Case Preference: What type, and Why?

ksiegel said:

My Fremont tenor rectangular case arrived from Elderly today - black tolex. The Kala fits like the case was made for it. $77 & change, delivered.

The only drawback is no d-rings for shoulder straps.

A thing upon which I shall ponder.


-Kurt

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I've installed shoulder straps on both a Kamaka hard case and two Ameritage hard cases -- and those are quite solid. To get around the lack of shoulder straps, my spouse drilled holes into the top and bottom of them, then attached heavy duty d rings. I now just use a leather strap with clips on each end and voilà, instant shoulder strap.

It makes a huge difference, particularly on the Ameritage which is heavy to carry for longer periods of time.

wickedwahine11 said:

To get around the lack of shoulder straps, my spouse drilled holes into the top and bottom of them, then attached heavy duty d rings.

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An excellent solution. I'll do that to my Gator. It's not heavy, but it'll free up a hand in the airport.

Thanks!

Ingrate said:

An excellent solution. I'll do that to my Gator. It's not heavy, but it'll free up a hand in the airport.

Thanks!

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One thing to note, we superglued little rubber caps on the other end of the screw (the one on the inside of the case). I'd tell you exactly what they are called but I'm Home Depot illiterate. I think they are just called screw caps, but that way there is no way that a pointy screw end can damage your uke.

I recently got one of the Nicom Supply tweed vintage soprano cases on eBay for my Kumalae, and am very happy with it. Seems quite well made and fit my uke well, at about $30 it was a good buy. No provision for straps, but I don't take that uke out of the house anyway.

wickedwahine11 said:

I've installed shoulder straps on both a Kamaka hard case and two Ameritage hard cases -- and those are quite solid. To get around the lack of shoulder straps, my spouse drilled holes into the top and bottom of them, then attached heavy duty d rings. I now just use a leather strap with clips on each end and voilà, instant shoulder strap.

It makes a huge difference, particularly on the Ameritage which is heavy to carry for longer periods of time.

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Very nice. Great idea! Attractive strap too.

Pssst, Here's a secret....there's a Oscar Schmidt concert hard vinyl case that fits my kamaka tenor snuggly at half price..was 59.99 now 35.67...at Musicians friend...inside dimentions are 26 1/2" x lower bout
9 inches and upper bout 7 inches...well made an durable ...little heavy but good construction..some may not like the thick handle, but it is comfortable for me.http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation?q=oscar+schmidt+ukulele+case What a deal... good luck...MM Stan

Kinsman solid case. You can throw them anywhere, fits my concert like a glove

I just received my Guardian soprano case, Amazon.com, $31 delivered. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001BNQ6TO/ref=oss_product

It has two clasps instead of the 3 I'm used to, the claps seem a bit flimsy, and time will tell if it holds up. I wouldn't put a vintage uke in it, but my Ohana SK35 will be more secure with it than without it.

I like the fancy O'ahu case MGM sent my KTS4 in. Very sturdy.

I'm hoping the Guardian case holds up. It DOES fit my Dolphin as well--but a tight squeeze for geared tuners.

Ingrate said:

An excellent solution. I'll do that to my Gator. It's not heavy, but it'll free up a hand in the airport.

Thanks!

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For those who may be looking....Gator must have read our minds for they do have D-rings attached to the case and include a shoulder strap also. I just ordered one and will let you know my thoughts when it arrives.

I made mine out of some scraps of wood I found in the garage. 3/8" plywood sides, and 1/8" paneling top and bottom. There is absolutely no wiggle room and it weighs in at 5 pounds fully loaded. There is room for my sheet music to be rolled up and put along side the neck of the uke. It is indestructible and fits perfect in my suitcase that I check in when I fly, so that I don't have to lug it around. Frankly, I think it is safer there anyway, than taking a chance of someone kicking it, stepping on it, sitting on it, or throwing something on it. Scrounged up all the hardware, so total cost was $0

.

The case is very nice - but since I'm not a furniture maker, nor as handy with tools as I used to think I was (let us all ponder that one together, shall we?) I purchase ready made - and I don't pack a musical instrument in my checked luggage, regardless of how much torture or abuse it can take.

I've got my Kala in the Fremont case, my Ko'Aloha Sceptre in the Oa'hu case from HMS, the Donaldson in an Ameritage I bought from Wicked Wahine, the Cordoba in a Kala basketweave style HSC, The Fluke in a Fluke Case (made by Gator) the Firefly in a Colorado Case Company mandolin bag with a Beansprout Logo on it, the Waverly Street Soprano is in an Elderly Instruments banjo uke case, and the Stella Banjo uke in the Cordoba gig bag. Everything else in in whatever bag/case it came in. (The Epi lives in the cheap Epi gig bag.) I also have a Reunion Blues Tenor gig bag I bought from Gerald Ross, and a Kala Uke Crazy Tenor hard foam case.

I've pretty much determined that Hard Shell Cases are the way to go for me. The Fremont rectangular is the the only one that won't fit in an overhead bin on any airplane I've been on.

Rllink said:

I made mine out of some scraps of wood I found in the garage. 3/8" plywood sides, and 1/8" paneling top and bottom. There is absolutely no wiggle room and it weighs in at 5 pounds fully loaded. There is room for my sheet music to be rolled up and put along side the neck of the uke. It is indestructible and fits perfect in my suitcase that I check in when I fly, so that I don't have to lug it around. Frankly, I think it is safer there anyway, than taking a chance of someone kicking it, stepping on it, sitting on it, or throwing something on it. Scrounged up all the hardware, so total cost was $0

.View attachment 70843

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I insist on a hard case here in the desert. I keep humidifiers in my cases and I just wouldn't trust a bag to be inclosed enough to allow them to do their work. So, I've had to buy hard cases for my Gretch resonator, Kala U-Bass, and Lanakai Banjolele. They all came in gig bags of various quality, or lack thereof.

Edit: I am keeping a gig bag or two for taking the Uke out of the house in a casual manner. Yeah, like I ever get to go anywhere!

I like hard cases with clips. I hate zippers on cases. Most of my cases are hard cases with clips. This comes from years of playing a variety of instruments, and playing saxophone and clarinet in various bands. It's easy to temporarily put your instrument down in a hard case and just clip one of the clips for safety. An unprotected instrument is an accident waiting to happen. I also like the look and feel of a hard case. Sometimes I switch to a hard foam case or a gig bag when I take my uke somewhere because of the weight. Sometimes having a place for a sticker is essential.

My cheap beater uke lives in a very cool padded gig bag I got from Mim. Everybody wants to know where I got it. My nice Kala goes into a rectangular Fremont case. My Ohana travels in a Uke Crazy case, which is black weave looking. I tried the Ohana (with friction tuners) in the Fremont case, and it got knocked right out of tune. I trust those cases and so far I've been lucky.

My beef with the Uke Crazy cases is that they are not built to last. I've had the handle pull off a tenor case 2 days after I received it. Final judgment: piece of crap. My preference is for zipper bags. I have Mono, Reunion Blues, and Attitude bags. The RB bag is too stiff and my uke swims inside it. Mono and Attitude bags are both great. Frankly, I have no plans to throw my ukes off of buildings.

My Luna concert came with a gig bag. I liked it, but it was like a magnet for people tossing stuff on it. I bought the Musicians Friend concert hard case for the Luna based on reviews here on the forum. The hard case itself is nice, but it still has a strong smell to it - the off-gassing is the biggest drawback. The gig bag now houses my vintage camp uke.

I did like that Luna gig bag carrying options. So, I bought a Luna soprano foam hard case for my Silvertone from Musicians Friend as I was getting ready to travel with that ukulele. I like the multiple ways to carry it - by the handle, as a backpack, or with a shoulder strap. It traveled from WV to Maryland and D.C., and then to New York and back again for three weeks. I carried it all over Central Park and on the subway as well as stowing it in the nooks and crannies of my car. Having all the carrying options was great. It has a nice zipper pouch on top. As some have mentioned, the zipper and velcro closure is kind of a pain, but not a deal breaker.

I upgraded on my KoAloha to the Oahu offer from HMS. It is a really nice and classy case, and is the first case that I don't worry about pressure on the strings with its arched top. I feel that alone made it a good choice to do the upgrade, since the price difference was the same as the price for aftermarket Luna foam case mentioned above. No place to store my strap, but the primary goal was securing the ukulele. No off-gassing from it, either.

Being in need of a case I recently visited a local retailer. My preference would have been for an ABS case but none were available in concert size at the time.

The shop assistant showed me a Gator Journeyman on his computer. It looked a bit pink on his screen and I told him that I didn't want a pink case. He ordered one in for me to look at.

It is covered in a sort of beige burlap. I can live with that; sort of reminiscent of Fender Tweed. Gator suggest that the burlap can be sprayed with Scotchgard to keep it clean.

I was impressed by the apparent quality, so were the shop staff. They are ordering more in as stock.

It does come with a strap and looks like this:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...=GWJMUKECON&zmac=7&zmas=1&zmam=89202644&SID=0

ksiegel said:

The case is very nice - but since I'm not a furniture maker, nor as handy with tools as I used to think I was (let us all ponder that one together, shall we?) I purchase ready made - and I don't pack a musical instrument in my checked luggage, regardless of how much torture or abuse it can take.

I've got my Kala in the Fremont case, my Ko'Aloha Sceptre in the Oa'hu case from HMS, the Donaldson in an Ameritage I bought from Wicked Wahine, the Cordoba in a Kala basketweave style HSC, The Fluke in a Fluke Case (made by Gator) the Firefly in a Colorado Case Company mandolin bag with a Beansprout Logo on it, the Waverly Street Soprano is in an Elderly Instruments banjo uke case, and the Stella Banjo uke in the Cordoba gig bag. Everything else in in whatever bag/case it came in. (The Epi lives in the cheap Epi gig bag.) I also have a Reunion Blues Tenor gig bag I bought from Gerald Ross, and a Kala Uke Crazy Tenor hard foam case.

I've pretty much determined that Hard Shell Cases are the way to go for me. The Fremont rectangular is the the only one that won't fit in an overhead bin on any airplane I've been on.

-Kurt​

Click to expand...

It is a good case for what I need it for, but it is just a plywood box when you get right down to it. Not really cool or anything. When I get a nicer ukulele I'll want to get a nice case that screams "UKULELE PLAYER", but for now the plywood box is getting the job done.

When I got my Boat Paddle, I spent the extra money for a hard case. For the price of that instrument and the size of said instrument, a hard case really isn't a huge deal to carry to and from a gig.

That said, I'm a big fan of good, quality gigbags (not the cheap ones which are little more than a padded slip cover) and use them regularly with other instruments. Protection is key, when putting them in a car, and ensuring that even if something does bump the bag, it's not an issue at all.

While the case that comes with the Collings is super nice, I simply don't need a hard case. I prefer a really nice soft sided case and currently use an Access gig bag that came with my Clara. I really like the Mono soft case, too. I looked at the Renuion Blues case and agreed it's too bulky for my needs.