The Search for a Custom Case Maker in Australia

[Bob Connor]

I haven't found a custom guitar case maker in this country yet but if anyone knows of one please let us know.

If you build jumbos, dreadnoughts or classicals (OM's fit in a classical case nicely) you're pretty well catered for here in Australia but anything - else forget it.

I've just had a couple made in the States for a small jumbo but the freight was horrendous so I won't be doing that again.

And I can't find anything suitable for a parlour type guitar.

I am wondering how many people would be interested in purchasing custom cases if we could find someone to manufacture them.

I'd like to be able to get a custom Logo, and custom shape with my own choice of covering material for between $200 and $300.

And I'd buy around 15-20 per year.

Anyone else who would be interested please chuck a post here with a conservative number of how many of these cases you would be purchase per year if they were available.

I have someone in mind in Geelong who already makes road cases but I'd like to have an indication of a possible market size before I approach him.

And if anyone else knows of someone in their local area that may be interested in manufacturing guitar cases please get in touch with them.

The only manufacturer that I know of are in Perth who make fibreglass cases (very, very nice cases but double what I would like to pay for them and they only make dreadnought size)

Cheers

Bob

[Allen]

I'm at 5 or 6 instruments a year, but God only knows what size or shape I'll try next. If it can happen, and we can get a choice of coverings and interiors, logo's etc. then I'd be interested.

[Kim]

Me to, there must surely be some enterprising case maker out there looking to expand their product line. With the growing interest in hand build guitars in AU, and the obvious need to protect these much loved instruments, you would think that this would be a no brainer for someone already tooled and skill up to fill the demand in our craft for quality custom cases at a reasonable price.

I know I can get $100 blown plastic cases that are made in Asia for dredies etc, and, push come to shove, I can pad them out to sort of work if nothing else is available. But when you consider the time, money, love and dedication we put into building an instrument, I am sure that most of us, if not all, would be happy to part with $300 if we could buy a case that fits our instrument properly and we would be over the moon if we could also personalise and get our own logos embossed in the lid like Ameritage cases do in the USA.

I am going to do some ringing around. Surely there must be someone out there who can cover our demand at a reasonable price. It's not like a prospective local manufacturer would need to be concerned about being undercut by cheaper imports at any time. I see this as one of those rare opportunity to grab an attractive market niche.

I say this because I imagine that whilst the market for 'good quality' custom instrument cases would be large enough to provide a good income for some local producer, it would in fact remain too small to attract the attention of those larger multi-national concerns who are currently busy covering the demand for budget cases world wide. So this seems to be just one of those 'under the radar' opportunities and, if I was not tied to my current situation and just plain butt lazy, I would probably look at this myself.

Cheers

Kim

[James Mc]

Here’s and idea from way out of left field, but what about having them made in a prison workshop?

I know that they make and sell some great stuff at the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre near Cairns. I got my swag from there and it was top quality at a third of what the same would cost in the camping shop. The system is a bit strange in that they don’t advertise the goods they sell, but when I was working there they were selling things like timber outdoor furniture, steel toolboxes, swags, canvas and leather goods and nice little timber storage boxes. They can’t build enough of anything to meet the demand if they advertise, but seem to sell what they make through word of mouth without much problem. They do everything one off or in small lots, so I would think that if you could supply the general design and some size templates then 20 or 30 cases a year would be in the range of what they could take on.

If you give me a ballpark on what you would expect to pay and what materials you would like them made from, I’ll chase up a mate to see if it could be done.

[Kim]

James,

For me, I would think that $300 is about as much as I would be prepared to pay for a quality, nicely lined, formed ply, or glass, vinyl skinned, dome topped case. Any more than this and it would go to the back burner once again becoming one of those want or wish item.

Eg; I could probably bring myself to shell out more for a once only purchase for a one off case for THAT guitar. You know the one I dream, I am talking about that BRW job with the master grade old school Adirondack top, ah but now we are talking exclusive, so exclusive that I would steer well away from buying any more for the other guitars I wished to keep for myself, or for that matter, ever offering one with an instrument to a potential customer for fear of chasing them away with a notion that I am gouging them.

Cheers

Kim

[MetcalfGuitars]

Here’s and idea from way out of left field, but what about having them made in a prison workshop?

I know that they make and sell some great stuff at the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre near Cairns. I got my swag from there and it was top quality at a third of what the same would cost in the camping shop. The system is a bit strange in that they don’t advertise the goods they sell, but when I was working there they were selling things like timber outdoor furniture, steel toolboxes, swags, canvas and leather goods and nice little timber storage boxes. They can’t build enough of anything to meet the demand if they advertise, but seem to sell what they make through word of mouth without much problem. They do everything one off or in small lots, so I would think that if you could supply the general design and some size templates then 20 or 30 cases a year would be in the range of what they could take on.

If you give me a ballpark on what you would expect to pay and what materials you would like them made from, I’ll chase up a mate to see if it could be done.

Hey James, help a Yank out please. What's the prison made "swag" you mention?

Tim (from the USA)

[graham mcdonald]

Swag: These days, a sort of cross between a tent and a sleeping bag, usually made of waterproof canvas and that is rolled up for carrying around.

It used to be a more generic term for a roll of blankets that could be slung over the shoulder of an itinerant rural worker - a swaggie. What you would call a hobo, perhaps.

Wonderful language, Australian

cheers

graham