Buying Taylor Cases/Bags from Taylor

[TaylorGirl]

I just had a pleasant surprise from Taylor. Maybe others know this, but it was new to me.

Little bit of a back-story.
I have a GS Mini-e Koa Plus with the Aero Case, which is awesome. But the case is bigger and heavier than the normal GS Mini Structured Gig Bag. We downsized our motorhome to a smaller one a few years back, so we don't have the room/capacity like we did before. Instead of my GSM, I've been taking a smaller travel guitar, but I just don't love it like my GSM. So, knowing the smaller/lighter Structured Gig Bag would be the better way to go for travel, I thought I'd look into purchasing one from Taylor. I thought they were quite costly to buy and get shipped (not from experience of buying cases from Taylor, but from what others had said). To my surprise, on the Taylor website, they were marked "new" (like a new product from Taylor) and were only $69.99  with free shipping. That seemed more than reasonable and would be perfect for my situation. 

I ordered it on Sunday and got it delivered to me in Northern Michigan on Monday! What the heck? Turns out, it was shipped from American Music Supply in Toledo. Taylor must have set up a warehouse/shipping relationship with them to service areas in the Midwest, at least on these big items. Maybe they've even done this in other areas of the country too. It surprised me, and I'm a very happy camper (pun intended). A great way of selling their cases/bags at reasonable prices  and no shipping charges.

Maybe I've been out of the loop on this and am the last to know, but just thought I'd share anyway.

[Earl]

Another post recently mentioned that the bags had dropped noticeably in price.  I looked on the web site and the Hard Bag for GA/DN's is now $99 and had always been $149 - a pretty good deal.  Perhaps Taylor is clearing out stock in a conversion over to just the Aero Case?  At that price, I might get a spare since mine works so well.  Almost any guitar that leaves the house goes in the Hard Bag, and has been so for several years now.  It is just too convenient to have the zippered pouches for capo, tuner, picks, spare strings, etc.  I have sometimes contemplated a spare in black directly from Access, the manufacturer.  Tan is exclusive to the Taylor brand.

I did not know about the free shipping though.  Very clever to use the "Amazon model" of drop-shipping items from various suppliers.  Hmmmm......  I have room enough to store a spare, but do I want to bother?  The only failure mode I can foresee is a zipper failure, and that could in theory be fixed by a local luggage shop.

[TaylorGirl]

OK, so that confirms I'm not losing my mind.....they have come down in price significantly.  And I think the free shipping is new too. It said 2-day shipping, and I got it the next day (even ordering it on a Sunday). Can't beat that with a stick. I doubt Taylor would be going to the Aero Case exclusively, because I think they need the different level of cases for folks and for the various levels of guitars. But who knows. Maybe Taylor worked out a warehouse/shipping deal with companies to make these purchases more attractive to their customers. But, again, just a guess on my part.

[Edward]

Good PSAs for the Taylor bags!
These are decent bags at their orig price, even better now at the reduce price.  If I didn't already have Mono bags, this would be a good choice, especially for guits facing an "easier" travel life with less risk of damage

Edward