Gig Bag Question

[Mark Ray]

I have one of the 10th Anniversary S2 McCarty 594's reserved. Of course today being what it is, it comes with a gig bag instead of a hard case. Will it be the solid black one listed on the PRS site?

 

[aphantomvaper]

Probably! Share when you receive please

 

[JasonE]

I am so not a fan of getting a new guitar in a gig bag. IMHO, you don't get a good one without spending the money it takes to buy a hardshell case. I have two guitars that typically come with gig bags. One of them I received a hardshell case with, lucky for me, the other one, I bought a case for.

I understand being able to throw the straps over your shoulder for a load in but you have to be very careful to not get anything tossed on top of it when moving gear around or dropping it from any height at all.

Most of the gig bags that come with guitars are not enough protection, IMHO. The only ones that work well IMHO are Mono and some of the older Levy's leather bags. They have enough padding in them that if you were to drop it or something shifts while transporting and pins it, the guitar will be okay. These bags cost as much, or in some cases more, than a hardshell case. At that point the choice is which you like better.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I don’t have a complaint about the level of protection, however my gripe is the tuners aren’t protected so you’re tuning, when my guitars in the hard case don’t need to be.

I know first world problems.

 

[Aahzz]

I find the PRS gig bags more than adequate, and I much prefer the light weight and generous accessory pockets. Don't throw them.

 

[Mark Ray]

I don’t have a complaint about the level of protection, however my gripe is the tuners aren’t protected so you’re tuning, when my guitars in the hard case don’t need to be.

I know first world problems.

Solid point! I had one of my Zemaitis guitars at a marina gig a couple summers back. Mr. Frontman in his haste was moving stuff around during load-in, and knocked over the guitar, which to me was out of the way. Open the bag and the G tuning key was snapped off. DAMMIT!

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Sorry to hear that Mark. I think the newer ones have a halo around the tuners.

Anyone able to chip in.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Disclaimer. It’s ok, it’s only a Fedner.

 

[Mozzi]

A Gig bag is a 'compromise' between protection, weight and/or convenience. You pick a 'Gig Bag' because it offers a lighter weight and 'easier' to carry on your back, over your shoulder etc. It may not offer the 'same' protection as a Hard Shell case, but is lighter and easier. You can spend 'more' on a gig bag to try and improve an aspect, like Protection, but that adds weight.

Personally, if I was 'relying' on a Gig Bag, I'd buy a Gig bag I would be happy with, offers the protection I want/expect etc and keep that for all my guitars when 'gigging', even if they came in other Gig bags/shell cases. Also if I sold the guitar and its case it came with, I'd still have a great 'gig bag' regardless of what the replacement instrument came in.

As such, I do prefer a Hard Shell case when I buy a 'new' guitar. Even if I don't keep the guitar in its case and/or prefer to use a 'gig bag' to take guitars out, I still want a Hard case by choice and buy a decent gig bag so that it doesn't matter if new guitars come with a crappy gig bag, hard case or nothing, I still have a decent, protective Gig Bag...

 

[JasonE]

I happened to remember after reading some of these replies that I actually have a third guitar that came with a gig bag, a Gibson SG. Why in the world Gibson thought that a gig bag for a guitar brand that has issues with headstock breaks is beyond me. I ordered a hardshell case for it when I bought it. When I decide to sell it, which could be this year, I can offer a hardshell case for a little more money or just sell it with the gig bag and sell the case separately to those that got a gig bag with theirs.

 

[jkornel]

The PRS gig bags are solid and offer great protection. I use them as well as Mono bags and they work great for my core guitars. As someone who gigs regularly I got tired of hauling my heavy cases and switched to bags a few years ago and never looked back. Even when we are on the road we load all the PA, drums and amps at the bottom of the trailer and then put the guitars in bags at the top and never had an issue. We don't throw them around but we don't baby them either and my bags have always kept my PRS safe.

0A38811B-AD1E-4B4E-8A08-594F71E984A9 by jdkornel, on Flickr

 

[show_a_little_faith]

I have one of the 10th Anniversary S2 McCarty 594's reserved. Of course today being what it is, it comes with a gig bag instead of a hard case. Will it be the solid black one listed on the PRS site?

I believe that SE's come with the brown bag with SE logo on it, and S2's, Silver Sky's, etc. have the black bags

 

[helliger]

Disclaimer. It’s ok, it’s only a Fedner.

If that was a Les Paul the headstock would have snapped.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

Death To Gig Bags !!!

They ain't nothin' but back packs ... for guitars. (And I am a fossil from the Gen that didn't use back packs ! )

I always buy a hard case for any new guitar I buy. A gig bag may only suffice, for a quick trip to the guitar tech ...

 

[KThaxton]

As a non-gigging double SE owner, I am glad I did not incur the cost of a hard case with my guitar purchases since as soon as I get them, the case goes in the closet and the guitar goes on the wall. For a core....yeah, I get it.

Acoustics are a different story.

 

[László]

If you don't like having a guitar come in a gig bag, remember:

Manufacturers pay for cases. They aren't free. Even for manufacturers who make their own, like Taylor, there are materials costs, labor, rent for the factory, utilities, machines, dies, tools, etc. Because cases can weigh 15-20 pounds, throw in the extra shipping cost to the dealer.

That means guitar manufacturers pass the additional cost along to you, plus whatever profit they need to have the case make sense.

So whether you get a case with the guitar automatically, or have to buy one separately, hello, you're still paying for a guitar case.

If you have to have a hard case, and the guitar doesn't come with one, bite the bullet and buy the case you'd have paid for if the guitar had come with one, and quitcher bitchin'. If the lower cost of the guitar that's sent with a gig bag was an incentive to buy it, thank them for only adding the cost of the gig bag instead of a more expensive hard case.

Most of the gig bags that come with guitars are not enough protection, IMHO. The only ones that work well IMHO are Mono and some of the older Levy's leather bags. They have enough padding in them that if you were to drop it or something shifts while transporting and pins it, the guitar will be okay. These bags cost as much, or in some cases more, than a hardshell case. At that point the choice is which you like better.

I always used the older leather Levy's bags, or the old leather Reunion Blues bags, which I think were even better because the foam was less easily compressed, for traveling with my guitars and basses for out-of-town short trips (a week or less).

In those days I used to take them on airplanes because the airlines weren't charging travelers for checked baggage, so the overhead bins weren't overloaded, and I always had plenty of room for them. I just didn't like having my arms fall off carrying a heavy wood case through airports, cabs, whatever.

However, for car trips, I would happily use the Reunion Blues case that they demo being thrown off roofs, the Mono cases, or - if you can find one - the old InCase bags that were the best I've ever owned.

Longer-term, I like hard cases for my guitars, and keep them cased when not in use.

EDIT: I should probably add that if I was traveling by air to sessions now, I'd have a very difficult time talking myself into taking anything less than one of those bulletproof SKB cases with wheels, unless I was buying a seat on the plane for the instrument. Which I would probably do regardless of which case I used - if it's worth traveling by air to a gig, the last thing I'd want to do is have a damaged or lost instrument I depended on.

 

[Mark Ray]

Sorry to hear that Mark. I think the newer ones have a halo around the tuners.

Anyone able to chip in.

I should have noted that it was the Zemaitis gig bag. The black PRS bag looks to be much more padded around the headstock area.

Also Zemaitis sent me a new tuner, free of charge, so at least things ended well.

All the more reason that I bring at least two guitars to every gig!

 

[László]

I should have noted that it was the Zemaitis gig bag. The black PRS bag looks to be much more padded around the headstock area.

Also Zemaitis sent me a new tuner, free of charge, so at least things ended well.

All the more reason that I bring at least two guitars to every gig!

This is going to sound a little nuts to anyone who isn't old: I've never brought two guitars to a gig in my life, and I started gigging in 1966.

When I started, no one I knew even owned more than one guitar and one amp. You played what you had, and that was it. But the stuff didn't break on the way to the gig, because cases were actually protective. I saw Cream. Clapton only played one guitar at the gig. I saw lots of famous classic rock acts. Ver few guitar changes were to be seen.

I should also mention that I also played keys, and never brought more than one organ to a gig. Thank goodness, considering what they weighed.

If your amp went, you replaced the fuse, put in a new tube, and carried on. Though I never had an amp blow at a gig (OK, they all blew because I was playing through them, but I meant 'blow up'), a bandmate did. And even that was only once!

One time when I was in college, my combo organ started sounding funny at a gig. I was supposed to drive to my girlfriend's dorm or sorority house and pick her up. But I had another gig the next night, so I called and said "My organ isn't working, so I have to have it fixed."

My girlfriend knew what I meant, and when her friends asked if I stood her up, she said, "Les' organ isn't working, so he drove to Detroit to have it fixed."

But her friends jumped to a...well...different conclusion. They told her they hoped I would be all right after the surgery.

True story! You can't make this stuff up.

 

[aphantomvaper]

I tried buying a Les Paul tribute recently (which turned into a Core Starla, f-yeah!) and the Gibson gig bag they brought out looked phenomenal.

My point being, to Les's point, that to me the bag looked so nice I assumed 1\4 of the guitar price was just for the bag. Also the bag was super nice, and the guitar sucked as some here would have assumed.

 

[CrimesAgainstMusic]

Manufacturers pay for cases. They aren't free.

Your comments on "One guitar, You run what you brung" ... (not your words ,but my protocol conversion !) are truly funny

But with this current round of price increases (and other prior pricing) ...

We seem to bee paying for hard cases ... But we are NOT getting them (Hollowbody SE an exception )