German, European, British funky cases?

[Paul-T]

I have a 1963 Jazzmaster that came out of Germany. some folks might have noticed my thread describing how it was un-Tielmanised.

I saved the money up for a 1962 case but a couple of vendors turned out flakey... so i spent the money on a 5F2a kit. But it occurs to me that an original german case would work every bit as well , would complement this guitar, and would possibly cost less €€€.

I thought I'd seen Tielman guitars on here, out of Germany, with cases by the local importer, the equivalent of Selmer's Croc-skin cases in the UK. But now I'm looking.. . I can't find any. Does anyone here have any ideas? TIA!

I know it's possible that these might only get listed for silly prices, like Selmer ones, but you never know...



PS, I've changed the title, just in case at some future point others are looking for funky European cases. So feel free to pile in with relevant brands.

[jeff m.]

Paul,
Do you have pics of a German case ? Just out of interest, here in Australia many '60s Fenders were sold with 'Stamford' cases, manufactured in Melbourne, I think..they were actually pretty nice cases, if not particularly 'road-worthy' !

Usually two-tone brown & cream with some pretty cool 'crushed-velvet' interiors..I had a lime green & a dark green version, but unfortunately they got slowly trashed as I used them for touring, not really knowing any better at the time ..however, a friend still has a nice example (with grey interior) that came with the '63 Strat he got in the late '70s..that one is holding up okay !

Would be interested to see a pic if you have one ? All sorts of stuff turns up here in Oz ( seen quite a few UK Selmer 'croc cases), could keep an eye out if I know what to look for.

Cheers,
j.

[PJazzmaster]

I think there wasn't any "standard" case in Continental Europe. Most pre CBS Fender's in Europe got imported without any case at all and sold with default faux leather gigbags, whatever the local retail store had as "their" standard case but there wasn't any default aftermarket Offset case for sure. Some Vintage Framus of Höfner cases might fit but the default was rather a generic thin 60's gigbag. I have rarely seen pre CBS Fender guitars in Europe (bought in Europe first hand) on sale with an original case (that's probably also the reason why hang tags and case candy stuff almost doesn't exist here, this stuff simply got lost due to the absence of an original case ). Pre CBS Vintage Fenders are often being sold with weird 70's cases, sometimes bass cases (from what I have seen). It seems to me that even the original owners had troubles finding a proper Offset friendly case. My guess is that really only some custom orders came with original cases ...unless the Guitar itself got brought over to Europe by a GI (for example) or by a touring musician rather than being imported by a store. On the other hand, my '63 was originally sold in Germany, it came with the original sunglasses case, but thats rather the exception and for sure a rarer custom order.

And BTW. From what I know, there weren't many Countries in Europe in the early 60's doing regular Guitar imports from the US. I only know from Sweden, BeNeLux and Germany plus maybe less than a handful other countries. I once read in a guitar magazine that it's far more likely finding imported pre CBS Fender guitars in Sweden rather than in any other European country. I also read that there wasn't any Gibson dealer in Germany until some point in the 60's. The only German guy who actually bought a 1959 Les Paul new in 1959 did buy it in Belgium (I once read a story about that).

Even the Beatles did not get their hands on any Fender guitar when they were in Germany from 1960 to 1962 and they for sure wanted to get that "magic Buddy Holly Guitar" - without any success !!!

[Paul-T]

Does anyone know who the Fender importer was into Germany in the 60s?

I can see there were a good number of case-manufacturers; Jakob Winter is one, although so far I don't seem to be able to find much if anything from the 60s. Like Thomann.

I wonder if this is German. It looks a bit too derivative, although it's interesting, unfortunately they want US-level prices to post it.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Stratocaster-u- ... SwA3xcP3e-

Alas, the only cool vintage cases on German eBay seem to be for other instruments:

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Schoner-Trompet ... SwdmBcqcYC

And still nothing as nice as the Brit Selmer cases. I've seen sold ones for £200 and wish I'd started looking earlier.



But if anyone can think of good places to search, or the best German terms - gebrauchte? Koffer? I'm all ears! (How fortuitous I've been doing duolingo German for the last year, I will have to see if there is a specialist gitarre section)

Vielen danke!

[PJazzmaster]

you can also search for "Alter E-Gitarren Koffer". Try also: https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/

Referring default 60's dealer cases, ask the guys from this shop. They are nice and know their business:

https://www.vintage-guitar.de

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3HJ6dQTPns

[PJazzmaster]

or search for Framus and Hofner guitars and you will find authentic and weird cases:

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 24-74-5178

https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anz ... 17-74-2454

[Paul-T]

This is a British case, which looks promising for fit. I've seen them around for years and they have a certain cheap charm. But not too great on protection I reckon.

[mgeek]

I think if you're patient and get lucky you could score a Selmer case for a reasonable price. I sold one just before Christmas for a hundred quid (not jazzmaster length though). It's only really the strat length ones that people try to price gouge on, but those cases were pretty ubiquitous with all kinds of stuff. I definitely saw a hofner solid body bass sell for something like 250 a while ago, complete with selmer case, which probably would have been the right length for a JM as the Hofner is a 30'' scale jobby with the bridge right by the strap button. I've done some pretty good deals where I wanted a case a guitar came with, so bought them both and sold the guitar for the same as or more than I'd paid for the pair. ie- free case.

Deffo wouldn't bother with those cheapo cases like the one above with the Broadway (which are tiny, incidentally, not even close to the size of a Jazzmaster) in it...they just scream 'budget crappa' to me. I mean, I collect early sixties UK budget crappas and wouldn't go out of my way to own one of those cases

[s_mcsleazy]

i used to have an old hollowbody case (i sold it to ulric) and it had a handle made of tin.

[Mechanical Birds]

I love those grey almost snake skin looking seller cases