guitar strings, air guitar straps, air guitar tuition etc, etc. 'Tis a wonderful world we live in.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Air Guitar Case
    Last edited by NursingDaBlues; Mar-12-2021 at 5:01pm.

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  39. #24
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cases and covers

    No self-respecting musician has an instrument case that isn't covered with stickers. That doesn't work on soft cases as well as hard cases, so whatever kind of Matryoshka Doll case-within-a-case method you use, the final one on the outside had better be a hard case that can proudly display all your stickers.

    Never trust a musician with a case without stickers, is my motto.

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  41. #25

    Default Re: Cases and covers

    Hmmm... For some reason, this thread reminds me of the opening to the Get Smart tv show, where Max goes through Mind-Bogglingly Secure Door after Mind-Bogglingly Secure Door to ultimately get into the headquarters of CONTROL, as the opening credits roll by...

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