Anyone use a travelite with a Rigel?

[Bryon Winger]

Hey folks. I just recently (hours ago) aquired a new to me Rigel A Natural. I notice with my Travelite case that the bridge is hitting the top of the inside mold and the case won't just lay fully closed without zipping it down. Gravity held it down just fine with my old MK. Hopefully this makes sense. I would guess the gap between the top and bottom of the case with the mando in it to be about 3/4" without holding the lid down.

Should I be concerned about zipping it up or do you think the foam will give enough to make room over time?

Thanks.

[Dave Greenspoon]

Bryon-
Welcome to the wonderful world of Rigel! I've had my A Nat (#1774) going on 6 years now, and couldn't ever see parting with it. Mine came new with a shaped case from Rigel, so I really can't help you about the Travelite. They are a fine case, but it seems to me that I recall Rigel having special specs for their cases (I think I saw that on the Armitage home page). I even keep my tone gard on in the case and while it is snug, it closes without an issue. I'd see about getting a case that you know will fit the instrument. Perhaps Pete Langdell can be helpful, or you could post a "wanted" ad in the classifieds and see what turns up. You can probably sell the Travelite and likely cover half the cost of a case that won't have you worried. Good luck, and enjoy the new-to-you Rigel!
Dave

[Eric Platt]

Bryon,

Ha Glad you got the Rigel. A few years ago, I was the first owner of that mandolin (xx62). Small world. Loved the sound. Just had hand issues that the Rigel magnified. Discovered that round neck and radiused fingerboard are not a combination I can play.

Sorry, though. Not able to help you with the case question.

Enjoy the mandolin.

[Jeff Chu]

Dave is right, cases have been an issue with some rigels, so Pete is the guy to go to. You wouldnt want to order one, and then have the mando not fit right again. This happened to me (not with a rigel) but when i bought an eastman fiberglass bowl shaped case, my pandini didnt fit in it... save the hassle, and get Pete's input. Hel know what works and what doesnt. Btw, nice choice on the A natural!

[Bryon Winger]

Well I did try to send him an email - but I did get it off the Rigel website. No response yet, but maybe it's changed. Anyone else have any other email to reach him at?

The mando is great BTW.

[steve V. johnson]

The "tweed" rectangular case that came with my Rigel A+ is showing some wear, so in order to
free it up for some TLC, I've been shopping for a case. I've chosen a Gator GL, a black cordura
nylon shell with hard foam inside. It's a sort of low-end solution, but I think it will be good protection and easy to carry, with its light weight and good shoulder strap. And I've shopped hard, gotten a good deal on it and I know someone I can sell it to right away if it doesn't fit properly. (I've been on this quest for a while...)

A mando pal of mine here has one of those swoopy, shiny (his is green) Eastman cases, and I
want to see how well the Rigel fits in that. If it's really happy in there -with a ToneGard on the Rigel-, I'll spring for one of those and let the tweed go.

stv

[steve V. johnson]

The Gator GL case came in today. It's nice, 600 Denier cordura over hard foam, fiddle-type closure that velcros shut under the handle and over the zipper pulls, two backpack straps that work on three good plastic loops that
are set in a triangle shape on the bottom of the case. There are good screws mounting thru the nylon to the hard rim below the zippers and metal dome bumpers on the ends. The zipper is big and plastic. The gear pouch on the outside is nice, with a funny net section with a zipper on each side and the Gator logo showing thru. Cute. All the zippers have nice black/white/red nylon cord pulls on 'em.

It's an A/F case and inside is a nice, but small, storage box and black faux fur.

The body cavity of the case is larger than the width of the Rigel, and I'm not too worried about that, I can use the strap or some other padding to make that snug. But while the depth is good for just the mandolin, it's not really good for the Rigel with the Tone-Gard on it. It's -just- hard enough to close that it suggests to me that it might be a little too snug to keep the mandolin secure from a top impact, one on the bridge. I had hoped that it would be deep enough that I could securely leave the Tone-Gard on it. Alas.

Without the Tone-Gard and with a little added padding on the side, the top closure is nice and snug. The Rigel doesn't shake loosely inside.
There's a strap to keep the top from hyperextending when it's open, and where it's sewn into the edge of the fur/zipper joint, it's a little folded up, and so it stops the zipper at that point in its travel. I'm trying some smooth tape on the tape where it mounts to see if that will allow the
zippers to go over it smoothly, and if that doesn't work, I may staple or glue the strap down tight to the foam to keep it out of the way of the zipper. I might shave the fur off the foam there to
bring the strap ends down tight.

So... it doesn't really fit the Rigel, so I'll keep looking, but for now, and especially until I can do some TLC/repairs to the the original tweed case, this one will do.

I -like- the backpack straps, the sturdiness and the light weight of it!

It's still a bit of a surprise that the Rigel A+ body is smaller than the body cavity of the A/F case.
I didn't expect that.

stv