Having a custom gig bag made

[Tubajug]

I say go for the black and white cow fur!

[Pat S]

The line starts behind me...

[arminhachmer]

u gotta be kidding me. I asked him if he was sure, and he said yes. He just asked if I could bring on of my bags by and leave it with him for a few days so he can get some construction ideas from it. I told him I'll either bring him my dolly bag or my reunion blues from one of my other horns

What do you use for a dolly bag?
I use an Altieri gig bag, bell end up and open.
Bag stays strapped on the dolly (golf cart)
Armin

[Mitch]

Well, the guy is in Texas, so he may have a leather supplier who can get him materials at a low cost.

I once made a bag for a horn I had that was, well, unusual in its size. Because of its weight and my past experience with stitching problems in crucial areas of bags, I thought I'd give it a go. I used 1600d (ballistic/flak jacket) cordura and kevlar thread. It wasn't perfect, but most people were surprised to find I'd made it myself, at least from a distance.

Altieri-type of layout. Total cost was, if I recall correctly, under $75, not including my time, which wasn't exactly monumental.

So if the guy knows what he's doing and has a supply of inexpensive leather, $212 could, theoretically, still be profitable. He also may be scaling down his price as a way of acknowledging that he's never done a tuba bag before, i.e., it'd be more of a learning experience for him. If he gets a ton of business on tuba bags, I'm sure the price will likely go up.

And I'm in line.

[Tubajug]

Nice! What style/color/etc. leather did you go for?

And how's the little Eb playing? Have you got the linkage all soldered in place?

[Roger Lewis]

Your friend may regret his pricing.

The reason that Soundwear got out of the tuba bag business is the monumental amount of stock they had to have on hand. A trumpet is a trumpet, is a trumpet, but no two tubas are really the same so each one would have to be a custom bag until he gets a set of patterns together for every horn that's popular and make them up on an "as needed" basis.

They look like great products and even I (a die hard - hard case person) would be interested in these.

Keep us posted on his craftsmanship (which looks spectacular) and on how your bag turns out. Let him know that others may be contacting him for other models. He might want to get together his measurement method so that people ordering bags can duplicate it so that there is not a lot of scrap on his end.

Looks like a terrific product. Thanks for posting it.

Roger

[scottw]

Your friend may regret his pricing.

The reason that Soundwear got out of the tuba bag business is the monumental amount of stock they had to have on hand. A trumpet is a trumpet, is a trumpet, but no two tubas are really the same so each one would have to be a custom bag until he gets a set of patterns together for every horn that's popular and make them up on an "as needed" basis.

They look like great products and even I (a die hard - hard case person) would be interested in these.

Keep us posted on his craftsmanship (which looks spectacular) and on how your bag turns out. Let him know that others may be contacting him for other models. He might want to get together his measurement method so that people ordering bags can duplicate it so that there is not a lot of scrap on his end
I would be interested too although I would really like to find a Soundwear bag somewherd to fit my Mirafone 186. Roger: do you know of any?


Looks like a terrific product. Thanks for posting it.

Roger

[Donn]

I once made a bag for a horn I had that was, well, unusual in its size. Because of its weight and my past experience with stitching problems in crucial areas of bags, I thought I'd give it a go. I used 1600d (ballistic/flak jacket) cordura and kevlar thread. It wasn't perfect, but most people were surprised to find I'd made it myself, at least from a distance.

Altieri-type of layout. Total cost was, if I recall correctly, under $75, not including my time, which wasn't exactly monumental.

No lining? I've made a couple Cordura bags, but have yet to figure out a good way to put in a lining, so I don't know how hard it would be to do that way.

[Roger Lewis]

Sorry. I don't know anyone that might still have a Soundwear bag on hand for a 186. You might check with Soundwear. They may be willing to make one up for you. It might be good to let them know there is still a demand for their product, but they may need to shift to a "produce on demand" basis so that they would not have to carry the inventory. The price will probably be higher, but they might be willing to listen.

Best of luck to you.
Roger

[Tubajug]

Holy smokes! That is beeeeautiful! I need to find me a guitar bag maker around here...!

Do you need bags for any of your other tubas or was this the only one?

[Mtrhed]

Thanks for the tip 58mark,
I've got a front action conversion on a large horn thats finishing up soon. I contacted Glen Cronkhite and he said after 40 years in the biz his hands are pretty worn out so he can't do any new patterns. I've been shopping for someone to make a bag to fit my horn. Alteri is one option but there seem to be lots of people who feel those are little more then thinly padded duffel bags. I heard dollybag does custom work. I've left a message at Goetz but shipping will be brutal. If anybody else out there has suggestions for anyone else doing this kind of work please let me know.

[bort]

I'm not sure what the costs are for making a custom size bag from Gotz, but a few months ago I got a quote for a Gotz bag from Thomann Music (http://www.thomann.de" target="_blank) -- 289 euro, plus 30 euro shipping to the US. Fast forward a few months to a tanking euro, and that's not a bad deal at all. Thomann was easy to deal with, but I haven't placed an order yet. I've tried emailing Gotz directly in the past, and very slow responses, if any. Best bet is to go through a dealer.

The Gotz isn't as well-padded as a Cronkhite, but I like it more than the Cronkhite (I like top loading bags a LOT more) -- personal opinion! I think anything is better than an Alteiri, which is really pretty expensive for what it is. Again though, better than nothing!