My name is Jeff Moore and I
live in El Paso, Texas, and am a member of a musical group called Springfire.
We were contacted earlier this year by someone who had seen us open a show
for Johnny Rivers at a venue near El Paso offering to fly us to a music
festival in his home town of Calais, Maine. We of course accepted (how often
do these things happen?), and then began the somewhat daunting task of securing
equipment for our appearance.
We were able to procure everything we needed except a guitar, so that meant
having to fly one of my instruments to the gig. Airlines have never been
too crazy about us musical types who insist on carrying guitars and such
onto commercial flights, but in the post-9/11 world we live in, they have
become relentless in their use of the word "no!!!" when it comes
to carry-on anything. I began to search for a viable way to transport my
instrument when I saw your ad in a magazine (Acoustic Guitar) one day in
late July. I had given some thought to a canvas case cover, and even called
one company in New York; fortunately for both of us, they were closed for
a company-wide vacation, which brought me to you. After a short conversation,
I ordered a Clam Flight Case which arrived two days before I was scheduled
to leave on our trip.
The Clam is a wonderful idea for carrying a guitar on a plane, as it holds
the instrument suspended in foam clamps away from the sides of the case
itself, and thus that much further away from danger in the cargo hold.
Our trip took us from El Paso to Houston to Boston to Bangor, Maine, and
naturally included leaving here forty minutes late, arriving in Houston
in another terminal instead of two gates away from our arrival gate with
literally minutes to spare. I spent most of that day sweating bullets
wondering about the condition of my very expensive guitar.
You can imagine the great relief in my heart when I saw The Clam being
loaded on to a luggage cart at the airport in Bangor and my even greater
relief at opening it at our hotel and finding it had made the trip in
absolutely perfect condition. The return trip also had some weather-related
delays, but my apprehension on the return was lessened by the success
of the first half of the trip. We got back to El Paso intact; The Clam
did not have so much as a scratch on it, and proved itself to an ideal
solution to a very thorny problem. I have recommended it to other musician
friends who currently and occasionally find themselves in the same plight
as mine. You have developed a wonderful idea, and certainly have my thanks
for it. You and your company have a real winner; please accept my sincere
wishes for continued success, and please keep me posted on future product
information. I also work in a retail music store (my day job), and have
discussed the possibility of stocking The Clam in our store.
Thank you again.
Sincerely, Jeff Moore
Taken
from the acousticguitar.com forum with the author’s permission. Posted
7/1/03
I bought a Case Extreme recently.
I was so impressed with how it handled taking one of my guitars halfway
around the world I wrote the following to the “inventor”, Bruce
Lamb…
“I write to say a big
“Thank You” and many congratulations on your excellent “Case
Extreme”, as well as your fantastic overall service response.
As you know, I recently had you overnight to Oregon
a Case Extreme for my expensive 25 year old handcrafted Yamaha guitar
to be first forwarded to New York City, and then finally on to the United
Kingdom to meet me. All along the route your Case Extreme and my guitar
obviously suffered all the vagaries the US Mail and the Airport Baggage
Handling Systems could throw at them, which is no mean test!
I am now pleased to report that both your case
and my guitar eventually arrived in the UK totally unscathed and both
ready to go! Your own total confidence in your invention sold me so completely
that I did not hesitate to trust my “Baby” in your safe hands.
So, thanks for a terrific product. I think you are really on to something
here.”
…’nuff said.
member of acousticguitar.com
Dan Wells Posted 12/19/03
Hi this is Dan Wells. I purchased one of your guitar cases in late Oct.
and spent the entire month of Nov. touring Europe with The James King Band.
The case worked very well, I was very pleased with it, and other musicians
who saw it were very impressed. I just wanted to say thanks and let you
know I appreciate your product.
Happy Holidays,
Dan Well
Hi
All,
I just used my new Clam for the first time on the Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Cruise- 2 flights each way plus the manhandling on the ship. The case
didn’t even show a dent; and the guitar, in its gig bag only (as
you advised) this case is unreal. I showed the case to several others,
including some of the faculty, who I think are now sold on it! Thanks
for a wonderful product.
Mark Constantian, MD
Dear
Bruce,
I am back from a tour to Europe and your cases were superb!! What a great
product. Everyone who saw them were very impressed- I had several enquires
about them from passers by at airports and at gigs. Thanks again for an
outstanding product.
Steve Gibb
Hello,
I ordered your Casextreme and think it is a wonderful product. I have gotten
great use out of it. I am going to order one for my brother in law and have
you send it to him so he can bring his 1946 J-45 Gibson out when he comes
for a visit next month. Thanks very much (from a highly satisfied customer)
Jay Petters
HiBruce,
The Clams just arrived. They are superb! I’m off on tour next week
to Europe so I feel much more at ease with the thought that my instruments
are going to travel safely now.
I jumped on top of one just like you did on the video in your web site
for the just to test.
Thanks Steve M.
Dear Casextreme,
I’ve had my Clam case for a little over a month and flew about 15
times and the case has been incredible! I will never worry about my guitar,
its safety is a non-issue now.
Thanks Again.
Dear Friends,
“The CaseXtreme has held up beautifully while protecting my two
Telecasters inside your Standard Clam. It shows less wear after 12 flights
than your competitor’s case after its first trip. The light weight
is such a relief after my anvil-style case (less than half),
And several people have carried it for me just to test their disbelief.
The removable wheels are great. The entire concept is a dream come true
for the traveling guitarist. Finally!
Best Regards,
Sam Broussard, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, 2003 Grammy nominees
Bruce
The case was wonderful-my bass survived two transatlantic and three
domestic flights with nary a problem. It was a breeze to get around
airports.
Thanks for a great product!
Best Regards.
Greg Franklin
Hey Bruce
You are my hero! The 3 Lowden and 1 Kenny Hill guitars made it OK to Egypt last month. Not a single scratch on any of them and the cases inside them were in perfect shape as well.
Thanks again and take care
Tarek
I have my AR805CE case mounted in the CaseXtreme and it is about as secure as one could want. I would trust ANY airline with it! Indeed, DEFY any airline to do damage! The Foster Basin Street case fits equally well with a little tweaking of the C-pads. I think the CaseXtreme is a brilliant design.
All best, Whi
Hi,
I purchased one of your cases recently as I was visiting the USA and bought an acoustic guitar.
I checked my luggage in Minneapolis and it flew via Chicago, LA, Melbourne to Mildura in Australia. The guitar arrived in perfect condition, the case is excellent.
Thanks,
Bruce Shillington.
Hi Bruce,
Having recently returned from my second trip with my Case Extreme flight case I can really say that this thing delivers! Finding a flight case for Strat or Tele is pretty easy (not cheap, but at least you can find one), but finding a flight case for an Archtop guitar, like my Eastman 810, basically requires a custom-made custom-order (read: expensive - very expensive).
Last year, when I had to plan a gig in Hawaii, I was also faced with the idea of having to travel with my hand carved guitar. Carrying the guitar on in its pretty nice gig bag would have been the easiest thing, but since 9/11 traveling with an instrument has become entirely hit-and-miss. Carry-on is entirely discretionary. Although you might be able to carry-on the first flight, you might not be able to on the return trip. The thought of standing my guitar somewhere and having to get it shipped back or perhaps thrown into the cargo compartment was too frightening, so I began to look for ways around this situation. Then I found the Clam. I was, of course, very skeptical of its claims, but that video is pretty convincing. I decided to try it out for my Hawaii trip.
From Los Angeles to Honolulu and back, the Clam protected my guitar (situated inside its own hardshell case) perfectly. Seeing it careening down on to the luggage carousel was pretty scarry and it seemed like I would end up with a pile of splinters after that kind of treatment. Upon reaching our lodging in Honolulu, the very first thing I did was open up the case and check on my guitar. It was in perfect shape! The trip might not have happened if it weren't for the Clam.
Last week I travelled to Cleveland and had to catch a connecting flight each way. In 24 hours my guitar (and I) flew on 4 different planes, and again the case handled all of the behind-the-scenes tossing and bumping and crushing with very little impact on the case itself and no effect on the guitar. I'll be travelling to Washington, DC this summer and I am happy that my guitar can travel safely again.
Aside from great protection, the case is light weight and very durable. Carrying my luggage AND my guitar (thanks to the detachable wheels) through the airport and hotel all by myself is something I probably couldn't have done with a "traditional" heavy flight case. Further, I can use this case with any of my acoustic guitars. If I needed to take my John LeVoi Django-style guitar, I could use the exact same Case Extreme Clam - not something you could do with a custom-made case, which need to be made for one specific guitar.
If you don't have cartage or roadies or millions of dollars, then this case is for you. And even if you have roadies and millions of dollars, they'd appreciate the lightened load, and you'd still appreciate the much lower cost. A perfect product!