Looking for feedback on this case concept.

JB Cases

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
Ok, time for some feedback.

This is a case we did for a customer that wanted a really long one. This case is 36" long and made to fit his 35" custom Schon.

So the challenge was making a case that works equally well for regular sized cues and the long cue.

And there were a few other things that Tom wanted, like a space for his extension, double sleeve for his jump cue, special spot for the magnetic chalk holder.

But the part I want to show off is my new concept in interiors. I have developed a removable interior that looks and works like a permanently installed one.

So Tom agreed to be the first person to allow me to experiment on him. I made him two interiors. One is a regular 4x8 and the other one is a 3x6 with a space for his extension.

I really want to extend this concept to all my cases eventually. I feel that it is a super innovation on many levels because it allows the user to deal with any problems, to change it out if they don't like the colors, change the configuration, and allows others to make aftermarket versions if they think that they can offer something worthwhile to the market.

So I devised the cassette method where the tube and the exterior are tightly integrated and the interior fits in like a cassette. I like this for a couple reasons. The big one is that I can use the tube to attach handles and lids and bottoms for increased strength. This means that the case has less moving parts and will be more durable and easy to fix if something should break. It also allows me more latitude in decoration by having the ability to use the tube as the foundation to essentially bolt all sorts of "creations" to it securely.

So enough talk, tell me what you think if you feel like it.

The Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOVe953ibM0

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It's something I have often thought about. I wondered why interiors were not easily removable.

It's a great idea.

1) You can change configuration.

2) You can change when the interior is worn or damaged.

3) You can remove the interior for cleaning.


This was one of my pet peeves about tube cases in general. The interiors get filthy eventually and you can't do squat about it. This is bad for cues. With a box case I can get to the entire interior to clean it.

Great work! :thumbup:
 
I like the concept. The only thing I would suggest is adding an interior handle or strap for ease oh removal and reloading. I like the idea of being able to switch a set of cues to a different case (like from my Go Gators case to a more traditional looking one with out having to reload the case one piece at a time.) would this be possible to swap fully loaded interiors between cases?
 
dr9ball said:
I like the concept. The only thing I would suggest is adding an interior handle or strap for ease oh removal and reloading. I like the idea of being able to switch a set of cues to a different case (like from my Go Gators case to a more traditional looking one with out having to reload the case one piece at a time.) would this be possible to swap fully loaded interiors between cases?
Click to expand...

Yes that's a possibility. We already do something similar on the dealer cases. Each one of those holds five 2x4 boards that can be removed fully loaded.

I thought about adding a handle on these and also providing a simple storage tube for extra interiors.
 
Did I miss the pics of the "cassette" function? I was under the impression that generally speaking, all your interiors on that style of case were already removable. I thought Ive seen you even market replacement interiors for other makers cases, unless I'm mistaken which is possible. However i do know many of mine of the style are removable as well. Perhaps some clarification would help. Pretty case as usual however.
 
Excellent case Joe! As with the chalk, a divider that holds 2 sets of joint protectors would be nice. Seems like I'm always digging around the pockets trying to find mine. What does it weigh?
 
idea

I love the idea - and not for any of the reasons you have suggested.

This will allow someone to wash thier interior to remove chalk dust, sand, dust.... it's great! Having lived in a very dusty environment (think west Texas), this feature would be quite nice.

On the downside - if I spent big bucks to have one of your cases built and the bottom piece of rubber came to me all hacked up like this one - I would not be happy.
 
Watch the linked video.

RRfireblade said:
Did I miss the pics of the "cassette" function? I was under the impression that generally speaking, all your interiors on that style of case were already removable. I thought Ive seen you even market replacement interiors for other makers cases, unless I'm mistaken which is possible. However i do know many of mine of the style are removable as well. Perhaps some clarification would help. Pretty case as usual however.
Click to expand...




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
DWoods6354 said:
I love the idea - and not for any of the reasons you have suggested.

This will allow someone to wash thier interior to remove chalk dust, sand, dust.... it's great! Having lived in a very dusty environment (think west Texas), this feature would be quite nice.

On the downside - if I spent big bucks to have one of your cases built and the bottom piece of rubber came to me all hacked up like this one - I would not be happy.
Click to expand...

Yes that was one of the reasons I like it too. I haven't yet tried but I plan to throw one in the wash and see what happens.

The rubber on the bottom is molded with the small slots. This is done so that dust doesn't stick to it and reduce the grip.

I can guarantee you that if you spent any bucks on our cases you'd be happy or I would do what you want until you are happy.

The rubber bottom is my default bottom, it's not pretty but it's very very effective and solid. I do "pretty" ones on request with metal studs into leather. I used to do them all like this. And the rubber one is much more labor but I feel that it's worth it to protect the cases and the cues inside. The case stays where you put it.

palacegarden-v-bottom.jpg


And here we can do the rubber one with a little more style if needed.

monster-3-s-bottom.jpg
 
RRfireblade said:
Did I miss the pics of the "cassette" function? I was under the impression that generally speaking, all your interiors on that style of case were already removable. I thought Ive seen you even market replacement interiors for other makers cases, unless I'm mistaken which is possible. However i do know many of mine of the style are removable as well. Perhaps some clarification would help. Pretty case as usual however.
Click to expand...

Yes, sorry, we were in such a rush to get it out no one thought to take pictures of the interiors removed. So it's only in the video.

In general there are a lot of cases where the interior tube or tubes are removable from the top. Jack Justis, J.EF Q Cases (Jay Flowers), Dennis Swift, some Murnaks, Brian Bonner and On Q Case are a few of them where the tubes are removable through the top. My personal issue with those case in this regard is that this means that the "skin" and the interior tubing has to be a somewhat loose fit in order to allow the interior to be easily removed.

This was something I hated in my first J.EF Q Case, "Flowers" case as they were commonly known, from the first day I got it 21 years ago. So when I built the Instroke interior I made it so that the tubing did not move and was one solid unit. Then I made the skin so that the tubing would fit snugly inside. It would take two of us to install it and the final product would be be solid all the way around. This took me some time to get right but eventually I did.

Had I stuck to the Jay Flowers' model life would certainly have been much easier but for me personal the product wouldn't have been finished. I was not impressed that my $400 leather case was seemingly not as well made as my $100 Porper case that I gave up to get it.

So.........fast forward to now. The idea of the interior being removable is not a bad one. Jack Justis in one of our "debates" said that he does it that way on purpose so that the customer can change the interior if the one he has gets torn. I don't think that is the reason Jack does it BUT even so it's a great idea for that reason alone. Still though, for me personally it's not great enough to make the case loose enough that it feels saggy.

So what I did was to make it so that the interior guts are solid at the top and that this unit slides into the tube and stops. The skin is then tight to the tube and has zero movement against the tube.

Then the interior is placed inside and it looks and works as if it's permanently installed as we have always done. The feeling in your hand is of one solid case with no flex or movement between the outer skin and the protective tubing.

So I hope that this explains my thoughts a little more.

Regarding the offering of aftermarket interiors for other maker's cases I only offered a replacement liner for Jack's cases that replaced the stock liner with our UltraPad. And this has been pretty successful with customers reporting that they love the clean elegant lines of the Justis combined with our plush and cushy protectiveness. But that didn't solve the problem (problem to me) of the tight bond between the tube and the skin that should be there in my view of how a case should be made. And I want to reiterate that this is only MY VIEW of how it should be done. Doesn't mean any one else has to do it this way and as mentioned above a lot don't and still people enjoy their products and have done so for 20 years or more.

The reason for this thread is to explore whether people think I should do it this way on all the tube cases or not. I am about 80% sure that I want to but am holding back from switching everything to this method until I feel that it's something you all don't see as weird or complicated to use.

I will make another one this week and show some pictures of the interior.
 
John,

Your creativity and willingness to give the people what they want never ceases to amaze me. Very nice concept and execution...you da MAN!

Dave
 
I think it is a very interesting idea.
Mostly for the reason that people change their habits.
My very first case was a triangle, it had three tubes, one butt in each tube and 2 shafts in the third.
I needed a bigger case so I got a porper 2x4...
That lasted for a year ( or 2 top insets)
Moved up to a porper 3x6, that's about the time I started doing cue repairs and that wasn't enough case, so I picked up a porper 4x8.
I lugged that beast around for a few years then got tired of the weight!
Picked up an instroke "neo" model. That was the first nice case I owned.
I used that bonded leather case until it fell apart :) liked it so much that I replaced it with another 2x4 instroke, this one was really pretty, still looks great and works like a charm, but I saw some of johns cases and had to have one that was 2x5!
I guess this long rant was kinda pointless, just saying that people's habits change with respect to what they want to haul around, and if one day 2x4 is the right size, and the next day "or year" you want a 4x8 and the shell is the right size........call up JB and get a new interior :)
After a couple weeks with my new JB case, I am way more than happy!
As always there are a few things that would be nice to change, but that's life :)
You are keeping cases interesting John, keep it up
 
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