SKB 1SKB-SC30 Thin-line/Classical

i have another case, of same brand and same type, for electric bass... can't speak enough well of it, it's simply the best possibile compromise between affordability and protection, at an overall mass that doesn't add much on the instrument's itself – and which, after years from purchase, still holds and looks and fits like first day.

fast forward to today, i was on the prowl for a hard case meant to protect a small-bodied archtop guitar, totally hollow, that wouldn't survive a 1-hour mountain drive in the trunk of a car, with a couple of amps.

ok, it's a bit like rolling dices, because you hope it fits, but can't know for sure. so you wait, and touch wood, and brace yourself for impact.

this couldn't be more exact than it is on the Ibanez AG95, aka as "poorman's Benson", which doesn't come with an own hard case (price dictates it), and for which the original brand hard case didn't get much compliments here on this website by its buyer.

it actually is so snug-fitting, that the guitar strap won't fit inside it with the guitar (but there's quite a roomy outside pocket for it, indeed).

the only bit i'm missing here is a couple of eyelets, to which i may have gladly hooked a shoulder strap... because i often carry a laptop to play, and already have a backpack on my shoulders, a comfortable semi-hard case that only has backpack-like harness would be best brought around... on a shoulder; in the same line of reasoning, i would gladly dispense with the backpack harness on occasion, but here it is permanently stiched to the case, and will only leave it if you cut it off. it's both sillities, minor deviations off the path to expectations, which doesn't add or subtract from a product that both effective, comfortable to carry around, and at a price that won't break the bank.

if it hadn't fitted the guitar so neatly, of course i would have had to return it, which is often a possibility of most products in the Thomann offer... although i measured my guitar as carefully as i could, an archtop jazzbox isn't exactly squared, so measuring it may lead to inconsistencies...

there aren't many options when it comes to hard cases for small-bodied archtops... there's quite a number of the latter, on one hand, and the reason why, in this review, i wanted to minute, and keep on record, that this wraps my Ibanez AG95, late 2020 version, like it had been designed for it.

I bought this case specifically for the Godin Arena Pro CW Bourbon Burst EQ slim body guitar. As written in the description, the case is for thin-line and classical guitar. So my classical guitar with a 9 cm thick body fits perfectly in the case. The Godin Arena body is 6.5 cm thick, so I put an extra soft pad under the body of the guitar so that the guitar rests on the full surface of the body. Both the fretboard rest and the body cavity are made precisely: there is no room for the guitar to move inside the case.