Gig Bag Question

[RossF]

This for me, just based on old roadie days. Other folks aren’t always as careful with your stuff, and well, road cases full of amps, pa, lights and stuff can shift in the old, clapped out Mack Tools truck…. That said, I bought two of the premium or deluxe or whatever gig bags. One for my Santana because the case is a beast, and on for my S2 because I liked the first one more than the S2 bag. My use case is in the house or out to lessons, so the protection is adequate.

Similar for me. This is based on when I used to gig which is 30 years in the rearview mirror now. There was always tons of equipment and everything was super heavy. Loading up and setting up for the gig was usually safe territory, but tearing down and getting the stuff into the truck wasn't. Didn't matter if someone else was doing it or we were doing it ourselves.

I remember one gig when we had to share a dressing room/prep area with the headliners (called Iron Head and eventually became Breaker https://citizenfreak.com/titles/268661-breaker-in-days-of-heavy-metal) and after we came off and went to change, we took our guitars back with us for safety. When we went to load the stuff up, someone had taken the clasps off of the other guitars player's Explorer case. Their manager was the only one with a key, but what can you do? I guess a gig bag solves that issue.

 

[László]

I think from a perspective of utility, gig bags offer a light weight form of protection that is suitable for taking a guitar back-and-forth to rehearsal(or wherever) in your car.

Maybe we (I include myself) are into overkill.

The ironic thing about all this protection stuff is that PRS ships the S2s and SEs all over the world in just a gig bag and a cardboard box. We're talking conveyor belts, loaded trucks, crappy weather, and personnel who may or may not give a sh!t, in other words, the whole nine yards of Things That Could Go Wrong.

Danger zone stuff as far as we enthusiasts are concerned, right?

I'd bet the shipping damage rate can't be that bad or PRS wouldn't do it from a return-product-to-manufacturer standpoint.

A gig bag and a cardboard box! Who'd 'a thunk that'd do the trick vs the ham-handed carrier personnel? Not me.

I did about ten days of sessions in France one summer. Montreaux Jazz Festival was on during that time, and on the flight home, Parliament/Funkadelic and what seemed like half the flight made up of a number of other musicians were on the plane, too.

Every single player, without exception, carried their guitars in gig bags onto the flight.

I had a thick, heavily padded Levy's leather bag due to my paranoia. No one else had nearly that level of protection in their bag. Everyone else I saw had the inexpensive 'is this thing even padded?' bags. Everyone!

And yet there they were, shining happy people doing just fine, no one had a look of worry about their instrument.

Except me.

I guarded that bag like I was a Secret Service Agent willing to take a bullet if need be to protect my baby!

I should mention that I am That Guy Who, Upon Tripping And Falling Down The Stairs, Shielded His Hard=Cased Guitar With His Body As He Fell, instead of letting it hit the ground. The guitar case did not touch a single stair. My ass and back, however, hit every damn one of them. With the heavy guitar case on top of my body.

I was really bruised up. The guitar was fine. My wife said, "You can replace the guitar, but if you broke your body the damage could be permanent."

Whereupon I said, "Are you kidding? I'm not letting anything happen to my guitar! " Like what I did was perfectly normal.

However, I did recently get a nice, highly protective gig bag because I just can't drag the hard cases around any more. And yeah, I'd Put a Private Stock in it, and take it on an airplane without worry.

 

[show_a_little_faith]

on the flight home, Parliament/Funkadelic were on the plane, too.

Les, you were a passenger on the Mothership, riding with the Starchild?! Damn, that's cool - well, Alright!

 

[RossF]

Maybe we (I include myself) are into overkill.

The ironic thing about all this protection stuff is that PRS ships the S2s and SEs all over the world in just a gig bag and a cardboard box. We're talking conveyor belts, loaded trucks, crappy weather, and personnel who may or may not give a sh!t, in other words, the whole nine yards of Things That Could Go Wrong.

Danger zone stuff as far as we enthusiasts are concerned, right?

I'd bet the shipping damage rate can't be that bad or PRS wouldn't do it from a return-product-to-manufacturer standpoint.

A gig bag and a cardboard box! Who'd 'a thunk that'd do the trick vs the ham-handed carrier personnel? Not me.

I did about ten days of sessions in France one summer. Montreaux Jazz Festival was on during that time, and on the flight home, Parliament/Funkadelic and what seemed like half the flight made up of a number of other musicians were on the plane, too.

Every single player, without exception, carried their guitars in gig bags onto the flight.

I had a thick, heavily padded Levy's leather bag due to my paranoia. No one else had nearly that level of protection in their bag. Everyone else I saw had the inexpensive 'is this thing even padded?' bags. Everyone!

And yet there they were, shining happy people doing just fine, no one had a look of worry about their instrument.

Except me.

I guarded that bag like I was a Secret Service Agent willing to take a bullet if need be to protect my baby!

I should mention that I am That Guy Who, Upon Tripping And Falling Down The Stairs, Shielded His Hard=Cased Guitar With His Body As He Fell, instead of letting it hit the ground. The guitar case did not touch a single stair. My ass and back, however, hit every damn one of them. With the heavy guitar case on top of my body.

I was really bruised up. The guitar was fine. My wife said, "You can replace the guitar, but if you broke your body the damage could be permanent."

Whereupon I said, "Are you kidding? I'm not letting anything happen to my guitar! " Like what I did was perfectly normal.

However, I did recently get a nice, highly protective gig bag because I just can't drag the hard cases around any more. And yeah, I'd Put a Private Stock in it, and take it on an airplane without worry.

A couple of things. As for shipping guitars, I am not really sure about what goes into that from a manufacturer's standpoint. But if the shippers screw up there are liability issues to act as an incentive to HWC and they are probably (hopefully?) sober. Not the case in my world. lol

But beyond that, back in those days I wasn't in your situation Laszlo. I was dirt poor. I only had one guitar. Actually my guitar/rig and my clothing were all I owned. I didn't even own a car back then. I didn't even have a girlfriend and they were free...kinda. If we didn't have a gig at a hotel bar I had one or two meals a day at a McDonalds on a good day. If my guitar got damaged I couldn't afford to replace it or even have it repaired. But more importantly I couldn't afford to be without a guitar as I didn't have a "real job".

These days my financial situation is much different, but once you have lived in abject poverty it is something you don't forget and it shaped my views and outlooks in many ways. Both of my PRS guitars came with cases and if they didn't I would have bought one, even though I never take my guitars out of my studio. It is ingrained behaviour.

I only had to fly with my guitar twice. There were no gig bags back then and I wasn't allowed to take it on the plane, it had to be checked in like luggage. As for shielding your guitar with your body, it was probably a reactionary move which tells me a lot about your priorities. I am suitably impressed. lol

 

[László]

A couple of things. As for shipping guitars, I am not really sure about what goes into that from a manufacturer's standpoint. But if the shippers screw up there are liability issues to act as an incentive to HWC and they are probably (hopefully?) sober. Not the case in my world. lol

If there's damage, the shipper has the contract with the carrier, so if there's damage it's on PRS to deal with damage claims. I can't imagine any company wanting that headache. But who knows?

These days my financial situation is much different, but once you have lived in abject poverty it is something you don't forget and it shaped my views and outlooks in many ways. Both of my PRS guitars came with cases and if they didn't I would have bought one, even though I never take my guitars out of my studio. It is ingrained behaviour.

I would buy a traditional hard case as well if I bought an S2, not so much for protection from bumps and scrapes as for the temperature and humidity buffering a case provides when I'm not playing a guitar. I've had good luck using one D'Addario or Bovida humidipak in the case of my electric guitars (and use them for my acoustic also). Ever since I started using these products - I'm guessing 6-7 years ago or more (?) - I haven't needed to run a room humidifier, and haven't needed a single seasonal setup or adjustment.

Here in Michigan, where it's worse than the Sahara Desert in winter and very humid in summer, that's remarkable!

I have to replace the humidipaks about every four months or so, even in winter, which isn't too bad.

So yes, I love hard cases. I just don't want to travel with them.

As for shielding your guitar with your body, it was probably a reactionary move which tells me a lot about your priorities. I am suitably impressed. lol

Well, now you know how nuts I really am if you didn't already!

 

[László]

Les, you were a passenger on the Mothership, riding with the Starchild?! Damn, that's cool - well, Alright!

What a great band, right?