What kind of case do you use?

I'm looking for a nice hard shell case for my alvarez. what do you guys use? pros? cons?

anyone have experience with the hard gator cases?

Originally Posted by: koppandsonI'm looking for a nice hard shell case for my alvarez. what do you guys use? pros? cons?

anyone have experience with the hard gator cases?

Yes, I have one. It seems to do the trick. I've never had another hard case, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I can't think of anything bad to say about it.

2 of my guitars are in hard cases, 1 is in a gig bag. I very strongly prefer hard cases. hopefully I'll have a hard case for my ibanez by the end of the month

Not that big of an issue I would imagine. If it's a hard case, just make sure it locks up tight and the guitar doesn't move around too much when closed. All brands pretty much do the same thing.

Until recently, I haven't used hard cases all that much for many years. The first hard case I had was made by my father, the outside was made from polished stainless steel with all the obligatory things it needed. He cut the foam out to exactly cradle my $125 strat-copy perfectly. It was heavy.. but it had A LOT of sentimental value. It was stolen from my house years ago, along with my much-loved strat and my Takamine acoustic. :mad: Anyway.. with the insurance money I bought a bunch of cool things.. but still to this day I wonder what became of the stuff.. I'd gladly buy them off someone if I was able to track it all down..

Anyway.. so now I have this el cheapo hard case that I bought about 3 weeks ago now. Well.. I say el cheapo but it was still $129 Aussie dollars.. More than that old strat I had stolen.. lol.. It does its job at keeping my guitar sealed in time during its journey to the gig. It also has this really useful compartment inside so you can keep extra picks, spare strings, tuner, slide thingy, tremolo bar, string cleaner and soft cloth.. etc.. It's amazing how much stuff I can fit in there and it's all just as secure as the guitar... hehe.. and another bonus is that it still has that nice new smell.. :) haha

I use Hiscox 'Lite Flight' cases and I've never had a problem. Several of my Ibanez guitars came with cases, but they have no compartments for 'bits'... and just a little slot cut in for the trem arm. They look nice, but are huge and not very useful.

The Hiscox man showed me a demo dvd of a guitar in one of their cases being run over by a truck and surviving intact... that sold me.

All of guitars bar one came in a flight case - the Musicman one is the worst for quality - no compartments and not very sturdy but enough to stop any regular damage. The Ibanez all came in the plush Team Japan flight case - very rugged and cool looking plus there is a compartment for trem bars, alan keys etc. Highly recommended but probably not that cheap by itself. In all, a flight case is a must for any electric guitar.
Incidently, I have all of my guitars up on wall hangars now. It's so handy, no more clutter plus the kids can't get their hands on them!