My 11 year old US Deluxe Strat had a lucky escape last night, as I was carrying the guitar out from rehearsal the handle suddenly snapped and the case smashed onto the concrete with a lot of force (the case itself is actually quite heavy). No damage to the guitar, thankfully those cases really are "Heavy Duty" and to it's credit it did protect the guitar well. It gave me a scare for a minute though and there was a moment of trepidation as I opened the case up.

I don't know if mine is an isolated incident, but anyway if you have one of these cases that has a few years on it, just be aware that the handle can without warning, snap off.





Snowy

Thank,s for sharing your experience with us . I have too a deluxe strat 1999 so it is the same age. But what can we do before ahdle break ?

I guess all you could do is flex the handle around a bit and look under good light for any hairline cracks that may be forming. Since the handle is quite solid I think the attachment point on one side of my handle was probably hairline cracked and I was none the wiser until the other attachment point could no longer support the weight of the case and let go.

Just to be aware of the possibility and have a close check now and then is probably all you could do.


Snowy

Luckily, the case did its job and protected the "goods"!

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

+1

Very fortuitous, indeed!

You might find a new handle assembly on Ebay -- I've seen hinges and Cheney latch kits listed, prolly find a handle too.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

For a few years back then Fender was using a really cheaply made case instead of G&G cases - I had a '98 American Deluxe with the same case as yours and the lid wouldn't stay open at all because the case was slightly warped. I also had a '99 AV '62 Strat that had the tweed-covered vesion of the same case; it had the same issues. However, the handle never snapped of either of them.

Now I did have the handle snap off the G&G case that came with a 2004 AV '52 Tele - however, in this case it wasn't the handle itself but the metal post that the handle pivots on. This actually happened when I was walking out of the store the day I brought it home (I had the modern wiring mod done before I took it home). The dealer was cool about it and simply gave me another tweed case from another guitar they had in stock and they ordered the replacement for the store-stock guitar.

By the way 11 years old case is, in IMO, not an "old case" . When I see your title I tought you are speaking about vintage cases that worth $$$$

Anyone who owns a very rare or very expensive guitar owes it to themselves to check out Calton cases. It's hard to imagine a better guitar case could ever be made. Word of caution: prices range from $700 to $2200 but if you've got say, a '51 Telecaster with serial number 0042 or a $25,000 pro grade classical it would be a small price to pay for peace of mind.

http://www.caltoncases.com/

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I just meant for a US Deluxe Strat model, 11-12 years is an "older" one (mine has a DNXXXXXX serial no.), I think that is about as far back as that model runs (1999 or so). Obviously fatigue over 10 years had taken it's toll.

Snowy

I found a new exact match TKL handle kit on ebay at a good price. Should be good for another 10 years.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Deluxe-handle-kit-F ... 007wt_1335


Snowy