Armitage Worth It?

I’m debating on a case for my Kamaka HF-3 (4-string tenor).

I have an opportunity to pick up a “brand new in box” AME-102 Armitage tenor case for $200 shipped. It’s from an eBay seller with good ratings offering a 7-day money back refund.

On the other hand, I can pick up a Ko’olau tenor case from MGM for $94 shipped. Goes without saying this comes with the confidence of quality and lightning fast shipping MGM is known for.

I’m not a professional performer – oh sooo far from it haha. On the other hand, I want what’s best for what I personally consider a prized investment.

From my research, both of these cases were practically made for the HF-3.

What do you folks think?

spend the big bucks and get the nice case: If you let anything happen to that uke...

That uke is beautiful....

If you have any humidity concerns where you live, go with the Ameritage. $200 is a very good deal on one of those. If you have no humidity concerns, I think the Ko'olau should be just fine. Keep in mind the Ameritage is about 3 times heavier than the Ko'olau case. I personally love Ameritage cases and own 5 of them (damn, do I really have that many??) but if you don't need the peace of mind the humidity system inside the Ameritage case offers, the Ko'olau will more than suffice.

Ameritage cases are super high quality to be sure - but unless you need something of that level - you live in the desert for instance - the Ko'olau will be great. I have a Ko'olau O'ahu case for my Kanile'a and it is a great fit and a great case and I have complete confidence that the uke is well protected.

Thanks guys for all your feedback. Living in So Cal (dryness not an issue?) and not being a professional performer, I was leaning towards the Ko’olau. But then I couldn’t resist paying just $100 more for an Armitage so I went with it.

Thank you, upskydowncloud for all your advice on this case!

the.ronin said:

Thanks guys for all your feedback. Living in So Cal (dryness not an issue?) and not being a professional performer, I was leaning towards the Ko’olau. But then I couldn’t resist paying just $100 more for an Armitage so I went with it.

Thank you, upskydowncloud for all your advice on this case!

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Hey glad I could help man - you'll love the case once it arrives.

upskydowncloud said:

Hey glad I could help man - you'll love the case once it arrives.

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Friday!

Hope you'll post some pics and your thoughts on it when you get it ^_^ I'm thinking of getting one soon

psesinkclee said:

Hope you'll post some pics and your thoughts on it when you get it ^_^ I'm thinking of getting one soon

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Most definitely!

What size are you looking for? The guy I got it from says he still has a couple in concert and soprano. He says they are new in the box – something about a project that “didn’t work out.” We’ll soon see I guess!

GX9901 said:

If you have any humidity concerns where you live, go with the Ameritage. $200 is a very good deal on one of those. If you have no humidity concerns, I think the Ko'olau should be just fine. Keep in mind the Ameritage is about 3 times heavier than the Ko'olau case. I personally love Ameritage cases and own 5 of them (damn, do I really have that many??) but if you don't need the peace of mind the humidity system inside the Ameritage case offers, the Ko'olau will more than suffice.

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Hey George, what case do you have for your King Tenor? William sent mine in a Pro Tec, but I like Ameritage a lot better. Mahaloz!

the.ronin said:

Thanks guys for all your feedback. Living in So Cal (dryness not an issue?) and not being a professional performer, I was leaning towards the Ko’olau. But then I couldn’t resist paying just $100 more for an Armitage so I went with it.

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Hah! I'm the same way... I could find a cheaper company to custom make a case for me, but I'm sticking with Ameritage because they are super high quality.

These are great cases but the indestructible case is Calton.

WAY expensive but if you travel and bring your prize out with you...it's worth it.

Jake himself told me I MUST get one for MBU/Spoonah-lele!

ke leo said:

Hey George, what case do you have for your King Tenor? William sent mine in a Pro Tec, but I like Ameritage a lot better. Mahaloz!

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He got a custom:

Ok, so it's just the Ameritage case. Well it finally arrived today to house the King ebony/spruce LS-concert. I decided to order a custom Ameritage case because the LS-concert is just a little too long to fit comfortably in the Oahu case that it came with. The order was placed with Finecases on April 17th, so it took 3 full months to arrive from order placement. I had to specify more headstock room for the LS-concert and decided to change the exterior color to make it more of a custom case. The standard Ameritage case has a burgundy handle and trim with a grey body and brass hardware. I thought I'd make this one all black so the trim and body color were changed to black. The hardware was kept brass because I like the gold color against the black case. Most of the black cases I have has silver hardware, so this would be a little more unique. The interior is the standard burgundy color because it cost too much to change the interior color too and I thought the color worked very well with the black exterior.

Even though I had sent in the measurements of the King LS-concert, I was still a little worried that the uke might not fit well. But I thought the worst case scenario would be that the case has the same dimension as the standard Ameritage case. I had test fitted the King LS-concert in the Ameritage concert case I house the Pineapple Sunday in, and the uke fits, with the headstock right up against the case. Fortunately, the dimensions I sent in was right on and the custom case has room to spare in the headstock area (see picture below).

These Ameritage cases really cost quite a bit of money, as much as some decent solid wood ukes. However, with its humidity control system, it gives me the peace of mind of knowing that my custom ukes can make it through the harsh Minnesota winter and its very sturdy construction ensures that the uke will be well protected against just about anything. So for me, this is money well spent.

I travel via air with my personal Compass Rose uke...a full bling abalone encrusted outrageous koa tenor...in a gig bag. I love it. It fits easily in the overhead compartment of any airplane I fly. I take care and am gentle with it. It slings over my back. It takes up very little room. And nothing has happened to it in three years of airplane flights to the East Coast of the US, to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia five times, etc., etc. I consider hardshell uke cases to be a real PITA.

Yeah, but you can fix it up yourself.

Nice to see you active, Rick. I think we're ditching the NAMM show next year. I persuaded my brother to let us have a break.

Well I think the answer to my original question is a resounding yes. These Ameritage cases just exude quality. Granted, I've really only got one other case to compare to which is an Oscar Schmidt case housing my KoAloha, even I can tell this thing is top notch.







Thanks everyone for the advice. And upskydowncloud, you were right, photos can't seem to capture that cool olive drab color of this case.


[edit] I think it's only fair to disclose I paid $200 for this case shipped / no tax. So to clarify then, at that price point, to me it's absolutely worth it.

ke leo said:

Hey George, what case do you have for your King Tenor? William sent mine in a Pro Tec, but I like Ameritage a lot better. Mahaloz!

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For the tenor, William had a custom Ameritage (longer length to accomodate his long scale tenor) and I bought it along with the uke. If I remember correctly, you had a long scale tenor too, so you'll need a custom length Ameritage. It won't fit a regular Ameritage case.