****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This is a seriously good gig bag. Well, it should be for $120, but it seems more impressive in person.Why would I buy this instead of a cheaper-but-decent hard case? I needed decent protection AND light weight.It won't protect a guitar from being run over by a vehicle, but even most hard cases wouldn't either. And I was NOT going to spend more for a bomb-proof case than than I did for the guitar.I need good protection for my not-tough-on-guitars lifestyle. I'm a local amateur who will not be touring nationally or checking the guitar with me on planes.I received a The Loar LH- 302T-CVS (a vintage sunburst thin, hollow electric guitar with two P90 pickups that is much like an early '60s Gibson ES-125TDC) for Christmas.I then set about trying to find a decent case for the guitar. Not easy.The Loar LH- 302T has a 16 inch lower bout, a 11.5 inch upper bout. 1.5 inches deep at the edges, and a single cutaway.I really wanted one of the newer style hard foam cases with the heavy cloth exterior (like the Gator one I have and love for my Les Paul), but the only one I could find that might have fit had a formed "horn" in the padding on the left side of the neck as for a 335 style guitar. Mine is a single cutaway, so I would have had to cut up the interior of the case to get the guitar in there. I didn't want to do that.After much internet research I finally settled on this Reunion Blues RBX335 with the nice neck support inside.When I received the case, my initial impression was that it was about twice as stiff on the outer sides than I would have guessed from my internet searching of reviews and photos. To me, this is a very good thing. I wanted a lightweight but sturdy case, and it's sturdier than I initially believed.The outer "cloth" material seems to be incredibly strong and I would think it to be quite difficult to jab a sharp knife through this material, so it should easily stand up to pretty decent abuse, especially since I have heard of no reports of ruffians running about stabbing unsuspecting guitars through their gig bags. It's just that the material is tough as heck.The sides of the bag have way more structure to them than I guessed from my research, another good thing. When empty, my new gig bag sits almost the same as if it had the guitar in there filling it out. It doesn't collapse in to a pile of cloth when empty; it barely even sags in the middle where the guitar's bridge would be.My guitar is a hollow body electric, and while it's heavier built than an acoustic guitar, I want there to be reasonable protection from the guitar being smashed. It should stand up to having stuff set on top of the guitar for short periods, at least protecting the guitar until I see that some knucklehead stacked something on my guitar in this bag, panic and go shove their stuff off my guitar.The zippers seem super strong and the whole thing closes to a firm feeling package, and kinda pins your guitar in place in there at the neck because of the nifty neck support and the way the case zips closed to hold things in place.The interior blue cloth is very silk-like and the neck support inside is very firm and does not mash easily. There are two strategically placed heavy duty protective patches inside the lid of this gig bag to protect that silky interior cloth from the shafts of the tuning keys at the head, and also at the bridge area.The only two things I wish they had included in this gig bag would have been 1) a velcro strap at the interior neck support area, to go across the neck of the guitar and provide a little more security. But in reality, the way the neck support is constructed, it comes close to grabbing your guitar neck when placed in there and the way the top of the bag closes snugly onto the guitar when zipped closed, there should really be little to no danger of the guitar getting loose in there and rattling around. ...and 2) a zippered area on the back of the bag, where the shoulder straps could have been put away when not needed, would have been a nice touch too.The case also has a nice, very large front compartment with with well though out dividers for "stuff."All in all, I'm glad I bought this instead of an inexpensive-but-decent hard case, which would have actually been cheaper than this Reunion Blues RBX335 gig bag. My back is pretty much ruined and the extra 8 - 10 pounds a true hard case brings with it's extra protection just isn't worth it to me for my needs.Even with the two minor nits I picked with this case I feel that I got five stars of value from this case. I will be super seriously shocked if some part of this case ever gives way. Heck, even the stitching is impressive.
