Protec Rectangle Case

[j44breaker]

Anyone heard any good reviews or bad ones? Good experiences and bad experiences? For alto btw...

[paulwl]

Bad: I put one knee on the handle side of a nearly new square tenor case while unplugging some gear. That panel partially buckled in. I peeled back the inner lining to inspect the damage and found that the panel was mostly styrofoam.

That said, the case seemed pretty durable until I did this. You're not supposed to stand or kneel on a case, so I guess you could call it misuse. But I'd hate to have some yutz drop a heavy, pointy object on my horn while it was standing upright in the square Pro Tec.

The shaped cases appear to have plywood on the handle sides, or at least something hard. The squares should be made this way too. They must have been designed to save weight (and perhaps $).

[MusicMan]

Good: I have one and for general minor roadtrips and all, it does very well...fairly light and good protection for the horn.

Bad: I was involved in an auto accident where a lady pulled out in front of me while on the highway...I t-boned her at 60 mph. My alto was in the trunk...it hit the back seat bell first. The body tube was slightly bent from the impact. That's my main complaint about the ProTec rectangular case...there's no support for the upper body tube. Other than that damage (bent rods, body tube, etc) the horn was fine. No deformation of the bell, etc. I guess a bent body is bad enough though.

[j44breaker]

Oh great, I've got one already. :? Seeing as though I needed a case quick for my alto (long story about the regular case it came in), I went out and purchased this one because it wasn't that much, and it wasn't too cheap either. Let's hope I'm only going to be the one that's going to be handling it.

I noticed that I had a little play inside the case, and there could be a possibility of the horn moving around it slightly--any solutions to this?

--Joey

[garyinla]

I have one.

I like it because it is a better fit for Martin Handcraft Imperial altos, rather than most other cases, including a Propac countoured alto case. The H.I. sax not only has left side bell toneholes but the keyguards are large too.

As to whether there is play inside the case, with any case, with any horn, i put in some extra padding (extra pieces of foam I happen to have around) as needed to make sure the sax is a tight fit in the case.

The good thing about this rectangular model case is that every model sax will fit in it. Maybe the fit will be loose for some saxes, but it generally is a pretty good fitting case.

It is also affordable and not too ugly.

One thing i dont like about it is that if i use this case and want to walk into some nightclub or cafe etc where there are musicains playing and I would like to be noticed and invited to sit in on sax, if i have this case with me, nobody knows i play alto sax. They think it is a luggage case or a briefcase. (These are non sax players.)
Some other musicains might think it is a trumpet case if they recognize it is a music case.

If I want to be noticed as having a sax, I will take my red Propac countoured alto case instead. Most people recognize that is an alto sax case, although someone asked once if it was a ukelele case.

Sometimes you might want to not be noticed as having a sax, i.e. if you have a day job and are on a business trip and want people to think you have a suitcase or briefcase with you, not a sax.

[j44breaker]

Thanks for the replies.

After having the case for about 3 months, I've had to take the horn to the shop twice: once for a three month check-up (the repair guy found some leaks, but it probably wasn't the ProTec case because I had it in there for a week), and the second time (yesterday) I took it to the shop, it probably needed a check-up from the prior repair that it had three months ago.

So that's that. But, I've still had problems with keeping a snug fit for the horn. It isn't so much a problem about the length of the horn, but it's a problem with the front to back (looking at it as you open it) play that the case has. So here's what I did for the 3 months before I took it to the shop yesterday.

I had rolled up a handkerchief (after folding it vertically and horizontally altogether three times), to look like a fat cigarette. I inserted this between the lip of the bell and the case. I also folded up another handkerchief vertically and horizontally altogether three times, and placed that underneath (and slightly above) the palm key/octave bumper area to avoid the upper stack of the horn from moving. That kept it in its place.

However, after taking it to the shop yesterday, my respectable repair guy said that there wasn't enough space between the octave bumper (without the octave key depressed) and the opening for the neck. I'm assuming that the handkerchief and the lid of the case sandwiched the horn enough to tweak the octave bumper.

Knowing now NOT to place a folded up handkerchief under the top end of my sax in a ProTec case, how else could I keep the horn from moving around? I'll keep the handkerchief under the lip of the bell and the case itself. Or, should I just rely on the case to keep the horn snug and avoid this handkerchief fiasco altogether?

Plus, he also mentioned that the neck was a little bent. For the three months prior to this, I've had my neck wrapped in 3 thin polishing cloths and bagged in the neck bag that ProTec supplied. Could it be that the neck was wrapped too much and probably tweaked itself when it made slight movements within the bell? Will the neck be protected enough to just have one cloth around it and bagged in the neck bag?

<sigh> If this persists, I'd be willing to switch cases. Any suggestions on new cases or suggestions on the handkerchief situation or neck bagging?

Thanks again--Joey

[garyinla]

My addition of padding is to the area where the right thumb grip hits the case.

I pad NEAR this area, between the sax and the case, so the right thumb grip is not touching the side of the case.
This way, it is less likely that if the case were banged into somethign or dropped, that the right thumb grip would dent into the tube of the sax.

I also sometimes pad near the top of the sax, near the octave mechanism of the sax, if the sax is loose in the case in that area, but i take care not to make it fit too tight, i dont want any pressure against the sax so the octave mechanism on the sax gets bent.
I try to pad AROUND the octave mechanism, not pushing against it.

As to the neck. i put it in a neotech or kiwi bag and put it in the bell snugly. I dont force it in too tight, so it doesnt get bent.

[Rahspeak]

Does anyone know if a rectangular protec alto case will be allowed on a flight as a carry-on? Also, it seems my contoured tenor protec feels more sturdy than this rectangular alto case that my horn came in...does anyone else agree that the contoured case is stronger?

Thanks for your replies,
Miguel.