The Steel Guitar Forum

I am going to be leaving on tour June 29th and I want to take my lap steel with me to practice on. Can anyone recommend a decent soft shell bag ? Doesn't have to be deluxe, just something with a shoulder strap and better than what I have it in now and I'm embarrassed to say what that is

This is the only one I could find and it seems a bit pricey for a soft shell case

http://compare.ebay.com/like/2707676128 ... r&_lwgsi=y

Any recommendations ?

Sorry I can't help much with the price point, but these are the ones I sell. Very nice bags, and worth the $.
http://www.markvanallen.com/store_accessories.html

Good bag for a little less money.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GENUINE-GRETSCH-LAP ... 53e7ea730b

These are very nice gigbags. Good and solid feeling. Check your dimensions before ordering.

http://www.music123.com/Accessories/Cas ... 000000.sku

I went the other route..

For about $40 at most sporting good stores, you can find a nice hard shell "break down shotgun" case that my Chandler fits in perfectly. Trim a little foam and voila!

They also sell nice soft sided shotgun cases that also work pretty well depending on what type of lap steel you are taking.. I will try to post a picture a little later, but got to get to church..

Cheers!

One reminder if you go with anything that needs foam trimming- it can be hard with a craft knife or box cutter, but oddly an electric carving knife works like a charm!

Thanks for the links everyone. I thought about the gun case after reading some others doing that but I thought about I'll be doing probably 15 flights or so this coming month and I'm not really wanting to cause any speculation on what is in the case

I wanted to get the Gretsch case but according to a website, my steel is 34 3/8'' long !! I'll measure it at my studio tonight and know exactly but I can't imagine a website being wrong

Mark van Allen wrote:Sorry I can't help much with the price point, but these are the ones I sell. Very nice bags, and worth the $.
http://www.markvanallen.com/store_accessories.html

How much is shipping to a business address in 08857 ? It's pretty close to the price of the one I was looking at and I'd rather support a forum member

Does it have straps on the inside to hold the lap tight ? Looks like a lap steel would move around in it due to it being a mini guitar case.

No problem with speculation re. what is in the case.. They Xray it. I fly about every week, and would not want to put an instrument in the hands of the airline in anything soft and the case weighs about the same as a soft side.. (it is really light)

So a friend of mine told me if I had a Steinberger around, that case would work too and I actually had one around so my problem has been temperately solved. It works great and is very padded. I have to have a soft case with shoulder straps for traveling or the gun case would be cool to do

Just wanted to post another option that I found in case someone comes across this thread in the future

These are $25 which includes shipping:

http://www.casesandmore.com/ProTec-CU200-PRO1106.html

hey, Tommy, the gig bags I have don't have interior straps, just very good padding and a shape that fits many steels. For example Oahu Tonemaster is a perfect fit, as are the GeorgeBoards 6 strings. Measurements on my site.

Thanks for the information Mark. I just measured my Harmony and it is just under 34 1/2'' so you can add Harmony to your list of steels it would perfectly fit. I am going to use this Steinberger case for now since I had it laying around and didn't realize it had another use

I'll offer another vote for the Protec case at Cases & More that Ambrose mentioned & linked above, plenty of room for my various lap steels. I liked 'em so much that I bought three! Straps for wearing it backpack style or as a standard case, lots of pocket space etc.

I have a 10-string Cobra lapsteel that Bobbe Seymour built me a few years ago. I found a Gibson electric guitar bag on sale at the local Guitar Center, that looks just like the Pro Tec case. It's very well padded, and it works perfectly.

After reading an earlier post about soft cases and using a rifle or shotgun case..
I stopped by the local sporting goods store today. They had a lot of cases and found a great, well padded 'soft' case. Its for a Gretch lap steel and it fits perfectly. No shifting around nice fit and well protected. Made by Allen its 37" long and wide enough for a good fit. Thanks for the ideas!
Steve Pearce

Product Description
•Endura Shell
•7/8" Foam
•#5 Zipper
•Built-In Sling
[/img]

A rifle case is definitely a better option than a guitar shaped bag. Here's a link to one of the various old threads on this topic. I bought one of these rifle cases from Optics Planet and it's perfect for my Gibson lap steel.

ciao,
LP

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... ics+planet