While cellists typically carry around full-size cellos in hard cases, a soft case can be a good thing to have on hand. The number one reason to use a soft case is the lighter weight. A soft case is made of some sort of fabric with no real structural protection, whereas a hard case is made of – you guessed it – a hard material such as a carbon composite. When you use a soft case you have to be more careful because of the lack of protection, but it can be worth it. Perhaps you’re a cellist with back problems, or pregnant, or you have to walk very far with your cello one day and don’t want to haul the hard case. A soft case can be useful. Most soft cases that come with student cellos are essentially a thin fabric bag. These offer basically no protection for the cello at all. So, what to do if you need a soft case but want a bit more protection? The Cushy Padded Cello Bag! Here’s our review…
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Pros
- Definitely the most important and best feature of the Cushy soft case is that it’s cushy! It has a layer of foam padding throughout the case that offers more protection than just the canvas bag soft cases. It’s not a ton of padding, but enough to soften a slight bump to the cello. It also helps protect it better from weather and temperature changes.
- Good storage. It has a music pocket on the back and a small pocket on the front for rosin, rock stop, etc.
- The zippers work well. Zippers on soft cases can often cause problems. They get stuck or break after awhile. The zippers on the Cushy are heavy duty and still going strong.
- Durable. We’ve used this case for several years of heavy use and it has worn well, with just a couple normal wear and tear issues mentioned below.
Cons
- There’s no hole for the endpin to go through, or extra padding for where the endpin rests inside the case. If your endpin still has a rubber tip this won’t matter, but for cellos that don’t have a rubber tip, those sharp endpins can kind of stab through the fabric. In spite of that, the fabric has held up well.
- Only one bow slot. Not a major concern for us, but some might miss the extra bow storage.
We certainly wouldn’t put this in the ‘cons’ category, but after heavy use of this case for several years, expected and normal wear and tear has happened. One of the shoulder strap pads has broken off and the handle’s external fabric has worn off, but both strap and handle are still usable.
Final note, this case is only made for full-size cellos.
Would CelloGuide recommend it?
Absolutely! It can be so nice to give your back a break and use a really light case. Do you need to be more careful than if you had a hard case? Yes, but we think it’s worth it to have the lighter case, and this is the one to do it with because of that extra padding and quality construction. You can find it here on Amazon to see more details.