The Case of the Cello Case

When my parents bought my first cello, they also bought a nice padded case. I still have the reciept. It cost $150 in 1980!, which sure sounds pricey. I still have it somewhere and I used it again once when I was very pregnant with my first baby 12 years ago. I think it still has the "Get Off My Bach" sticker on it.

In the fall of 1982, I was a freshman at Michigan State majoring in music. I convinced my mom that I could not be a real cellist if I didn't have a hard-shell case. Driving back to Michigan State following a weekend at home, mom and I stopped off at Shar in Ann Arbor to buy my early birthday present.

Back in those days, most hard cello cases were made of wood, covered in black pebble-grained vinyl, and lined with velvet. Interior colors were pretty much limited to burgundy or blue. For me, the choice of burgundy was easy because I liked it with the black and I didn't want blue because I was I was a true green and white Spartan and didn't want any hint of UofM's Maize and Blue. The case was made by the American Case Company and mom decided it was best not to pay extra for the "plush velvet" interior. Regardless, I was thrilled with this new purchase.

It served me very well for many years. I decorated it in many ways, but this is what it looked like when I recently retired it this past week:

Inside is a little commemorative sticker from a community orchestra in which I played for several seasons before I became a mom.

I've had the little "Spartan S" and rose on the case since MSU beat USC (sorry Emily!) in the 1988 Rose Bowl.

The Ichthys (fish) is on there because as a Christian, I like the symbol and when they first came out as car, etc. accessories, I thought they were soooo cooool.

Last winter, I started playing more and asked my husband if he could fix this latch. This latch had been broken forever and he quickly fashioned this lovely copper accent which worked quite nicely...and with the price of copper, I'm sure it added value to the case!

Alas, I just don't think I have the patience to wait for him to rebuild the entire bottom and to re-upholstery the interior myself.

I had been shopping around online for the perfect case for about a year, knowing I couldn't afford or justify such a purchase. I wanted the new Bam case with the green leaves on it but would settle for something else, perhaps something in forest green and silver or the purple with silver lining by Bobelock. One can dream right?

A week or so ago, I was flipping through an old Shar catalog and found it: the case I might have a chance at owning. I read somewhere that a light colored exterior protects better from the heat and I love gray...well really I love silver, but hey can't be too picky. The stone blue interior...not too bad...kind of cool and icy...after all, my new "image" includes growing out my true platinum-colored hair...this would go along just fine with that. Of course, it had been on sale and I'd missed it. Ah...I didn't stand a chance a buying it anyway.

Then, on April 21, the email arrived. My case was on sale again, for much less than the catalog sale. And free shipping. And our tax refund just came. And I just got a paying cello job. And, somehow I had the guts to call my husband and argue my case for a new case and won!

I ordered it the next day and hoped I could wait the 2-weeks it would probably take to have it shipped for free.

Surprise! I was going out the next day to check the mail and there it was! I was so excited. I brought it in and carefully unpacked it...oooh, the "grey" color sparkles...it is really silver! How nice...different, but nice. I looked it over and decided to try it out. Of course, I needed to make sure it would fit into my car, so I carefully carried it out to the car so as not to scuff the case or wheels and tried to get it into my small car. After a few trials, I found away to make it fit. [This is just the way it is for someone who insists on continuing to drive a Mustang even when one has long outgrown it. ]

I carefully took it out and proceded to carry it into the house. Then I saw it: oh, my goodness, I've ruined it, I thought. There right underneath, near the wheels was a place where the fiberglass coating had cracked right off.

It took my husband twenty minutes, including a fiberglass making demonstration to convince me that I did not damage the case. Of course, I finally believed him when he found the cracked off pieces in the box. Don't ask me why I didn't check the case first, but...all is well that ends well.

I called Shar and confirmed that I could return it for a replacement. Of course, I have no patience, so I opted to drive down to Ann Arbor which is about an hour or so away.

I packed the damaged case up in the box and soon discovered that I could not get it into my little car. I would have to use my husband's vehicle to get it returned. However, while this was an urgent matter, it was not an emergency. Therefore, since since I can only drive a stick in an emergency, I knew I couldn't make the trip in his vehicle myself..ha, ha. But, bless his heart, my dear husband offered to make the drive to Ann Arbor with me the following morning.

It was a lovely day and the drive was nice. My husband took the new case out to the car for me where he stealthfully checked out the fiberglass and deemed it flaw-free. (It pays to have a man who knows fiberglass...bathtubs, hot tubs...he sold plumbing supplies for years.)

I debuted my new case Saturday night at our community's orchestra concert. Of course, after I decorated it a bit:

Now, I gotta go practice: I'm taking my new case to church on Sunday...I mean I'm playing Bach at church on Sunday....