How to Make a Vintage Looking Instrument Case. 

Some readers might know the guitar case story involving Gerry Marsden. His Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar was supplied by the manufacturer at the request of Brian Epstein and despatched to England in 1964 together with John Lennon's 320/12. Marsden used it on in the studio, on stage and on TV including during the recording of Ferry Cross the Mersey. Many of these films are on youtube. It appears that the 360/12 was his only guitar and by 1974 the case was reported so damaged that Gerry's manager suggested it be replaced before departure for a Far East tour. Marsden, a former carpenter, elected to make a new case and after three days labour, the night before departure came to place the instrument inside it for the first time. To his horror he found the guitar wouldn't fit. From what I have read I would say that the case was too short by twice the thickness of the material used to make the sides. In his film Mr. Hovington is shown planning the build with reference to the actual instrument whereas I suspect Marsden merely measured the Rickenbacker and cut the material to length without allowing extra wood at the corners. In desparation, due to depart the next day, Marsden elected to shorten the guitar, cutting about 40mm off the end of the headstock so dislodging the locations for two of the machine heads. As he says in his his book, he knew it would never play properly again. When Marsden reached New Zealand he sold the guitar and it later surfaced strung with only six strings in the hands of Alistair Parker of Bailterspace. Together with his effects the Rickenbacker has an amazing sound which may be judged watching the films where it is used, most notably their Splat single. It is clear that the end of the headstock has been horribly butchered. Subsequently Parker says he lost the guitar when he left it in a New York taxi. It's not been seen again and in the 1990's it was said to be worth around £90000. The lesson surely is to measure twice and cut once.

The case is a work of art in itself! Beautiful mandolin also!

Proper job. Breaks ain't young forever, glad you got to enjoy your break.

Very nice. I'll be using some of your techniques building a case for an antique rifle.

Awesome job, that looks Amazing!

Great video. Geez, when I take a break I go out back to my modest deck with a cup of coffee and the neighbors dog barks at me incessantly until I go back inside.

Nice case but that sound track doesn't figure for someone making a mandolin case unless your making it for someone else, but nicely put together video guy...I like the case.Question does it ever get sunny in BC?

great job!!!!👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 supppper please.. where you get the inner green fabric?? kind regards

boss thank you ....awesome case

Hallo. I see you use glue contact cement only on the one of the two objects and you dont wait but join them immediately. I would like to ask if by this way they are glued strongly, especially on edges, corners etc. Are you doing this so as to have enough time to stretch the fabric? Thanks!!!

what kinda glue is that?

Very nice

How much please

Great build , What kind of wood did you use? I’m planning on building a case for my custom oversized Ggress SG it will fit in a Gibson 335 case but it’s still a snug fit . I’d imagine the wood i need something durable but also light and thin wood any suggestions?

Well Done

peanut butter weights > regular weights

i hope i become a garage shop-having boomer

Yeah...yeah... Nice case and all that. But I should bloody-well hope so, given all the power tools known to man at one's disposal. I want to see someone build a case *without* routers, band saws, circular saws or thicknessers...

What a wonderful looking case and Instrument! Thank you very much for taking the pains to film, edit and upload this, really appreciated! I'm going to build something using this as a bit of a guide. Again, big gratitude to you, I hope you're doing well.

Well done. I feel the design could be improved by an inner rim or band 4 to5 mm thick running around the inner perimeter of the top edge of the bottom half of the case. It should protrude about 10mm above the edge. This has two important functions, it keys the lid to the body when shutting and it acts to hinder or prevent ingress of water from splashes, rain etc.

Beautiful. Love that rubber band trick to hold those boxes together during assembly.

Wow! Your craftsmanship and attention to detail to even the case is amazing, as much as that to the instrument itself. You, Sir, are a master of your craft. Respect!

Nice! I build a lot of cases for instruments, but not stringed ones. (trumpets, sax, etc,,) The inside is quite a bit different and super custom fit in yours - LOVE IT! Lately, I have made some hardwood ones without the leather but with fancy jointery, like box joints or dovetails. So many people neglect making a nice case, and it is awesome to see someone doing a great job!!! Thanks!

I've been trying to think of a way to make a couple of better cases for my guitars/refurbish one of my hard cases. This definitely gave me some much better ideas than I was working with as to how I might go about doing that. Thanks, Tomy!

Woooooow. This was so satisfying to watch. Beautiful craftsmanship. I love how the green interior subtly matched the inlays on the fretboard. Awesome job.

Looks great! And for someone who doesnt like most people's choice of music and would rather hear you talking about the process. The music was awesome and very fitting. The only change i would do is offset the handle to the center of gravity. Nice case and vid!

Great Job!!! Super video.... Looking into making a case my self... thanks for the inspiration.

Amazing work, where did you purchase the hardware you used on the exterior for the corners of the box, latches, and handle?

Hello Tomy! Very neat cases and an extremely useful video. I've just bought an old zither with a nice, but rather battered wooden case. I'll need to refurbish it, or even better, make a new one, because the old wood may be mouldy. It looks very time consuming, but the result is awesome. It's well worth the effort. Greetings from Hungary!

What type of foam? It looks nice and dense. Where do I get it?

When you took a break I did drugs 👍 more channels should add halftime

Great looking case! I've been thinking about building custom cases for wind instruments for a while and this gave me some great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

My question is this: how much did you charge the customer for the case and would you continue to do this sort of a custom case build for future clients? I"m a ukulele builder and struggling to find cases that will fit my instrument designs. While this video demonstrates that a builder can probably turn out a case that would be worthy of their instruments, watching the progress and time involved suggests to me that the price I'd need to charge to justify the effort would result in a case that is half the cost of the instrument that would ship in it.

akuhadir 20d26

Beautiful! However, anybody can make a case. How in the world do you make those floppy kites?

So good, well done... which material are you cutting at min 2:58? Is that a kind of hard foam? Thanks

I watched this vid several times when it was time to build a case for my electric octave mandolin. It turned out better than I had hoped. Tomy is a true craftsman. I'd like to meet him and shake his hand.

How many hours do you think you have in the case? Thanks!

Very nice build . I built one very similar to this and shipped an octave mandolin to the states . I shipped it United Parcel . Somewhere between here in Creston BC and Kansas , the case got one end and the lid ripped off . Fortunately the mandolin was not damaged . Be careful who you ship with .

Follow up: have you ever made a case for a nyckelharpa?

Same question for the foam ... what type of Glue, & where did you get it from?

Hey man what is that crazy ass fabric you used in the inside called, I think it is the coolest fabric especially used in something like that where the fabric holds vibrant colors

i want to make one. to bad i need to skin chewbacca

Lovey Tomy. I have a Telecaster without a hard case. Now I know what to do. Best video I've seen yet on how it's done properly.

The case looks great! I might copy your idea, I hope that’s OK cheers

If you don't mind, what was the adhesive you used to cover the case with that fabric?

Hey buddy which fabric did you used to cover the box from out side, It looks awesome!

I fucking love boxes! ❤

Phenomenal job!!! Take this from someone who wasn't careful and is paying the price now; wear a dust mask!

Excellent build!! No-one ever died from Overkill build! Cheers, BF

Awesome video, but how about talking to us once in a while so we know what you are doing and what materials you are using. I'd like to make a case for my Fender Strat. Otherwise awesome video.

Thank you for sharing this video! I'm planning a similar build for a lap steel guitar. Do you recommend using contact cement over spray adhesive?

Looks fantastic. I would think solid wood would be too heavy for a case, even though its obviously strong? How much does this case weigh?

As a long-time instrument case maker, I appreciate MUCH of what is shown in this video. However, the techniques shown here for attaching the fabric are quite primitive, and leaves rough looking corners that are just asking to come undone once the case gets used in the real world. This case covering most likely will not stand up to real use in the way that the vintage cases did. The case may be styled to resemble a vintage case, but the people who made those old cases clearly knew better techniques for attaching fabric. Also, a case of this size for a lightweight instrument probably does not need to have thick pine boards for its sides; vintage casemakers commonly used custom laminates and such to reduce weight without losing strength where needed.

Very beautiful case. I am planning on making one for my wifes banjolele. what were the dimensions of the box?

thanks Tomy ! Perfect job! The old atmosphear is coming in 2021 with your case!

what is the name of the green fabric used to line the inside of the case?

Awesome job my friend..

Lovely work there Tomy! Great job. Nice bit of holiday scenery to break the vid up a bit. :)

Lovely looking case, very classy :)

Lovely to watch your craft in putting together the mandola case. Also loved the BC scenery during your interlude. Luckily my mandola came with a case, but if it didn't I would have liked to have one of yours. Cheers from the UK.

Awsume Job, & video! i'm for sure gonna make a case for my Fender squire Jaguar guitar. save $150, thanks!

Do you have a materials list for this project?

Nice demonstration. Thank you. Now I feel confident to have a go

Great job. What are those tiny clamps? I like them so much.

Much too fast. 😢

If that's contact cement your using to glue the material and foam padding, you are supposed to apply the glue to each piece being glue, and then wait till three glue dries before actually putting the 2 surfaces together. Other than that you did an outstanding job. Contact cement works differently then regular glue and the 2 surfaces bring glued has to allow the glue to dry before putting them together. Please don't think I am criticizing your work either, as I said earlier, you did a very professional job and the case looks as nice (if not better) than anything you could purchase.

Really really good

Nice job !!!.

Great video thanks you've given me a lot of ideas. I need to make some cases for my viola d'amore and i think your pine sides and plywood top and bottm is the way to go. Really nice how you wrapped the outside with cloth. I think Richard christie might be right about some kind of lip on the inside to keep the rain out. I'm thinking maybe a thin ply (3mm) wrapped in some kind of plastified paper or something like that, tacked on the inside of the bottom and sticking up 5/6mm...

godamn! thats one sexy guitar case!

Killer work.

coool

What are the fabrics you used for the inside and outside?

que agradable sujeto

Very nice

Glorious!

Excellent

Stunning video. Your attention to detail in the production of the video alone is worth praise. My step-dad was a furniture builder and upholsterer and your methods took me back 40 years to when I watched him work. Thank you so much for posting.

Nice!

Excellent video!! Very helpful.

nice

Nice work. I bet the nicest wrapped Christmas gifts come from you!

Classy!

This is very impressive Tomy. Is there a difference between the pink foam under the neck and the yellow under the body, or I can use the same?

Beautiful work!

How much does the f5 case cost?

What type of glue did you use to glue the fabric on top of it...?

Super accurate job. Really brilliant !!

How much would you charge someone to make a case ?

woah this is incredible work, do you by any chance have links or sources that I or indeed anyone else interested in doing their own case could get those materials? I so wanna do this for my guitar I've got.

That rubber band move was cool!

Beautiful craftsmanship, on the mandola and the case. I have to make some cases for odd-shaped guitars, and this video is the most helpful I have found! Merci beaucoups!

so normally I would be like, WTF when you took your break. But this is COVID lockdown week 412 :-) and I really enjoyed the quick break for some nature. I think I will search youtube for some hiking vlogs... lol nice job by the way!!!!!

I'm building a case for a guitar just now, and this will be mighty helpful.

Absolutely Awesome Build!!!! Nice Work!! ~cheers

Love the way u used the shape of the Mandolin to make a better fit case!

Can you tell me what kind of foam that is and where I might get it? Bless you

Wow! Such great craftsmanship and attention to details. Had fun watching this. Thanks! Great job!

I should try this same idea for my microkorg case! Thanks for the great advice.