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Here's a review and some pics of my new gigbag, arrived this week from my "specialist Belgian supplier" (keymusic.com):



The bag is made by Ritter, a Swiss company apparently although the label inside the bag says made in the People's Republic of China. I guess it's designed in Euope and manufactured in the far east.

It's billed as a mandola bag, the Ritter RCG400-MO, and I bought it for it's specific dimensions ... not for a mandola though (all will be revealed shortly!).

It seems fairly well-designed, with tough canvass and smoothly operating zips. On the top are three pockets, pictured here:


This picture makes the pockets look more bulky and/or spacious than they actually are, although they will provide room for your bits and pieces - tuners, capos, plectrums, spare strings and stringwinders etc. The largest pocket is not quite big enough for a typical sheet music book or magazine etc. though - maybe the US Acoustic Magazine which has a smaller format than most, if you don't mind the edges being bent. There is no pocket on the neck which would have been nice.

Here's a pic of the back:



The rucksack-style carriers look quite tough and one of them appears to have a holder for an MP3 Player, with a hole through which the earplug headphones can be pushed! The arms look quite strong and well-stitched onto the bag.

So, I hear you ask, what do I intend to carry in this bag? This is what:



It's a 20" scale nylon-strung open-back tenor banjo which I found on ebay recently. The short scale length and lack of resonator means a normal banjo gigbag would be oversized - usually about a foot too long. But this banjo is not quite small enough to fit in a mandolin gigbag, so I started looking for something inbetween. I researched this for some time - it is surprising how hard it is to find the internal dimensions of "folk" instrument gigbags online. At one point I was looking at baritone uke gigbags which have a similar scale length until I realised the width would not accommodate the banjo pot. There is a Warwick Rockbag for mandola but even that would have 5-6" too much space at the top of the neck.

Well the Ritter seemed the best fit length and width-wise. You can see in the photo a little "seatbelt" to keep the neck centred inside the bag - Warwick Rockbags have these too. In this case the banjo neck is very narrow so the velcro seatbelt doesn't really hold it secure, but better than nothing.

The interior is lined with what seems to be a nylon-like material, emblazoned with the Ritter logo. The Warwick Rockbag I have for my mandolin has a plush lining, and the padding is a bit thicker, but the Ritter seems tough enough (and is about 15euros cheaper I think so can't complain). The top is lined with canvass which makes sense as weaker material can easily get ripped by the cut end of strings on the headstock area.

That's it - nice gigbag, fairly well-designed and well-made, and an almost perfect fit for my banjo. I'm happy!

One more picture/review before I sign off:



This shows the new armrest I bought for the banjo, from Eagle Music. It's sold as the "Leader Banjo Co Vega-style 'Old Time' Armrest - Nickel Plated" and as you can see has adjustable height by virtue of the threaded legs which attach to the banjo brackets. I think this would fit most banjos - mine is an unusual size (10&10/16ths head). I dare say there may be more comfortable armrests on the market, but I prefer the clean lines and simplicity of this one.