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Thread: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

  1. #26

    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Eastman used to make a bowlback case. They seem to have disappeared. So has the chipboard bowlback case that Elderly carried. https://www.elderly.com/products/bow...26854214926400 I wonder if some vintage music store might have an old one laying around.
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  2. #27
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    I first noticed the Eastman case at least ten years ago but it seemed that it was not available in the US. There was an Eastman rep who frequented these pages and he was very responsive. I was the big mouth who kept on saying “why can’t we buy those cases here?” Eventually he sent me one to review and they started appearing at some dealers. Then they came out with their bowlback model which was actually a very nice mandolin. Too bad that the cases don’t get imported any more. I am not even sure that they make them.

    Also back in those days I found an eBay seller who imported excellent foam cases that sold for about $40USD. I probably bought at least four or five of them. The seller disappeared and no one else imports them. I have found ones on a Chinese import site but they don’t reply to my inquiries even when I send them in Chinese. I would become a dealer if I could. Oh well.
    Jim

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  3. #28
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    3-D printing?
    Charley

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  4. #29
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    ...Also back in those days I found an eBay seller who imported excellent foam cases that sold for about $40USD. I probably bought at least four or five of them. The seller disappeared and no one else imports them. I have found ones on a Chinese import site but they don’t reply to my inquiries even when I send them in Chinese. I would become a dealer if I could. Oh well.
    Was that the guy in Houston that also sold on Reverb? That guy on Reverb had some great stuff including some really strange mandolin cases made out of fiberglass. I bought my f-style mandola from him.
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  5. #30
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Quote Originally Posted by MikeEdgerton View Post
    Was that the guy in Houston that also sold on Reverb? That guy on Reverb had some great stuff including some really strange mandolin cases made out of fiberglass. I bought my f-style mandola from him.
    I didn’t think Reverb existed back then. The eBay seller was something like violinguy and they see to have disappeared. They did have fiberglass cases too. I wonder if it was the same seller.
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  6. #31
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Garber View Post
    I didn’t think Reverb existed back then. The eBay seller was something like violinguy and they see to have disappeared. They did have fiberglass cases too. I wonder if it was the same seller.
    I think his name was Gary and he was violinking. And yes, Reverb did exist back then. He sold on eBay as well. I actually found him on Amazon as a seller as well. I suspect from what I can find that he has moved on from selling musical instruments.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
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    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  7. #32
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Yes! Violinking! I corresponded directly with a woman there and bought a few of those excellent foam cases.
    Last edited by Jim Garber; Jan-25-2023 at 1:42pm.
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  8. #33

    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Mike may have been kidding to suggest paper mache, but it definitely would work, is impact resistant, and if skimmed over with a little fiberglas it could be an easy way to make a complex shape. Unlike fiberglas, maybe possible even without making a mold; or that’s what I remember from grade school…

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  10. #34
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    I wasn't kidding at all, you just need a form and if you place some padding around the bowl and do the paper mache on top of that you'll have a form with enough room to add some fabric. There are entire website devoted to people using this method to create armor and such for Cosplay. I'm also a fan of using cardboard as a form
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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  12. #35
    Full Grown and Cussin' brunello97's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Smooth On makes a castable, soft compressible foam to line your papier-mâché.

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  13. #36
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    This looks like pretty cool stuff https://www.smooth-on.com/product-line/flexfoam-it/

    If one were to use a properly sized box for a mold for ones papier-mâché and then peel off the box, this might make a good outer coating as well. Or maybe you wouldn't even need the box, as mentioned above, to make a shaped case.

    I'm just speculating here. Making a case from scratch is an interesting thought exercise, but may well be more than I want to get into right now.
    "To be obsessed with the destination is to remove the focus from where you are." Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen Guitar

  14. #37
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    I'm kind of that same way about making cases. Generally I've thought about making cases for instruments that I had that I couldn't just buy a case for and even after lining up the stuff I needed I generally found a case I could use that was already built. You'd have to be driven to want to make the case and I haven't been. With that said, at some point someone will bring in bowlback cases and they will most likely die on the vine again. A few years ago you would have had a few options. They weren't at Guitar Center but folks like Elderly had them. There are other historical mandolins that aren't bowlbacks that the cases are really scarce. Try to find one that actually fits a Martin Style A mandolin. When they do pop up they disappear quickly.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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  16. #38
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    Do not know if these are still available or not
    http://www.hobgoblin-usa.com/local/s...mandolin-case/

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  18. #39
    Registered User Sue Rieter's Avatar
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    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    It's ready! (Actually has been for a little while, but I was knocked back by covid and couldn't even think about mandolins.)

    Here's a screen shot from Jake's Instagram page. I'll be picking it up maybe next week and then will be thinking about cases again. He suggested the octave stringing on the lower courses, and I went with it so that it would have a distinctly different sound than the Yosco mandolinetto. Really looking forward to hearing it

    Click image for larger version. 

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    "To be obsessed with the destination is to remove the focus from where you are." Philip Toshio Sudo, Zen Guitar

  19. #40

    Default Re: Making A Case for a Vega Bowlback

    That's good news- I am pleased that has all worked out!

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