Guitar Gigbags That Don’t Suck

I bought my first PRS SE back in 2006. It was a grey-black Custom 22 with a stoptail, slab body, moon inlays, and a grey PRS SE gigbag. This was honestly one of the best guitar gigbags I’d ever seen. It had 25mm of padding, a practical-sized front pocket, and sensibly placed carry points. Best of all, it was grey! And then PRS ruined them by making them red. I was very torn when I came to sell the guitar as I really wanted to keep the case, but alas they were a set and I had to let it go.

And then PRS ruined them further by making them brown. Still, colour choice aside, the PRS gigbags are still the best guitar gigbags included with any of my guitar purchases, ever. They really made my guitars with hard cases seem like a total pain in the ass for home use.

Then I bought a Fender MIM Tele. This guitar didn’t come with a gigbag so the hunt was on to find the next best gigbag without spending stupid money. A few years ago, Fender had the Metro gigbag for Strats and Teles and it had 25mm of padding and came in black. Sorted. So I bought 2, just in case, which was fortuitous as I had one to hand when I bought my Schecter. And then Fender ruined it by discontinuing the Metro model and replacing it with a lesser padded and less universal gigbag. So later when I purchased another Schecter without a gigbag, I searched everywhere online for any remaining stock of the Fender Metro, but they were all gone.

Back to the drawing board I went; as it’s kinda hard to get a good gigbag for under £50 that isn’t as ugly as sin. I eventually settled on the Gator GB-4G-Electric. It’s a little narrower and taller than my other guitar gigbags and only has 20mm of padding, but it was perfect for the long neck of my 7 string Schecter. And while the carry points aren’t quite as good (lacks the front handle), the embroidered logo actually looks quite nice in reality and the pocket zip tag doubles as a pick holder. So the Gator 4G is currently my gigbag of choice for a universal gigbag.

And then I bought an Ibanez RGA, but because it’s quite a short guitar, the Gator bag did seem rather tall for it. So I gave in and bought the weird-looking Fender FE620 (which actually looks ok in person); it has 20mm of padding and neck support. The Ibanez RGA does fit in the FE620 as it has the same angle-shaped headstock as Fender guitars. I actually liked the FE620 so much that I bought a 2nd one to keep my Fender guitars in, and put the Ibanez in the Metro gigbag. This gigbag is a snug fit, even for Fender guitars, which is why I’d still recommend the Gator bag if a more universal fit is required.

So what about cheaper or more expensive gigbags? I don’t gig and my guitars only tend to leave the house when I move house, so for mid-price guitars the above is what I use. If you just want to keep the dust off your guitar, a more affordable bag will do the job but won’t offer much protection. If you have more expensive guitars or need to take your guitars out gigging, then investing more in the bag would be wise – Gator’s more premium bags have more padding, large neck supports, and have better styling; but the market has so much choice if your budget is more than £50.

If you have a suggestion for decent guitar gigbags that I’m not aware of, leave a comment.