Your guitar is your baby. You know every nick, every scratch, and every bump in the woodwork. Travelling with such a precious item can be difficult at times. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the car or on public transport, every time your guitar takes a knock, you wince and know that’s half an hour you’re going to spend carefully examining it for damage before you retune it. With so many different bags on the market promising to get your guitar from A to B, how do you know which one is best for you? Let Fusion Bags help – we’ve been doing this for a while, and have come up with a few ideas.
Don’t get a hard plastic case
OK, this may sound odd considering you want the optimum protection for your guitar, but think about it – if you’re moving around a lot, you don’t want to carry any more weight than you need to. Think about the last hard plastic case you had, and how much it weighed when it was empty. Carrying that extra weight all day can get very tiring very quickly. You won’t be playing at your best when you take your guitar out of the bag and your arms are already tired.
Our Urban Series is the perfect middle ground between a hard shell and a lightweight bag. With 20mm of high density foam padding and a heavy-duty rubberised base and headstock area, your guitar will be entirely safe from everyday knocks and bumps.
Handle or backpack straps?
A common issue for guitarists on the go – do you carry your guitar by the side handle and risk knocking the headstock on the floor or tripping up other commuters with the neck of your guitar, or do you carry your guitar on your back and hit the headstock every time you walk through a door frame? Ideally, you want a bag which has both options, but you don’t want the backpack straps trailing on the floor when you use the side handle. The last thing you need before your first gig in the big city is someone tripping over your guitar because they stepped into your back strap as they got off the train, or catching your bag on someone else as you try not to miss your stop. A number of our guitar bags come with the ability to tuck away and secure the back straps when you don’t need them, granting you the versatility you need when diving through the closing tube doors.
One guitar… or two?
There’s a fairly good chance that as you play you will pick up more than one guitar. Perhaps on your set, you want to play a song in drop-D, and don’t want to have to retune your guitar on the go. Maybe you have a 12 string or an acoustic guitar for when your set winds down or perhaps you’re on tour and space is limited. Either way you’ll want to save space by carrying both your guitars in the same bag, but you won’t want them scratching against each other. Double guitar bags cut down on the weight and space of multiple bags, and keep your guitars safe and secure at the same time.
You can even use the second guitar compartment to store your pedals, leads and spare clothes if you really want to – there’s never a problem with having too much space, which brings us onto…
How much gear do you need?
It’s quite possible that you’ll need your guitar bag for several days in a row. If you’re going from gig to gig, you don’t want to be carrying a suitcase, a guitar, an overnight bag… you can very quickly run out of arms to carry things in if you don’t have the luxury of a tour van. Our Fuse-On range allows you to take several bags and fuse them together. You can now attach up to two backpacks on to your guitar bag, which will hold a laptop and essentials, carrying the whole lot on your shoulders in a safe and secure way, allowing you to find your keys or train ticket without having to watch all of your bags at the same time.
There’s a fair few things to think about when picking a guitar bag – it’s not as simple as “does my guitar fit – yes or no?” If you’re trying to decide between two bags and aren’t quite sure which one is best for you, why not give Fusion Bags a call today on 08001300264, and let our friendly, expert staff talk you through the positives of each one? With this much experience we may even be able to suggest our favourite restaurant in the next city you’re gigging in.