We’ve seen a lot of photos of people using custom guitar cases for everything but guitars, so believe it’s about time we remind the fanatics out there what a great guitar case is really for: protecting a musical instrument that many guitar players love more than their some of their family members. In hopes of putting more guitars than guns into guitar cases, we looked at finding the best guitar case for your electric or acoustic guitar. As long as you’re willing shop in more places than the old stand-by online music stores, you can find a guitar case that’s just as beautiful as the guitar itself.
Below is a small photo gallery of electric and acoustic guitar cases, including some really nice custom cases that are worth checking out. For those in love with their instrument, a beautiful case is just as important as the guitar itself. For traveling musicians, a strong flight case is a must. Not all of these cases are available to buy by themselves (i.e. you have to also buy the guitar), but most of them are. Prices are included where we could find them. If you ever think some might be expensive, put it in relation to how much you spend each month on your cellphone bill. In that context, spending $600-1000 on a guitar case you’ll have for, quite possibly, the rest of your life is a small investment.
If you’ve a guitar player ever had a guitar body smashed or a guitar neck snap in half, then you know the value of a good guitar case. Thankfully, you can get a guitar case for not a lot of money, and a really nice one for not as much money as you might think. If you spent a decent amount of money on a guitar, chances are the manufacture threw in a free hardshell guitar case, anyway. Both my Taylor guitars came with great hardshell cases, but even they aren’t necessarily good as a flight case, nor are they something I can throw over my shoulder like a gig bag.
Selecting the best guitar case
First, make sure the guiar fits. If you’re buying a guitar case that’s not custom built for your guitar, make sure to break out the measuring tape. One major problem of aftermarket guitar cases is that they’re not as tight fitting as one that’s made specifically for your guitar. You can get around that with some extra felt and padding, or you take the route of having “a guitar case inside a guitar case”.
There are a lot of flight cases for traveling that are designed to throw your guitar in when it’s already in a soft or hardshell case, which is helpful because they tend to work for a lot more guitar shapes. Most of them also give the option to be stuffed with a soli block of foam without a body shape cut into it. This is a good option so you can cut the foam to snuggly fit your current guitar case. Then once you throw that in and close the traveling case, your guitar is just about as protected as it can be.
All else fails… you can always get a used, generic fight case then by the foam and make it yourself. In reality it’s not very difficult, and if you’re the sort of guitar player who plasters your guitar case with stickers, anyway… no harm is saving some cash by making an exterior case yourself so you have it whenever you need to travel with a guitar or two.
If you don’t need to a really strong guitar case, then personally, I always advocate something custom and usually in leather. Just like the smell of the wood of a really nice acoustic guitar is a great experience, so too is a really nice custom leather case. A great guitar case not only protects your guitar, it adds “a certain something” to the overall look and feel of a musician and his instrument. Are custom cases more expensive? Of course… but people spend a lot of money on less useful things. If you love your guitar, it deserves a great case.
