Sorry for the delay on this - been a bit busy! :)
More interesting stuff from Chip Todd
This one is all about the cases that came with the T-40 and T-60.
The official first cases were the Vac formed ones, with the brown interior and
then later came the moulded cases.
The images above show one of the collection and the later moulded case, with
four catches.
Throughout the production run of both the basses and guitars, there were changes
in the cases. In the collection, I have one of each, plus an odd one!
More questions to Chip. . . . .
I have a Fender type case, with the Olive coloured interior, the square Peavey
cases with the brown interior, the Peavey shaped cases with 3 clips and the last
of the series with 4 clips. That covers them all, as for as I know.
I also have an older Square case, which from the outside looks the same as the
others but this has a deep blue interior. I have never seen another one.
Any ideas? Looks factory made!
The original cases were vacuum-formed and we had quality problems with the
vendor.
They also rushed their shipments enough that the glue holding the velour cloth
hadn’t had enough time to out-gas fully before we were putting guitars in the
cases, thereby ruining the finish on lots of guitars.
The aluminum edging wasn’t crimped properly on many cases, so we introduced
the blow-molded cases to the market.
We never authorized the other color than the bronze.
I’m sure that the shipping of a case with the blue interior was a mistake.
No T-series instruments were sold without cases.
The cases kept us from having to insure the shipped instruments.
The first type cases were rectangular vacuum-formed cases with suitcase
handles and aluminum valances around the mating edges.
Those cases didn't work out well due to delivery, quality, and sturdiness.
Hartley and I visited a blow-molding vendor and that convinced us to switch
to blow-molding.
I designed the cases, (guitar and bass), which had handles that were integral
with the body of the case and were thicker and without the vellure lining.
The cases were almost indestructible; we pitched one out of the back of a
truck driving about 80 mph and the guitar suffered no damage.
The case held together, but had abrasions and dented corners.
The latches held fast, but we added another latch to the bigger end of the cases.
The bass and guitar cases were alike, differing only in the length.
We operated on the JIT system, (just in time), so we wouldn't have to keep a
large quantity on hand.
This required a lot of faith in the vendor so that they didn't fail to have cases to
us as we needed them.
That's about all I can tell you about the cases.To my knowledge, we never had to
hold up production for want of cases, at least, as long as I was there.
I also asked Chip about the Fender type cases but for some reason that doesn't
seem to be part of the history of the cases, as according to Chip, from memory,
it went from the type shown above, with an 8M bass, to the moulded ones.
I have seen quite a lot of them and as I said at the start, I also have one but I
am still not sure how they came about.
Mine was with a very early bass and all the others I have see are, as well.
Part II on the cases, next time.
Edit:
No matter what I do - I can't seem to remove the white background on
Chip's answers - sorry if it's a bit hard on the eye! :(
:)
