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I know that they both offer a wide range of cases.....

I have a customer who want's a higher quality case versus the Heinel cases I've been using to date. However we are not looking at flight cases.....

So, having never even seen either of these manufacturers cases let alone purchased from either I'm in need of your help.

Of course over the years I've heard that both have had poor communications for us mostly 1 off buyers.

The guitar to fit is an Olson SJ size which is about as close to a standard OM as you can get, but for a tighter waist which isn't usually a problem for cases. It is however about 3/8" deeper body versus an OM.

So please help me out with your recent experiences and for my fellow Canucks please tell me how the ordering, shipping duties etc have been.

Also, please let me know the range of cost I can expect. Send me a message if it's something that should be held in trust.

Thanks.

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Hi Rod,

I just sent you a PM with some info about Hiscox cases. Far superior to the TKL style from Heinel. I think it might be a good option for your customer. Lower cost, no waiting and cheaper shipping then getting something from the US. If for some reason my PM didn't come through correctly let me know and I'll email you the info. I had a little trouble and may have accidentally PMed you more then once.

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I'm not Canadian, but I have dealt with Cedar Creek for a one-off case. I communicated with them last year by e-mail and telephone and my experience was fine. They initially sent a couple links to price info that didn't work, but we got that sorted out. I placed my order at the beginning of March and the case arrived July 1 so if you have any urgency, they may not be the place to go.

Btw, in case you might not be aware of this, there are two ways to get a custom case from them. One is a case built from scratch to your guitar's dimensions. The other is to have them make custom padding in an existing model to match the dimensions of your guitar.

The case they made for me fit my guitar perfectly and is very well made, but boy is it heavy.

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Rod, check these out too. They had some at the Santa Barbara show and they were very interesting-

http://www.visesnutcase.com/

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Rod, I've ordered both, and the Ameritage is my favorite. It's a couple of pounds heavier, but it's built like a tank. I've built SJ size instruments that a re a shade deeper than a normal OM, and they still fit okay in the OM case. You can also get them to send you some thinner padding for the top surface to help with that. Just yank out the old ones and glue in the new ones, or have them do it for a small fee.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Not Canadian here, but, I'm a fan of Ameritage also. The case is very good and on a custom case they will add your logo for a reasonable fee

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Ameritage cases are shipped out of Costa Rica, I believe, so whatever issues that might have arisen in shipping from the US might not apply here. I prefer the Ameritage too. Very high quality for the price.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Thanks Josh for the message. Still thinking.

As for Ameritage & Cedar Creek. I contacted both on Oct 6. I've received all details and could order today from Cedar Creek. Haven't even heard back from Areritage.
If anyone has a more direct email for Ameritage can you message me?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Just a quick note if I'm not too late. I have ordered 3 Cedar Creek cases for guitars that wouldn't fit a standard case (usually TKL). They are beautifully made, cost roughly twice what a production case does and takes three or so months to arrive.

This tricone case has indentations for the cover plate and tailpiece and is a nice tasteful purple...

We use Hiscox, after using both TKL/Cedar Creek and Ameritage for new guitars. While the boss liked the appearance of the Ameritage and the OEM pricing, he found that more than a few of the owners were using gig bags or older, lighter cases to actually haul the guitar around due to the weight of the Ameritage. The TKL/Cedar Creek cases with Tolex or lacquered tweed were lighter, but still suffered from fitting issues and tended to collect dings that tore the cover material. A few of our touring musicians went through handles rather quickly on the TKL/CC Geib-style cases as well, with the metal strap fracturing within the handle and necessitating repairs.

Our experience with the Hiscox Pro II and Artist cases has been uniformly good - they fit well, take a range of different shapes and depths, and hold up very well. A case in point is their GAD sized case, that will take most 16" sized narrow and wide waist jumbos and dreadnoughts, including the SJ, Martin 12 and 14 fret dreadnoughts, Gibson J-35/45/50 and J-185. Their 000/OM sized case takes both 12 and 14 fret 000 and OM, plus other 15" to 15-1/2" guitars. When purchased on sale from Musicians Friend here in the US, we see prices of as little as $225 including shipping.

Our two concerns with Hiscox cases are the lack of individually locking latches on the Pro II and Artist, and the lack of a center back latch (6th latch on a D-sized case; 5th latch on smalelr cases) between the neck hinges on the Pro II, but either the use of a supplemental strap around the case or a case cover would answer those concerns when used for air travel and checked as baggage. We still recommend and purchase Calton and Hoffee when our customers committed to touring with dedicated flight cases (due to the individually locking ATA/TSA latches), but we have owners that routinely fly with both Pro II and Artist model cases without issue.

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