1400 dollar guitar should come with a hard shell case am I alone in this

[László]

What a lot of players don't realize is that the hard case on a Gibson or Fender was always an option until recent years. Same with a Martin. The guitar did not come with a case of any kind, and in fact, several choices were available. If you wanted the factory hard shell case, it cost about 20% of the price of the guitar. My '65 SG Special cost around $250-300 new and the case was another 50 bucks. I was there when my father bought it for my brother, and I remember them dickering over the cost of the case.

At that time, many if not most guitars were bought in a chipboard (sort of a heavy cardboard) case with some cloth glued to the inside, no padding, and a cheap vinyl covering glued to the cardboard, because people simply couldn't afford the hard case plus the new guitar. Aftermarket cases were big business.

If that $50 price seems cheap, consider that my '65 Mustang cost only $2500 new. So fifty bucks was a decent chunk of change for a case!

PRS was one of the first manufacturers that I can recall who threw the case in with the price of the guitar. But of course, those were the core line models, that was all PRS made at the time.

This is why I don't really agree with the statements "an X dollar guitar should come with a hard shell case." Should? Where is it inscribed in holy writ that this must happen? If it's someone's preference to only buy a guitar that comes with one, fine, do that. Find one you like and go for it.

But I see no reason to make pronouncements either way. The S2 doesn't, that's the deal, don't like it, don't buy it. There are alternatives. Simple. If the S2 is what you want, and you need a case, they're not expensive. Buy one. Sell your gig bag on ebay.

 

[CoreyT]

I will be using my SE gig bag this morning to take my SE Santana to work along with a Yamaha THR 10X amp.
The gig bags are well padded.

I have a PRS hard case for it too, but using the gig bag is lighter, and I can carry it on my back to walk from y rig to inside of the building.

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Love bags, and I keep two core models in bags , easier to grab and transport...and the SE bags, to boot. they're very well padded, heavy duty zippers (which thankfully don't go around the bottom of the bag), just quality stuff...keep my working basses in Levy's bags , they're quality, too. And there's nothing wrong with bags if thats how advertised.

 

[FennRx]

if PRS can provide a case with a $700 SE acoustic, then surely they can include one on a $1400 S2, right?

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

I think there's more reason to put an acoustic in a case, so it makes more sense to include one given the price... My Bernie was £600.. I didn't expect a case for that amount and the SE bag is just fantastic for that price given how good the guitar is alone. If I spent £600 on an acoustic I'd get a hard case for it because (whilst not expensive compared to a US acoustic or a Martin or whatever) it's still a big outlay of cash for something that is considerably more delicate than a solid body electric. It's more justifiable...

I'm also presuming that the case for an SE acoustic is made in the far east? Someone will have to correct me if I'm wrong but people may expect a US case if the S2 is made in Maryland. Again cost is a factor.

To end with a cliché... At the end of the day... The guitar is 'as advertised'. It doesn't come with a hard case so it doesn't matter if you think it should come with one. It doesn't so there's no room to argue as you know that in advance. I knew my SE's and Fender came with gig bags - I was happy with that and I also knew a couple of my el-cheapos came with a non padded bag that was of no use other than to give it minimal protection whilst I took it from store to house. Again, I expected and accepted that given the price points involved.

If PRS wanted to keep the same price point but throw in the case the saving would be made on the guitar somehow. They didn't want to do that for good reason so the compromise is that it's a gig bag rather than a case. The buyers can buy their own case if they want. Now, some stores in the US are not throwing in the gig bags with the SE's... That seems wrong (Unless the guitar is cheaper because of that) because most stores do include the bag.. So you have more of a right to be aggrieved if you have to fork out extra.

 

[yankeebulldog]

I use a double gig bag, loaded with 2 USA PRS, it's still lighter than 1 in a hard case and takes up about as much room in the car. I doubt I'd carry one of my PS guitars that way, but I've never had issues with damaging a guitar this way.

 

[HANGAR18]

Where do I find a very high end gig bag that I can purchase? Any brand name recommendations from you gigging musicians out there?

 

[John Beef]

I played a show Saturday night, took 3 guitars and zero hard cases. Two SEs and a USA, gig bagged it all the way. I used to be anti-gig bag until I started taking three guitars to shows (standard/drop D tuned main guitar, backup for that guitar, and a B standard tuned baritone that gets used on usually 2-3 songs). The PRS gig bags especially are nice... and I don't even have the USA ones, I use the SEs. I own six total guitars, down to 3 hard cases.

Now, if I played Gibsons, I would insist on hard cases because their headstocks are notorious for snapping off at random times, even just sitting in a stand at string tension or falling face forward onto some carpet, from what I've heard.

EDIT: I should mention this... for the second time at this particular bar, as we were setting up a fight broke out. Last time I set up the powered speaker we were using as a stage monitor, turned my back and an instant later a body went flying on top of it, having just been punched at the bar. This time, someone got punched and went head first into the drummer's road case. My gig bagged guitars were close by and I grabbed them and moved them away from the fighting. I was a little worried about them being in gig bags around flying bodies. So there's that.

 

[László]

Where do I find a very high end gig bag that I can purchase? Any brand name recommendations from you gigging musicians out there?

I think the PRS cases are very good quality, but there are gig bags that offer hard plastic shells between the outer covering and the padding, with neck supports, etc. Check out the Reunion Blues Continental; there's a video on their site showing a guitar in the bag surviving being thrown off the roof of a building:

http://reunionblues.com

And the Mono case:

https://www.monocreators.com/mono-electric-guitar.asp

If you can find one, Incase made an absolutely stellar gig bag for the Fender John Mayer original model, they sometimes appear for sale on ebay. Best I found, and of course I no longer have the one I bought.

Here are some nice leather ones, in addition to the Reunion Blues, Levy's etc, leather cases:

http://www.carryaccess.com/leatherbags.htm

 

[László]

if PRS can provide a case with a $700 SE acoustic, then surely they can include one on a $1400 S2, right?

That doesn't follow logically at all. Unless you have access to the production costs of these products, and can demonstrate how the economics work, you're just making random guesses based on apples-oranges assumptions.

Do you know exactly how much it costs to make something in Korea vs the US? Familiar with the health care laws there that impact your costs? How about the exact wage differential, utilities, machinery, rents, mortgages, materials, taxes and other overhead factors?

For that matter, do you have inside information as to what it costs PRS to make an S2 here? If not, you're talking out of your...uh...hat.

When a product is priced, all these things have to be taken into account.

PRS took their pricing on a US made instrument down to the bone to get the thing to less than half the cost of a core line model. Don't kid yourself, the cost of the bag vs a case factored into that.

You can't reasonably expect PRS to come in at a particular price point if they have to throw in a case. And you can bet they researched their price point carefully.

 

[NomadMike]

I think the PRS cases are very good quality, but there are gig bags that offer hard plastic shells between the outer covering and the padding, with neck supports, etc. Check out the Reunion Blues Continental; there's a video on their site showing a guitar in the bag surviving being thrown off the roof of a building:

http://reunionblues.com

And the Mono case:

https://www.monocreators.com/mono-electric-guitar.asp

If you can find one, Incase made an absolutely stellar gig bag for the Fender John Mayer original model, they sometimes appear for sale on ebay. Best I found, and of course I no longer have the one I bought.

Here are some nice leather ones, in addition to the Reunion Blues, Levy's etc, leather cases:

http://www.carryaccess.com/leatherbags.htm

Reunion Blues also has the Aero cases which have the main features of the Continental but without the leather and upgrades and I'm looking at that for my PRS.
These days we have a lot of choices as to what we wrap our guitars in and it's really down to the buyer to determine what case will match their price and needs.
I've had a lot of success with the SKB Softcase line which are under $100 lthough they don't make one that fits my S2 Mira, but I can get away with the LP case if I just put a soft towel under the body for a pretty good fit.

 

[NomadMike]

When a product is priced, all these things have to be taken into account.

PRS took their pricing on a US made instrument down to the bone to get the thing to less than half the cost of a core line model. Don't kid yourself, the cost of the bag vs a case factored into that.

You can't reasonably expect PRS to come in at a particular price point if they have to throw in a case. And you can bet they researched their price point carefully.

Well they could cut the QC and finishing steps to cut costs and toss in a cheap hard case, after all don't we all enjoy having to go though numerous guitars to find "the good one" or settling for cheap finishes, badly cut nuts, lousy setups and badly done fret ends?:wink:

 

[gball]

I have several really nice hard cases. What do I use when I take a guitar out? Yup, a gig bag: Lighter, easier, more versatile and protects just fine.

 

[HANGAR18]

http://reunionblues.com

Just my luck. The first bag I clicked on was $900.00. hahaha I have great taste!

 

[juka]

Well, what can I say? Somebody very well known to all of us is travelling around the whole wide world with his very special guitar in just an old red SE gigbag.
Together with his passport, his vitamins, his keys and so on ;-)

 

[tbp0701]

I think the PRS cases are very good quality, but there are gig bags that offer hard plastic shells between the outer covering and the padding, with neck supports, etc. Check out the Reunion Blues Continental; there's a video on their site showing a guitar in the bag surviving being thrown off the roof of a building:

http://reunionblues.com

And the Mono case:

https://www.monocreators.com/mono-electric-guitar.asp

If you can find one, Incase made an absolutely stellar gig bag for the Fender John Mayer original model, they sometimes appear for sale on ebay. Best I found, and of course I no longer have the one I bought.

Here are some nice leather ones, in addition to the Reunion Blues, Levy's etc, leather cases:

http://www.carryaccess.com/leatherbags.htm

Just my luck. The first bag I clicked on was $900.00. hahaha I have great taste!

I had a Reunion Blues leather bag for my tenor sax back in my gigging days. I didn't think the company was still around. I did pay quite a bit for it, more than I could easily afford at the time, and it was stolen along with my sax after a gig. Argh.

Anyway, a couple of the nicest guitar gigbags I've seen are the ones that come with G&L Tributes and PRS SEs (I haven't seen an S2 bag). Not leather, but still pretty nice bags. Also, Godin has an interesting cross between a gig bag and case. I don't know if they make it in non-Godin sizes.

 

[JMintzer]

I have several really nice hard cases. What do I use when I take a guitar out? Yup, a gig bag: Lighter, easier, more versatile and protects just fine.

Yup! Same here. I have 2 Levy's Leather bags (the older one is a nicer softer leather), and a few PRS gig bags. I've used them countless times, even with my HB PS...

 

[Mikegarveyblues]

Well, what can I say? Somebody very well known to all of us is travelling around the whole wide world with his very special guitar in just an old red SE gigbag.
Together with his passport, his vitamins, his keys and so on ;-)

If it's good enough for the man himself!

Besides... It was proven in some study by some university somewhere (which can be viewed here: STUDY/ that you appear 25% more attractive to the opposite sex when using a gig bag than a hard case. The colour is important and PRS (having had exclusive access to the study results) created the rather fetching (whatever the colour is called) SE gig bag which quite literally makes the ladies 'swooooon'. Paul, being a master of his craft, knows this. This is why he placed a large pocket on the front of the bag. Paul's contains moistened hankies for the ladies to wipe their brows as well as limited edition stickers that say 'Paul made me swoon'. No lady has ever had a moment at the site of a Gibson hard case. I rest my, errr... case!

 

[László]

Just my luck. The first bag I clicked on was $900.00. hahaha I have great taste!

You did say, "very high end."

But note that RB bags don't sell for list price.

 

[John Beef]

Well, what can I say? Somebody very well known to all of us is travelling around the whole wide world with his very special guitar in just an old red SE gigbag.
Together with his passport, his vitamins, his keys and so on ;-)

I have a SE gig bag from 2003 that I like pretty well, but the new red SE gig bag I got with my Lowery is a cut above that. I really dig it. That's the one I put my USA guitar in this past weekend.