Does anyone have any more precise information regarding price and availability?
Does anyone have any more precise information regarding price and availability?
~ $350 US. The first batch sold out quickly, more to come in the next weeks, as far as I know.
No idea. That was told to me by the NF guy I spoke with.
So, how's the tone?
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
Case arrived. Dandy. Quality build, hardware, interior, look, feel. Not too heavy or bulky.
My case just arrived from Peter at Northfield. Fiberglass, foam, and velvet have similar qualities of a Price or Calton... appears to include some thermal insulation in the build. The top and bottom mate perfectly, and the rubberized gasket ensures an air and watertight seal. Fit and finish look really good.
Low profile closures are light and effective, there's a comfortable handle, and numerous rubber "feet" so you can put the case on end, or on it's back. My mando fits with the tone-guard and my mcclung rest installed, no movement of the body once in place.. the foam sculpting is perfect. The folding compartment is larger than most other cases... provides long support for the neck. I also love that the headstock has no risk of damage from impacting the case sides (a.k.a TKL) and that the way they angled the folding compartment provides support for the headstock.
Re the Hiscox: this airloom is lighter and smaller than the Hiscox in several dimensions, and the instument is supported and isolated from movement in the Airloom far better than in the Hiscox.
Price is $350, and Northfield is only selling direct to consumer to keep the price reasonable. If sold through retailers, I suspect the price would be nearly double.
Best,
D
Here are some pics of my new Mando and the case details including the bumper/feet, closures, hinges, and gasket.
Adrian and Peter tend to do a lot of research before making any decisions, and they get input from people like Mike Marshall, Adam Steffey, Emory Lester, and Don Julin. They are also very willing to take voice of customer feedback from a mandolin student like me.
Enjoy the pics. Feel free to ask questions.
Very impressive. I would be surprised if demand wasn't very high.
They can't keep the cases in stock. Because it doesn't have NF branding, there a huge potential customer base. I see this as a huge opportunity for the company to demonstrate that they only produce well designed and executed products; and they prefer smaller batches to maintain optimum quality.
Hey Adrian, (if you are reading this), I'll buy a guitar case and fiddle case from y'all if you make them.
My Youtube Channel: http://bit.ly/1F9sJ8G
And those wonderful hinges with open stop built in!
I will amend an earlier remark where I wrote this was a good case for the money to...it's a good case for twice the money.
I asked the NF rep about a case cover. He's working on it.
From Alan N - "I asked the NF rep about a case cover. He's working on it.". Nice one Alan !!
Ivan
Weber F-5 'Fern'.
Lebeda F-5 "Special".
Stelling Bellflower BANJO
Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.
I just hope the cover isn't too $$. The last time I pursued this, the cover cost more than the case
So it's hard to tell by the pix, but looks like the bottom is slightly domed/curved... Is the top?
Just checked, the top does have an ever-so-slight dome to it.
So it feels like it will withstand some direct pressure in the middle of the top? Sounds like a dream come true if it does.
Tony - Don't put too much trust in a fiberglass case simply having a slightly domed lid. Fiberglass in most of it's uses isn't a very good structural material, & unless it's pretty thick,it can easily deform under pressure & could even crack. Fiberglass is usually laid up one laminate on top of another,in layers,& the layers can separate,especially if the f/glass has any air bubbles in it. If it does de-laminate,you won't see it,but the strength of the case will be compromised. The only way to avoid that is to cure the layup inside a vacuum bag with all the air pumped out so,allowing external air pressure to squeeze any bubbles from between the layers. After that,the layup needs to be tested for de-lamination usually using an ultra-sonic scanner. Personally,i don't think that they're going to go to all that trouble for a mandolin case. This isn't to say that fibergass cases aren't any good - they are, as long as you don't abuse them. The only f/glass layup where de-lamination won't occur,is one where there aren't any laminates to begin with. With cases such as the Caltons,their strength comes in part from the relatively small area which can be subject to pressure. Increase that area, & there could be a problem.
The old Mark Leaf cases were made using what's termed 'chopped strand' glasscloth. This consists of very loosely woven glass fibers which intertwine to form a very strong matrix with no laminations. Unless the top of the N/field case is pretty thick,i suspect that my TKL 'American Vintage' case with it's extra wooden plies & very much more 'domed' top,would be stronger. But all this is academic unless you're going to jump up & down on the thing,
Ivan
Weber F-5 'Fern'.
Lebeda F-5 "Special".
Stelling Bellflower BANJO
Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.
Thanks Alan.
Thanks Ivan. I've been around fiberglass but not into the actual process or engineering. So it was good to get a technical explanation. And truth be told even when I was around where it was being done I stayed as far away from it as possible. The whole thing is incredibly nasty stuff. Fiberglass, resin, acetone, all of it horrible messy stuff to be around. The one place I did work where they did it was to make water tanks and they used the chopped method. This is why I would expect fiberglass and carbon fiber(which is also very flexible) to be expensive because of the manufacturing process and working with toxic materials.
Wood does get a bad rap for somehow being inferior, but as a material and especially when laminated extremely strong and light. And won't delaminate when flexed. But it's way more labor intensive to do complicated things like corners than molding processes like fiberglass and CF. And there's the added process of finishing and sealing wood, so there's lots of trade offs.
NF seems to have done their homework on this case and its definitely an improvement on the wood rectangular case they used before. I'm not looking for a flight case because as long as a case can fit in an overhead(which seems to be part of their design criteria) I'm satisfied. I always wait and pack my case last whenever I do a road trip with other musicians, making sure my precious is last and on top of the stack. At $350 NF has thread the needle between low end and flight cases right where I might be tempted to make the jump where I can't even touch a used Calton.
All that remains at this point is see how they do in the field.
Hi Tony - Yes,fiberglass & even more so,Carbon Fibre,is pretty nasty stuff. In it's raw state,fibres can break off & stick into your skin so gloves are a pre-requiisite. The resins used,although not 'toxic',can be very bad for your lungs so,breathing apparatus is sometimes used & a good ventilation system in the work area is required. Contact with the resins,over a long period can cause Dermatitis & other skin conditions.
Lots of folk seem to think that anything made from glass or carbon fibre,is 'cheap & cheerful' - it's anything but that !!. Depending on whether you go for a 'hot' or 'cold' cured resin system,you need the moulds making from the right materials ie wooden mould tools used for a 'cold cure' system wouldn't last a month in a 'hot cure' system. After making the 'shells' for the top & bottom case parts,you then need trimming jigs to trim them to depth & which might also incorporate drill bushes to drill holes for the 'whatevers'. After trimming & drilling,you're left with exposed fibers,the edges of which require sealing = a lot of tooling expense & it's very labour intensive = costly !!. In aircraft production,we often got a call to make a non-structural (non-load bearing) part from glass fiber. More often than not,we'd request a design change so that we could make it from Polycarbonate which we could hot vacuum form in multiples at a time. We could make 100's of items in the time it would take to lay up a single item. That was because even our design engineers thought of glass fibre as a cheap option - it's not !!,
Ivan
Weber F-5 'Fern'.
Lebeda F-5 "Special".
Stelling Bellflower BANJO
Tokai - 'Tele-alike'.
Ellis DeLuxe "A" style.
I think Northfield has another batch of Airloom Cases available. Click Here to visit the Airloom link at Northfield.
Tim Burcham
Northfield Big Mon (Red Spruce/Red Maple)
Gibson F-9 Custom
1942 Strad-O-Lin
1948-54 Gibson LG-3
2011 Gibson J-45 True Vintage
2017 Martin HD-28 VTS Custom Shop
Bailey Mandolin Straps (NFI)
Bell Arm-rests (NFI)
Cover coming soon..yeehaw!
And I see the price is 'introductory'. Better get your orders in, kids.
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