Gator Cases

drummingman

Gold Member
I'm looking into getting a set of Gator Standard Hard Cases with the optional foam paddng on the inside. I don't have any experience with Gator Cases so I'm wondering what those of you that use them think of them?
 
I fell for the Gator attractiveness of the low price on eBay and I will never trust them again. The foam lining on the ones I got began to corrode the metal bits on one of my drums after leaving it in the case for only a day!

I tried to contact Gator to see if they would right the situation and I never received any kind of response. I ended up being up front and frank about the cases when I sold them on eBay and sold the whole lot of four cases for $75 just to get rid of them. The new owner knew he needed to take out the foam lining, did that, and he loves them now.

As previously posted, they may have gotten their act together but I would be wary. I had used Humes&Berg Enduro hard cases withOUT foam in the past and that's who I went back to when I had to replace the Gator cases. I had debated SKB but having a foam lining so turned me off after the Gator debacle that I decided against it, although friends of mine have the SKB cases and they're great (they're also the most expensive too).

I would avoid Gator drum hard cases, and spend a little more for either the H&B's or the SKB's.
 
Avoid Gater and personally I recommend going SKB, they are only a few dollars more per case and their customer service is second to none. If you need to just buy them one at a time as you can afford them or look for good used ones. Dont matter about a few scratches on the outside as long as the locks are good and usually the lining stays good in them anyway. BTW I have an 8" SKB I would part with, my drums have RIMS mounts and its made for an 8 without a suspension mount.
 
I feel sorry for Gator. I asked them whether my case might be one of the bad ones and they admitted it (in an email) so that was noble enough. Not sure if the rust spots on my chad smith are from being in my old practice room or the case but it doesn't seem to be getting worse.

I got a set of SKB on tards advice (among other helpful members) and they're very nice.

Tard, I wanna ask you, with RIMS, how much bigger does the case need to be than the drum diameter? Reason being I was thinking of fitting RIMS to my sonor drums and I already have oversized cases to fit my Saturns.
 
all you need are three letters: SKB

Best hard cases out there, unless your buying road cases.


F
 
Tard, I wanna ask you, with RIMS, how much bigger does the case need to be than the drum diameter? Reason being I was thinking of fitting RIMS to my sonor drums and I already have oversized cases to fit my Saturns.

Next size up on the smaller ones but once you get to 14 they make the regular tom case and also a floor tom case that has a larger diameter which should work fine but do some measuring just to be sure as all the sizes are on their site or just give them a call if need be.
 
I've never used Gator but I used SKB and Hardcase. In my opinion, both SKB and Hardcase will do a good job of protecting your drums. SKB are a bit more finished and have more features, so they do cost more. In the US, it's moot since Hardcases aren't available in the US any more.
 
I fell for the Gator attractiveness of the low price on eBay and I will never trust them again. The foam lining on the ones I got began to corrode the metal bits on one of my drums after leaving it in the case for only a day!

I tried to contact Gator to see if they would right the situation and I never received any kind of response. I ended up being up front and frank about the cases when I sold them on eBay and sold the whole lot of four cases for $75 just to get rid of them. The new owner knew he needed to take out the foam lining, did that, and he loves them now.

As previously posted, they may have gotten their act together but I would be wary. I had used Humes&Berg Enduro hard cases withOUT foam in the past and that's who I went back to when I had to replace the Gator cases. I had debated SKB but having a foam lining so turned me off after the Gator debacle that I decided against it, although friends of mine have the SKB cases and they're great (they're also the most expensive too).

I would avoid Gator drum hard cases, and spend a little more for either the H&B's or the SKB's.

This is one of the problems with using Chinese labor and materials. People and pets have DIED using Chinese products so this doesn't surprise me.
 
Thanks tard. This whole Gator debacle has got me worried about any off-gassing from glue used in securing case lining, although I can not find one complaint about SKB cases damaging drums like Gator. But if you search, you will find numerous complaints about SKB guitar and archery cases giving off a stench. I've even found someone who says their SKB drum cases smell. Humes and Berg Enduro seem to be the best unlined cases I've come across, but good luck finding them where I am (outside the USA).

I am gonna bet its just the smell of the molded plastic and stuff when they are new and with most drum cases being standard sizes and ordered in bulk quantities by the distributer they are probably a few months old by the time we get them but with guitar and archery cases they are probably special ordered by the dealer and fairly new when they arrive and still have that new car smell so to speak...lol, We have a plastics plant here that used to make the Sabian molded cymbal case and the new ones right off the line smelled pretty strong but by the time they got warehoused then shipped to Sabian then shipped to the distributer and then to the store there was no smell left.
 
At one point in time I got a set of SKB cases and I question why you would need the foam lining in the cases. All the years I've had the Humes & Bergs without lining and my drums were never damaged - the idea for me is to keep the drum from taking a hit from something that might roll around in the back of the truck - and the H&B's deflect stuff really well, in addition to being water proof. I've had a small tom fall off the back of my truck in the H&B unlined and it suffered no damage as the case absorbs the shock, and again, keeps the drum from hitting anything that would damage it.

I can understand a padded bag, that's obvious, but a padded case that's not actually a big anvil road type case? I'm not sure it's really necessary. What's everybody thoughts on this? Am I crazy?
 
At one point in time I got a set of SKB cases and I question why you would need the foam lining in the cases. All the years I've had the Humes & Bergs without lining and my drums were never damaged - the idea for me is to keep the drum from taking a hit from something that might roll around in the back of the truck - and the H&B's deflect stuff really well, in addition to being water proof. I've had a small tom fall off the back of my truck in the H&B unlined and it suffered no damage as the case absorbs the shock, and again, keeps the drum from hitting anything that would damage it.

I can understand a padded bag, that's obvious, but a padded case that's not actually a big anvil road type case? I'm not sure it's really necessary. What's everybody thoughts on this? Am I crazy?

My bass drum case is a HARDCASE brand with no lining and the lacquer finish on the hoops was starting to get scuffed/dulled from rubbing against the plastic case, the case was tight but the plastic is smooth and the drum moves to one side then the vibrations from transporting are enough to scuff the finish like you rubbed it with a scotch brite pad, I ended up buying a padded bag to use as a liner to protect the finish. Now as I can afford it I have been replacing all my cases with padded SKB and will never buy anything else and wish I had of just bought them to begin with.



Indeed. Since I'm looking for cases/bags for long-term storage, I'd rather avoid any hard case with a glued-in lining. I also hear that foam liners (regardless of brand) have the tendency to break-down and/or rot over time...

I bought 2 used SKB old style cases (clam shell type) that are probably 20+ years old and other than a couple small tears the lining is still just like new.
 
My bass drum case is a HARDCASE brand with no lining and the lacquer finish on the hoops was starting to get scuffed/dulled from rubbing against the plastic case, the case was tight but the plastic is smooth and the drum moves to one side then the vibrations from transporting are enough to scuff the finish like you rubbed it with a scotch brite pad, I ended up buying a padded bag to use as a liner to protect the finish. Now as I can afford it I have been replacing all my cases with padded SKB and will never buy anything else and wish I had of just bought them to begin with.





I bought 2 used SKB old style cases (clam shell type) that are probably 20+ years old and other than a couple small tears the lining is still just like new.

That's interesting, I've never experienced scuffed or dulled lacquer as a result of rubbing inside an unlined case. And I have lacquered drums with lacquered hoops. I'll have to keep a keen eye to see if this develops with my new kit.
 
Indeed. Since I'm looking for cases/bags for long-term storage, I'd rather avoid any hard case with a glued-in lining. I also hear that foam liners (regardless of brand) have the tendency to break-down and/or rot over time... That's why I'm almost certainly set on Protection Racket's AAA line (no glue, and they help resist atmospheric fluctuations). If I could get my hands on a set of Humes & Berg Enduro's, I'd probably go that route (in their mottled Ocean finish). But as far as I know, the only H&B products sold where I am are Stonelined Mutes. H&B are apparently a nightmare to deal with anyway, so that kind of eliminates them as an option in the first place.

I just hope my SKB Cymbal Vault I've got on order doesn't stink...!

In other news, where did the thread originator go?

I'm still here, reading. Thanks all for the posts. I think I'm gonna go with the SKB's. I do have to ask though, if Gator cases really do suck so bad why do so many big name endorsers use them? I'm sure they want to keep their drums in good working order too.
 
I have the Humes & Berg Enduro Pro lined hard cases and have had no problems with them. I have stored drums in the cases for several months without any issues. However, note that they were stored indoors where temperature and to some degree, humidity was controlled.

Several forum members have also posted above stating that Humes & Berg's customer service was poor or non-existent. I could not disagree more based on my experience with them. I had to get a correctly sized rack tom case as the tom had a RIMs mount and the service representative at Humes & Berg did a great job following up and taking care of the exchange to get the correct case.

I also think hard cases are the way to go if you really want to protect your drums. There have been several gigs where equipment has been loaded for transport only to shift and have other things fall on top of some of the cases. I don't think in those instances a soft case would have protected the drum.
 
Id just steer clear of gator, period, their customer service is crap, I have emailed 3 times in 3 weeks about the broken handle on the Gator amp case I have and no one has returned my messages yet.
 
Although, I must admit their plastic SKB-like rack cases aren't bad, but even those start to distort in shape after a while, depending on how much sun they get.
 
Although, I must admit their plastic SKB-like rack cases aren't bad, but even those start to distort in shape after a while, depending on how much sun they get.

Yeh, and dont bump them against anything after spending an hour in the trailer on the way to a gig in the winter, the plastic shatters like glass when its cold.
 
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