GruvGear GigBlade Case

[Addison]

A Kickstarter launched for the new GruvGear case design called the GigBlade, and I hopped on board right away. I liked the look and the overall design and was pretty excited about it... until it hit me.

What if it doesn't fit a lefty?

So I asked about it on their Facebook page several times. They "liked" my post but no immediate official answer. A person who had seen the case first hand said it would fit, no problem and someone at GruvGear said they'd look into it.

I woke up this morning and this was in my inbox from Jay, the owner:

"Hi Chris, here's how a lefty guitar fits in the GigBlade. The bass would be similar but we couldn't find one at the store.

Hope that helps!
Jay"



I really appreciate him getting back to me... It was very nice, and I appreciated the time he took to take the pic, but, to me, the guitar looks forced into the bag, and with the extra length of the bass neck, I could only see it being worse... so, I had to cancel my pledge.



I know some of you might not be bothered by the way it fits, but I think it's pretty obvious that we weren't considered when the case was designed.

I'm soooooo bummed. I was really excited to be one if the first people to get in on this, but you can't win 'em all I guess!

[gravesbass]

It's cool that they even considered it and made one. I prefer tight fitted cases with not a lot of extra length but they have to make one that's universal for everyone to fit long scale basses.

I had Adolfo (Fodera Gig Bags) make me a true lefty bag. He made 2 of them for me (one double). I will tell you, if the orientation is true lefty (pocket out) and you carry it with your left hand, it will mess with you. Your body generally thinks right hand carry or over shoulder.

Curious to see the final on this bag tho. The Reunion Blues bag with the blue liner is pretty cool too and well padded. MONO Vertigo is a really good compact gig bag but long.

Thx for the post.

[AzWhoFan]

I gotta agree, the way the upper bout (horn) is forced against the side of the bag offers little to no collision protection, other than from gentle bumpage - maybe.

Bummer. Otherwise it looks like a pretty well padded bag.

[Stingray5]

I like this company and I was checking this out yesterday. Didn't even think about whether a lefty bass would fit...

here's a link to the kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gr ... rid-guitar


from this pic it looks like the headstock wouldn't be an issue:



and here they indicate that the padding is movable:




The thing I see being an issue might be a lefty bass with an oversized upper horn. I agree and would hold off until they can show a few different lefty basses in the case.




EDIT:

Maybe you can ask Jay to just take a picture of his Skjold in the case, face down..!

[AzWhoFan]

A possible solution would be to attach the neck support pad to the lid of the case instead of the body and plop your bass face down in the bag. Securing the neck with the velcro strap would become a PITA, tho not totally unmanageble.

[Addison]

I shared my feelings with Jay and he replied that he agrees... it is not a good option for lefties, but did say they would work on it for future versions "soon".

[iozz]

Argh, I was going to support them as well, too bad.

[gravesbass]

EDIT... Ignore my post above. I didn't know it was "THIS" gig bag. I thought it was just a normal gig bag. The tip was cut off in the first image. Excuse my post *post before coffee was brewed*

[Frenchy-Lefty]

It seems to me that every time Addison order something shit happens...
In this instance there was a last minute save thankfully

[Addison]

*** UPDATE ***

Jay and I did a little back and forth and he's making some changes for the first run!!

First, the padded neck support will velcro in and out so you can switch it around for a better lefty fit.

See pic:



Next, he is raising the curved part on the right side up about 3 more inches to allow for even more room on the upper horn.

With the neck support rotated, the super long upper horn of the Skjold already fits fairly well... but the additional 3 inches will be perfect.

He's also extending the length of the top a little bit to accommodate 5-string inline headstocks.

Anyway, I'm glad I reached out to him... he was way cool about the whole thing and really wanted to make it work for us.

I placed my order again!

[Matt R.]

Interesting. I was under the impression that they were giving you the polite brush-off. It'll be cool to see how this turns out.

[Moses]

Question:
Would it be so bad to simply put the bass in "upside down" from the typical position, as it were, like shown in his improvised example?

All I can think of is perhaps some negligible additional fretwear.

[Basshappi]

That's what I was thinking.

[Billw97]

Not if you have an angled headstock.

[Moses]

Not if you have an angled headstock.

An excellent point.

[Addison]

Look at how that Skjold is laying upside down... you'd have a gap underneath the body and would risk snapping your neck joint.

The fingerboard on a bass is fairly even with the top of a bass body, but the back of the neck and the back of the body are not even... that's why you need neck supports.

The only way you could do it safely is if you were to attach the neck support on the zipper door of the gig bag.

[Basshappi]

Simply make the lefty version with the support block mounted on the "lid". Once the bass is in place an the case is zipped up the neck will be as well supported as the right handed version (unless the "lid" is much thinner than the "floor", which it shouldn't be).

[bugsy]

Im not sure what it is all about
For me a gig bag is useful for carrying over the shoulder but also useful to fold away
It doesnt look like the case would fold away
so why not just but a hard case which would be alot cheaper. Its easy to put straps on a hard case to throw over your shoulder or buy a topline gig bag?

[Sec-Def]

personally, I hate hard cases. and gig bags. they both border line suck. each in it's own domain.
I have a les paul in a chainsaw case, and that shit is a bitch to carry.
if you don't have a car that guitar will stay home and I wouldn't put that vintage ebay gold in a gig bag.
I wouldn't add a strap to that mother fucker either.
"what if that shit opens when it's slung over your back?"
not that there's any reason for that to happen.
but there's also no reason for the plastic thingy that holds up the strap on a gigbag to snap, but I do have a friend with a two tone silver sparkle sound-gear, the extra tone is the courtesy of warwick rockbags.
and the shity lab that replaced his entire cavity hole.
(before it was fixed all the nobs and electronics were just hanging out there. that was actually very cool looking.)
so all in all, you'd be paying for peace of mind and comfort of use combined.

[Addison]

I would personally never use a gig back that can fold up... you may as well wrap your bass in a towel.

I have a couple of gig bags that are every bit as good as protecting a bass as a hard case and offer better ease of transport, lighter weight and even more storage.

Some are better than others, but gig bags have come a very, VERY long way in the last several years... it's a pretty exciting time to be a bass player!

With that said, I'm ALWAYS looking for something better to come along... that's why these Gigblade bags were so attractive.