Gard 106-MSK Gigbag f. Baritone Sax

The Gard gig bag is well made of heavy gauge synthetic fabric. All the weight bearing joints are riveted as well as stitched and the YKK zippers are excellent. It’s light and well balanced in the hand or over the shoulder. The moveable protective inserts in the bag make the instrument a tight fit and the bell cone protrudes too far out of the bell putting a lot of strain on the zips in that area. The velvet neck pouch is a nice touch but the side pocket could be bigger and I’ve had to leave some of my usual paraphernalia out. Many bari saxes come with a ground peg, in my case it’s a 50cm long brass rod, but there’s nowhere in the Gard gig bag to put it which is irritating and they should have thought of that.

As for using the gig bag the Gard gig bag makes it a lot easier by the simple expedient of having the bell of the sax facing out of the bag, not into it. This means that whilst holding the bag upright by the top grab handle the double zip can be opened fully with your free hand and the sax lifted cleanly out of the bag by the bell. This technique works very well both for lifting out and back in.

So I give the Gard gig bag an overall 4* rating. I’ve docked a star for the oversized bell cone which strains the zips and the limited storage space.