Marcus Bonna Cases

[JLivi]

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a used Marcus Bonna Tenor Trombone case. It's been a long road trying to find the right case for me. I play a King 3b and have used a BAM soft pack jazz case for about 10 years, but United busted my first one and then bought me a second one. That 2nd one has eventually brok down and has become unusable.

I started searching for other options and tried Eastman, Protec and now ended with Marcus Bonna. I cannot begin to tell you how impressed I am with this MB case. Granted, my case holds up to a 9" bell, but my little straight 3b fits great with all the extra padding. I was always intrigued by Marcus Bonna products, but never wanted to shell out the money and always thought, "is it really worth the 500+ dollars?" At this moment, granted I'm still in the honeymoon phase, YES! Yes it is worth that amount of money. At some point in time I plan on buying another 3b bell and converting it to a screwball, and I fulling plan to purchase the MB screwball case. I'm obsessed!

Does anyone else have any good, bad or ugly stories about Marcus Bonna cases? Or really any case for that matter? I'd be interested to know other trombone player's experiences. I just can't get over how safe, secure and comfortable this case is.

[LeTromboniste]

I have a vague memory that someone tested MB trumpet cases by dropping them a few floors and that the cases were intact and the trumpets inside completely smashed. I guess a case could be made that a case shouldn't be too indestructible, the same way cars don't have steel bumpers anymore. I was once reckless enough to check my horn as hold luggage...in a Protec case! The case came out with one face (the one with the slide directly behind it!) completely smashed, shredded to millions of pieces. There were wood chips in my case everytime I opened it afterwards. Yet the slide was absolutely fine. I've often wondered if my slide would have survived a similarly strong blow had the case protecting it not absorbed the impact as much.

FWIW, I've used a MB for my modern tenor for almost a decade (since the mishap described above!) and one for my sackbut for the past year, never had any problems with either of them. The backpack straps from the modern case are falling apart now as can be expected after 9 years, but the case is as good as new.

[Burgerbob]

I dropped my bass case with bass inside over 6 feet a couple years ago, even with some downward motion (not just a drop!) and nothing happened to the case or horn.

It was actually a Bonna fault, the backpack strap undid itself.