My upright bass has a new travelling home in the form of one of these Roth and Junius gig bags from Thomann. It must have been the tail end of their stock of this colour (less peachy and more of a pale khaki in the flesh) as it was cheaper than the blue version they on their site now and is no longer available. I’m glad I got in when I did!

Double bass gig bags are actually quite difficult to track down. They are large (no, it didn’t fit through the letterbox – I ended up having to collect it) and not in high demand so music shops don’t keep them in stock. I did try a place specialising in orchestral strings down in Wallingford and, had I been a violinist, violist or cellist, I would have had a range to pick from but not even one bass bag. However, the bag that came with the bass is quite thinly padded and I’ve had to repair several seams after wear and tear so it was becoming apparent that I needed to find a replacement since the bass gets an outing almost weekly at the moment.

Not being able to examine gig bags directly, I had to go online. I looked at several retailers but Thomann had a good range with reasonable looking prices and I’ve had other things from them in the past. They also provide good product photos – I was able to see several views and zoom in close enough that, once the full resolution image had loaded, I could even make a good guess as to the texture and feel of the materials used.

This bag was the cheapest of their mid-range choices, with 20mm of padding. What particularly appealed about this design was the generous helping of both handles and pockets. I’ve learnt from past experience not to overstuff build in pockets but having several means I can distribute bits around. Lots of handles are important as there is a lot of manhandling involved in transporting the instrument. With this case, I particularly like the two grab handles on the front, which will be ideal for manoeuvering it in and out of the car.

It fits the bass well – fortunately sizing is fairly standard – so now the next test is when I need to head out for my String Project rehearsal next Tuesday.