When the box came in the mail I couldn’t figure out what it was - the bag was compressed and folded up to the size of a half a loaf of bread, and when I realized it was the theremin gig case I was a little disappointed because it was so small. Also, the eBay listing for the item used “Etherwave” and “Theremini” interchangably and I thought I could possibly have bought the wrong thing which racked up a brief level of anxiety.
But when I took it out of the wrapper and put the instrument in it, it puffed open and flattened out to the expected shape and thickness. It doesn’t have closed-cell rigid foam type padding, it has fairly dense but very compressible batting, maybe polyester (the description claims 3/4”.) It’s plenty anyway: while researching this purchase, several people told me that they’d had or worked on instruments stored and transported in this bag and they are always in pristine condition.
Photo of instrument peeking out of bag.
The gig bag has one external pouch which is about twice as big as necessary for the power supply and patch cord. It can also hold my Zoom G1On effects pedal, its power supply and cable and maybe a tiny bottle of furniture polish and a dusting rag. There’s no padding on the outside of the external pouch.
The main zipper wraps right around to the underside so the bag will lay open flat, although this isn’t really necessary. The interior pouch has a velcro closure and is the full width and depth of the instrument so it’s about twice as wide as the loop antenna. There’s no separate sleeve for the rod antenna so if you put them in together, they would clank and scuff against each other; I’ll have to make a sleeve for the rod antenna, perhaps out of towel material. There’s padding between the interior pouch and the compartment where the instrument itself sits.
Build quality: good. there are two pulls on each zipper, on mine, the zippers are medium quality, were sewn in fairly straight and work perfectly. I could find no flaws in the seams. The handle has a velcro’d wraparound to make it very comfortable in your hand, and the shoulder strap has metal D-rings and carabiner snap hooks that feel like good quality. The Moog logo is sharp and crisp and straight and looks great.
If I was re-designing it I would add a pocket for the rod antenna and divide the interior pouch into one just long enough for the loop antenna, and another for small, easily misplaced things like audio jack adaptors.
The bag was listed on eBay for 49.99$USD; shipping was another 15.18 and import charges 14.88, for a total of 97.44$CAD; it was shipped the next day and took ten days to get to my place in east coast Canada.
Given the distress and cost resulting from damaging the instrument in-transit, and the scuffs and dings that it would accrue (that is to say, already has) from being moved around in makeshift gear, this is a very worthwhile investment.
