Opinions on hard shell guitar cases

[Threadfin]

Thanks man, yeah, I try to take good care of them. And with kids and a dumb dog that isn't always easy!


That Studio is really something else. I've picked up a lot of Gibsons down the years and it is still the best one I've tried. Sometimes you just get lucky. The cases are nice too. Not sure they still issue this one. I haven't been in the market for a long time, but I have this voice inside that tells me to buy a R9. Very expensive, but you never know. Or a Rossington, and Gary just passed as folks may have heard. Sad. A third Les Paul would round out the collection a little better I think. But the woman constantly tells me I don't need so many. She'll never understand, although if she applied her shoes approach to the issue I think she would get it. Women.


The Les Paul is my favorite guitar, just something about them. I grew up playing Strats because I could afford them. Bought my first one at age 11 in 1979. Still have it but it shows the scars. It wasn't until I was over 30 that I could afford a Gibson. And then it was all over for me. Then I knew what I had been missing all those years.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Both of my Les Pauls are fairly light, with the Studio being really lightweight for a LP. People often talk about how heavy Les Pauls are, and they're heavier usually than Strats sure. But there is a big variance here. And too, balance is a big part of it. Anyone who has gigged with a SG knows what I mean I am sure.

I like the grave case. That's pretty cool. If it supports the guitar properly I'd go with that one. Oh I see you got the black one.

Here are my two Les Pauls. The one on the left is a desertburst Studio Plus. Surprisingly lightweight. My number one. The LP on the right is a Classic in honeyburst. Hot ceramics and noticably heavier than the Studio. Both are top-wrapped. Cases are obviously the stock Gibson USA hardshells.

Is it an optical illusion or is the bridge on the honeyburst that displaced ("crooked")?

I've seen older LPs with some odd set ups to account for things like head or neck warpage but never to that extent.

[Threadfin]

An illusion? It's on straight


Maybe the shadow it is casting makes it look crooked? Or how the saddles are done for intonation? But it's squarely where it should be.

[ET2SN]

Maybe you should send it to me for a more detailed inspection?




I promise, this will take a while.

[Threadfin]

I love these guitars too much to part with them, however temporarily. However, if you want a PRS....


Nice to see some guitar talk around here. Fishing, guitars and Formula 1. Can't go wrong with any of them

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

I love these guitars too much to part with them, however temporarily. However, if you want a PRS....


Nice to see some guitar talk around here. Fishing, guitars and Formula 1. Can't go wrong with any of them

A good friend has had and used everything from Stratocasters to Les Paul's. His favorite is his PRS which he uses exclusively in his shows. Stratocasters were and are not cheap Guitars. It used to be that Fender and Gibson were at the " top of the food chain " with regards to guitar quality. Today, that's not the case. There are a plethora of good Guitar manufactures. Ibanez, PRS, ESP, Jackson and Yamaha aside from Fender and Gibson are just a few of them. Guitars are like shoes, use what feels comfortable. If you have any talent, it will come through regardless of what you play. I'm sure you and others have that talent.

The only real difference and an Important one at that , aside from the hardware and pickups and the scale length, is the comfort level in playing the Guitar. My Strats are 21 and 22 fret guitars where my ESP is a 24 fret. There are so many considerations like playing style and the comfort associated with that.

As you said, it's great to discuss Guitars here. It's always great to see what hobbies and interests our members have. Others are into Astronomy, Cars, motorcycles and sailing just to name a few hobbies and interests.

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Today, that's not the case. There are a plethora of good Guitar manufactures.

Yes, quite true. And I have a few of those too. Guitars are an identifiable weakness for me frankly. Some say intervention is needed, but they spend lots of money on stuff that is nowhere near as cool and awesome as guitars are.

I was only half-joking about the PRS. It's a really nice guitar, but it is missing something if I am honest. What that is I can't quite say. Can guitars have soul? Can they lack it? Still, a beautiful instrument of the highest quality.

But I rarely pick it up. But the same can be said of my Tele. A few of the ones I have just fit. Some, less so. I have my favorites no doubt.

I reckon 3/4 of my play time is either with that Studio or one of the Strats, my favorite is a American Vintage '62 RI in three-tone with a rosewood board. Really nice.

And I know what you mean about scale length. I play Fenders, but it's the Gibson scale that feels most right for me. And for me, neck profile is the most crucial thing. Some I just can't get on with, and maybe the root of my Tele issues.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Yes, quite true. And I have a few of those too. Guitars are an identifiable weakness for me frankly. Some say intervention is needed, but they spend lots of money on stuff that is nowhere near as cool and awesome as guitars are.

I was only half-joking about the PRS. It's a really nice guitar, but it is missing something if I am honest. What that is I can't quite say. Can guitars have soul? Can they lack it? Still, a beautiful instrument of the highest quality.

But I rarely pick it up. But the same can be said of my Tele. A few of the ones I have just fit. Some, less so. I have my favorites no doubt.

I reckon 3/4 of my play time is either with that Studio or one of the Strats, my favorite is a American Vintage '62 RI in three-tone with a rosewood board. Really nice.

And I know what you mean about scale length. I play Fenders, but it's the Gibson scale that feels most right for me. And for me, neck profile is the most crucial thing. Some I just can't get on with, and maybe the root of my Tele issues.

All good points. I know what you mean with regards to different guitars having something special. Stevie Ray Vaughan played his beat up Stratocaster and he called it his # 1. Stevie said it had a special vibe. It was I believe a 1962 Strat with a 57 neck. I could be wrong on the neck, though. The ESP I overhauled is great with leads and solo's in mind. Chords seem to be a bit harder which is an issue if you like to play arpeggio's. Others may not have any issues at all. Shrugs. I'm dealing a bit with Carpal Tunnel in my left wrist, which I fret with. String bends and Eric Clapton / Eric Johnson style vibrato's are becoming an Issue. As a result, I was looking for a Guitar I could set with a lower action and that would be just as responsive, if not more, with less effort.

Stewart MacDonald or Stewmac.com out of Ohio has every conceivable Guitar part you could ever think of, including authentic Fender Start bodies and necks and pickups. Through them, you can easily retrofit any guitar and or build your own custom model.

You brought up a good point with the neck thickness and profile. Younger people seem to gravitate to the ESP and Ibanez with the Wizard neck. They like the ESP's, have a thinner neck profile facilitating fast playing. Unfortunately for some of the kids that I have heard in Guitar and Music shops, they play scales fast and just essentially make noise, not music, trying to impress their friends.

The Alman brothers Album, " Live at the Filmore east recorded in March of 1971. It was such a landmark Album in so may ways. Sadly, Guitarist Duane Alman would be killed in a motorcycle accident in October 29, 1971. Bassist Barry Oakley would also die in a motorcycle crash little more than a year later.

The Point is, The Alman Brothers live at the Filmore East with Duane and Greg Alman, Dickey Betts and company showed you could play slow and melodically and get your point across. It wasn't about fast, mindless playing. It was about the musical content, composition and structure.

That point wasn't lost on other emerging guitarists and artists and had a colossal impact on guitar playing, structure and composition in rock and modern music. You had mentioned losing Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd. To be sure, Gary's loss is huge. I always thought Pianist Billy Powell and Gary Rossington were the engines of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Slide Guitar seems to be an incredibly elusive skill and Duane Alman and Gary Rossington were masters at it along with Elmore James.

Bonnie Raitt and Derek Trucks are also incredibly skilled at slide guitar. Derek was named after Derek and the Dominoes as Eric Clapton and Duane Alman had a connection akin to being brothers. Derek's late Uncle, Butch Trucks was the drummer and a founding member of the Alman Brothers. Derek had joined the Alman brothers and now plays music with his wife, Blues Guitarist and singer, Susan Tedeschi as part of the Tedeshi Trucks band.

All of these artists set the bar so incredibly high. While it's great to have them as a guide and reference, it can also be incredibly frustrating in trying to rise to their levels of abilities and competence. I'm deeply saddened I don't have their abilities and never will.

With regards to your obsessions / passions for guitar, It's far better you do that than sit in a bar drinking or indulging in drugs. I think guitars and music is a healthy addiction. It's nice to know others share my addiction / obsession, as my lady calls it.

[Sean C]

Me playing my Jackson at a gig - probably fifteen years ago or so:

[Commander Wallace]

^ Awesome Sean.
I see your Jackson has a reverse head stock. It also looks like it has a Floyd Rose Tremolo / bridge. I also see a Marshall head unit in the back. Marshall's are just awesome. I have a Canadian built Traynor YGL-3A Mk. III all tube amp head unit with a Celestion separate speaker cabs.

It sounds a lot like a Fender Twin Reverb but much cleaner and much higher output.

[Threadfin]

Yep, Marshalls.


I have a 1983 JCM 800 2203. 4x12 cab.


Bought it new, which shows how old I am, and it came with 6550s. Converted it to EL 34s many moons ago. I run an attenuator on it.


Sean's pic is too fuzzy to see much detail on that amp panel, but it could be a JCM 800? Too many knobs I think for it to be a master volume. Channel switcher 2205?


Oh wait, the power switch is on the other side. AVT maybe?

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

You had mentioned losing Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd. To be sure, Gary's loss is huge. I always thought Pianist Billy Powell and Gary Rossington were the engines of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Slide Guitar seems to be an incredibly elusive skill and Duane Alman and Gary Rossington were masters at it along with Elmore James.

yeah, Rossington was a massive influence on me, and it's sad he is gone. But he left a lot of great music behind.

I actually met Ed King and he showed me a few licks. Quick story....

One day when I was about 12 I went next door to where my grandmother lived at that time (southern New Jersey). There was a man there with her. Heavy set, long hair, and they were both sitting at her piano.

My grandmom says I;d like you to meet Mr King. He was in a rock band you might have heard of and then she mangled the name. I said, you mean Lynyrd Skynyrd? And he turns to me and says that's right young man. I recognized him from the cover of Nuthin' Fancy, this was Ed King man.


(Edit: Actually you can't see Ed well on that cover. The back side is the one with Billy Powell flipping the bird and Ed is obscured. I guess it was Pronounced... that I recognized him from.)


Turns out after he left the band he moved to Belleplain NJ, about 10 miles from me and joined my grandmom's church, of all things. She was the music director at the church and he was over to work out some sets as he wanted to play in the church band!

So I stammered something and he asked if I play. I said I sure do and he said where's your guitar? I ran home and got it. Was an old sixties Fender Malibu acoustic. He tuned it up and played a few things, like Needle and the Spoon and Sweet Home and man, talk about over the moon. He showed me how he played those songs and here we are 40 some years later and I've never forgotten. If Skynyrd wasn't my favorite band before then, it has been ever since. Ed also passed some years ago.

[Sean C]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I see your Jackson has a reverse head stock. It also looks like it has a Floyd Rose Tremolo / bridge. I also see a Marshall head unit in the back.

All correct. The Marshall is an MG100 HDFX with clean and "overdrive" (distortion) channels and built-in delay, chorus and flange. The cabinet is a slant with four 12s. They're a few feet away from me as I type this. After my processor died, I just used the amp effects and it sounded just as good. So the only pedal I used after that was the channel switcher/effects on-off that came with the amp.

The Jackson also had lock-nuts at the nut, so once it was tuned, it stayed in tune almost indefinitely. I loved the Floyd Rose because I could bend notes down and up with no whammy bar (even though the Jackson came with one). But as anyone who's ever used one knows: changing to a different tuning is a nightmare. Every time you loosen one string, the rest tighten and vice versa. So anytime I needed to be in a different tuning, I just used a different guitar. And changing strings requires a stack of business cards to be shoved under the bridge to prevent it from collapsing into the body. My guitar tech absolutely hated it.

A guy from another band recorded a few of our shows and put them on YouTube. But trust me when I say you can do without seeing/hearing them. We weren't very good.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

yeah, Rossington was a massive influence on me, and it's sad he is gone. But he left a lot of great music behind.

I actually met Ed King and he showed me a few licks. Quick story....

One day when I was about 12 I went next door to where my grandmother lived at that time (southern New Jersey). There was a man there with her. Heavy set, long hair, and they were both sitting at her piano.

My grandmom says I;d like you to meet Mr King. He was in a rock band you might have heard of and then she mangled the name. I said, you mean Lynyrd Skynyrd? And he turns to me and says that's right young man. I recognized him from the cover of Nuthin' Fancy, this was Ed King man.

(Edit: Actually you can't see Ed well on that cover. The back side is the one with Billy Powell flipping the bird and Ed is obscured. I guess it was Pronounced... that I recognized him from.)

Turns out after he left the band he moved to Belleplain NJ, about 10 miles from me and joined my grandmom's church, of all things. She was the music director at the church and he was over to work out some sets as he wanted to play in the church band!

So I stammered something and he asked if I play. I said I sure do and he said where's your guitar? I ran home and got it. Was an old sixties Fender Malibu acoustic. He tuned it up and played a few things, like Needle and the Spoon and Sweet Home and man, talk about over the moon. He showed me how he played those songs and here we are 40 some years later and I've never forgotten. If Skynyrd wasn't my favorite band before then, it has been ever since. Ed also passed some years ago.

That is a great story. No doubt something you will always remember. The Alman brothers, Skynyrd and 38. Special and Molly Hatchet were among some of my favorites along with Stevie Ray Vaughan. I think what I have a hard time with is how young a lot of the guys in Skynyrd and the Alman brothers and yet, had such an awesome grasp of music and it's structures and composition. We have had awesome guitarists, no doubt. Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, Jerry Reed, Willie Nelson and Glen Campbell not to mention Vince Gill are just a few on The Country music side of the street.

Originally Posted by Sean C

All correct. The Marshall is an MG100 HDFX with clean and "overdrive" (distortion) channels and built-in delay, chorus and flange. The cabinet is a slant with four 12s. They're a few feet away from me as I type this. After my processor died, I just used the amp effects and it sounded just as good. So the only pedal I used after that was the channel switcher/effects on-off that came with the amp.

The Jackson also had lock-nuts at the nut, so once it was tuned, it stayed in tune almost indefinitely. I loved the Floyd Rose because I could bend notes down and up with no whammy bar (even though the Jackson came with one). But as anyone who's ever used one knows: changing to a different tuning is a nightmare. Every time you loosen one string, the rest tighten and vice versa. So anytime I needed to be in a different tuning, I just used a different guitar. And changing strings requires a stack of business cards to be shoved under the bridge to prevent it from collapsing into the body. My guitar tech absolutely hated it.

A guy from another band recorded a few of our shows and put them on YouTube. But trust me when I say you can do without seeing/hearing them. We weren't very good.

You have some great equipment. No doubt. The Floyd Rose Tremolo is a great bridge. However, as you said, it's a nightmare to tune.

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

I also found a nice set of gold, Shaller locking tuners. Most think this is overkill with a locking nut but I may not use that. Floyd Rose tremolo's are great but a royal pain in the ..... when it comes to tuning. I would rather have the strings locked by the Floyd Rose bridge tremolo at the aft end of the guitar and locking tuners in the head stock and tune the guitar there.

With regards to, in your own words, “ not playing well.” Who Cares ? What's Important is that you play and that you have fun doing it. That's all that matters. I'm sure you play better than you think. If you are using some of the great Guitarists that we all know as a measuring stick, then I am in the same boat as you. There are many Guitarists that are really gifted. I certainly am not among them. I was a drummer in a couple bands listening To John Bonham, Neal Pert, Denny Carmassi, Alex Van Halen and my biggest Influence, Phil Collins among many others. Probably due to the fact that I sang and played drums at the same time. I picked up Guitar because well, why should the Guitarists have all the fun. I never made the connection with the Guitar as I did with the drums.


I feel as long as you enjoy playing Guitar, don't ever stop or let anyone dissuade you from that enjoyment.

As a special treat for you good people, I have listed a video excerpt. Al Pitrelli, Lead Guitarist of Trans-Siberean Orchestra, gives Guitar lessons at Water Wheels Guitars in Milford , Pa. when things get slow, between shows. Here, Al is teaching some Guitar theory on Facebook. Check him out. I hope you, Threadfin and others enjoy it. Al knows his stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/10006386811...1940986071800/

[Threadfin]

Ya know, I've never owned a guitar with a locking tremolo. They became so popular during my formative years too, EVH and few other like Steve Vai made them quite popular. But now that I think about it I never have had one. Odd.

About alternative tuning.... I bet it is a nightmare with a Floyd Rose. I always keep one guitar open tuned for when i get the urge to lay down some Creed or Pearl Jam or something haha. Way too lazy to do drop D on the fly.

About meeting Ed King.... yes, that was something else. Too bad I didn't meet him later in life, when I was older, and I would have actually had a discussion, asked questions, expressed my admiration. But he was very friendly and gracious. It's not every day you find a famous rock guitarist over at grandmom's house.

This is a nice page that lists all of Ed's weaponry including photos. A couple '59 LPs including Red Eye and some nice vintage Strats, a Duo-Sonic and a bunch of others

https://www.scribd.com/doc/23991125/...pment-History#