SKB 3i-4217-18 iSeries Waterproof Acoustic Guitar Case - Black Reviews

For traveling by air this case is the ticket. pun intended! Excellent case gives you peace of mind .

I bought this case for travel with my 1949 Martin D-18. I wanted something that would protect it and this case does that and more! Carry handles from three sides, wheels for easy transportation, and plenty of room inside for instrument cables, straps, pedals and more. The best part is I have peace of mind that my guitar is safe.

Great case. Flew a vintage 1948 Martin D-18 from North Carolina to a professional musician customer in LA. Happy customer. Told him he could send the case back if he didn't want it. Got a check by return mail. Buying another to ship a custom sinker mahogany D-18 to a customer in Hamburg, Germany. This is the only case I'll use to fly an instrument to a customer.

I have 3 of these and they're fantastic. Fit pretty much any dreadnought (D-28, Taylor -10, etc.) and MOST slope shoulder guitars. (J-45, J-15) However, I was disappointed that the Taylor Grand Pacific models are just a touch too big. They *technically* fit, but the headstock rubs and I worry that any lateral impact might compress the guitar and potentially cause a neck breakage. Other than that I can't find anything to complain about. An SKB rep even told me that in the event of a water landing, this case can be used as a floatation device.

I bought this case for my Martin acoustic. I fly from California to Nashville and the first trip with this case was a complete success! Protected my guitar and trust it completely for many years of travel. The representatives at Sweetwater are more than helpful, in fact I got an Email early the next morning telling me my case was on it's way, lightning fast. Sweetwater cares about their customers which is why I'm going to buy my next guitar from them. I NEVER BUY GUITARS ONLINE, but I trust these guys to send me a quality product!

Wow! Fantastic protection for my MARTIN HD28V. Fits securely, lots of room for all my supplies including a folding music stand, chords, tuner, strings, strap and more room still. Flew from Seattle to Montana in the winter and everything was perfect there and on the return flight! Great locks and latches too.

Fantastic case. My dreadnaught guitar fits nice and snug. Love the extra compartments to fit additional items like a small Hercules portable guitar stand . It"s a little heavy but that goes to show you how well your guitar is protected. Wheels are a plus! If you own want your baby well protected then this is the case for you

Great case, never owned one that held up this well. The only drawback is that it's heavy, but you do have wheels on it.

Bought this case for my flight from FL to Hawaii. So durable, waterproof, easy to roll. Fits my Martin GPCX2AE Macassar perfectly. And there are extra spaces inside for strap, capo, whatever. Thank you, Sweetwater!

I can't imagine a more posh & safe apartment for my acoustic. The cutout for the guitar hugs my Taylor 414 perfectly. It is large and heavy compared to a standard acoustic case. Most people think it's a keyboard when I wheel it in. It's made packing all my gear in my car slightly tighter, but that's been the only downside.

I just submitted a review for my Martin HD-35 when this review was suppose to be for my SKB Waterproof Guitar Case. However, both reviews have the same praise for the great personalized service I received through my friends at Sweetwater. Thanks again for your great service!

I've never had such a positive and personalized experience with any of the many online vendors/stores in my life, and I do a lot of online shopping! My personal representative, Shelby, gave me a wonderful deal on a brand new Martin HD-35! Thanks, Shelby! I am forever grateful for the deal!! And this guitar blows me away with the most beautiful sound and tone quality. The wood finish is impeccable that includes East Indian Rosewood sides and back. Absolutely gorgeous!!

I have two of these cases, one for my Tele, and one for my acoustic. Both have now been on multiple overseas flights, and they all performed flawlessly! Love the room for accessories, cables, etc... all while being well under-weight for flying. SKB has done an amazing job with these cases, and should be proud!

Great case in all respects. I have a 50th anniversary special edition Takamine acoustic and it fits perfectly in this case. Very tight fit and just what I wanted . Love the wheels........

This case is the best. Road worthy! Be ready for doomsday and the fall of civilization or your next gig this case will take it and protect your most beloved axe. Got it mainly for my Martin D35 but also fits my Taylor 814ce. Sweetwater and SKB really have out done themselves this time. Beyond satisfied.

This SKB case protected my Gibson Hummingbird on a long trip to Vegas and then Nashville. It was easy to wheel around, and I've never felt more secure about protecting my guitar. Well worth the money.

Also, I needed this case quickly. Jen at Sweetwater personally made sure I got it in time for my trip, and went well and beyond the kind of service you'd expect from most companies. This alone was worth the price of the case. I would not have had the case in time without her assistance.

I recently bought and flew with this case. It is a tank. It did all that the website promised it would do. The only minor issue I had was getting a snug fit with my guitar. My guitar's body type (Grand Concert) is listed on the SKB website as one that should fit this case. However, when I place my guitar in it, there is a bit of wiggle room that made me a little uncomfortable about flying. My awesome wife was able to get some furnitiure foam, cut pieces to fill in any gaps, and cover them with velvet. All is well and after 6 international flights I have had no problems. I highly recommend the case, even with the minor issue. I plan to continue using it for any upcoming travel.

I got this case for traveling to Florida. I gotta say, it protected my Taylor 224 great! I didn't have to down tune the strings & it stayed perfectly in tune to & from. That being said, the case took on some major scuffs & one of the keys broke off in one of the locks while unlocking it. Thankfully I had both keys so I was able to play my guitar while on vacation but unfortunately, I now only have 1 key. The case is VERY heavy but the wheels make it easy to transport. Lastly, be prepared to have airline employees ask if you're traveling with a weapon/gun.

Talking about protection, this case is the best. You can really feel that your instrument will be safe in all environments. The downside is that it's heavy, I mean, really heavy. Just the empty case weighs about 22 pounds. It has wheels though, but still...

Bought this case because I believed it to be nearly indestructible based on reviews and videos that read and watched. First case came loaded with moisture inside, hygrometer read 78%!. I'm housing a 6k guitar so this was unacceptable. No hassle with getting a replacement. New case arrives and after about 2 weeks the top comes unglued. Absolutely no attention to simple detail. No way would I trust these half together cases to protect a high end instrument. Totally blown away by the lack of quality control. I will be returning the product but not my business.

I hate to give this case one star since its a great case and i really wanted it to work for my needs, but it just didnt. I originally bought it for a new gibson j-45 as a tour guitar and thought the case would be perfect. The case looks great, its very sturdily constructed, the TSA locks are great, the storage compartment has the same storage as a messenger bag(you cant fit a laptop, but you can fit an ipad mini which is ridiculous) however it had one pretty big drawback...it didnt fit my guitar. i should clarify, after cramming the guitar in there it did fit very tightly. i contacted SKB and they said it was usual to have that issue until its broken in a bit and that it will mold to the guitar. after a few weeks it hadnt and every time i took the guitar out of the case i cringed heavily imagining the neck coming off in my hand until it eventually came free. i ended up returning the new j45 but thought it might fit my 54 j50. my friend thought i was mental but i was insistent to make this purchase work haha we both cringed as the old one had the same result as the new one. i thought i could pull up the lining and shave some padding out to fit the guitar but i realized i shouldnt really have to do that to a 300 dollar case. it was a very large headache but sweetwater was great taking care of the return. it boggles my mind that a j45 doesnt fit in this case, maybe they modeled it after a martin i am not sure. if you feel like taking the risk hit it up and i wish you the best but i figured it was worth mentioning my experiences.

Sweetwater service is excellent but this SKB case has a major issue.

I received a new case from Sweetwater very quickly and upon opening it I noticed relatively major (3/8" to 1/2") gaps between the top and bottom parts of the case. I have several other injection molded cases from both SKB and Pelican and have never seen this so I inquired to Sweetwater and they noted the case was defective and promptly replaced it. They are phenomenal.

Upon receiving the second case I noticed the same issue; however, this time the gaps were slightly smaller and more in the corners (on the first case the gaps were in the corners and in the middle of the front). Being that I was a bit timeframe-challenged due to an upcoming trip I wanted to make it work but since I am going to Asia where they routinely leave bags outside during transfers at airports and since it rains a lot I wanted to make sure it would be able to resist water. I took a bright LED flashlight, put it inside the case and closed it; sure enough the light leaked out. I sent an e-mail back to the Sweetwater service team and they noted they would immediately replace it again. I asked for them to check the case before they sent it out since I had to leave in a few days and did not have time for another back and forth; they agreed and checked the next case in their warehouse. Same issue. They proceeded to check the remainder of the cases in their warehouse (I believe another 4) and they all had the issue so they followed-up with SKB's technical team who replied it was normal as long as there was an indentation on the entire area of the gasket (meaning that the gasket was being sealed by the top and the bottom). I opened the case and sure enough there was no indentation in several areas (this was obvious as light would not have leaked out if it was sealed but I wanted to get photos). Upon sending the photos over the Sweetwater team pointed this out to SKB who then replied--in an arrogant, defensive and filp-flop manner--that there did not need to be a solid indentation for it to be sealed (the opposite of what they had said a few days earlier ... and physics); they continued to go on about how they sell to the military and their cases are sound. Their final note? They suggested I put tie wraps through the lock loops to snug the top and bottom down to seal the gasket. Absurd. This is a $300 high--end case and they are suggesting a work around for their poor QA? They point out that their case is fine but then suggest using a tie-wrap? Ridiculous; they clearly know it's not right. Obviously this is very disappointing but it's also a lack of understanding on their part; if they have ever flown they would realize that TSA will cut the tie wraps off and then the gap will be there without a tie wrap to seal it. I have experienced this in the past as I put tie wraps on a toolbox to prevent it from opening during baggage transfer movement; TSA cut them off and even though there was a LARGE NOTE INSIDE WITH EXTRA TIE WRAPS ASKING THEM TO RE-SEAL IT, THEY DID NOT.

SKB, you are being silly.

I did point out to the Sweetwater team that I believe they have fine cases as I have several of them and they do not suffer from this; I also pointed out that I have a very small amount of experience with injection molding and have observed situations where the mold may be off and cause issues or even if the mold is perfect the plastic components may come out of the mold and warp or come out of shape slightly due to storage, etc. This may or may not be the case but I pointed out that it was an entirely possible they have many of these exact cases that are fine but that there may be a batch or a few batches which have this and because of this the Sweetwater team asked SKB to inspect the ones at their warehouse and then if they found one that was okay to send it to me to help me with my tight timeframe. SKB refused.

I have purchased thousands of dollars of SKB cases for both work and personal use in the past. These have been iSeries and roto molded cases as well as bags and I have found their quality to be very good. I am extremely disappointed in how SKB handled this; they have a problem with some of these cases and don't want to address it (obviously it will cost them money). The real fix is to ensure there is a tight seal with no gaps (the way the other iSeries cases or other manufacturer's injection molded cases fit) but if they want to cheap out maybe they could install larger gaskets; I really don't know; I am not an expert on their cases, these are just thoughts.

Sweetwater: You are excellent. Your service team went above and beyond. SKB: Shame on you. I have purchased many of your products and have recommended them to many colleagues and co-workers as a model of American manufacturing, innovative design and quality; this is so disappointing.

To cap this all off; I found another one of these cases at another reseller; guess what? Same issue. The reseller was surprised when I pointed it out. They noted many guests likely bought them and did not even notice it. It may be that. Or it may be that many of the cases, as SKB pointed out, are fine. I don't doubt they can make good cases and they have (I have many); the issue is with this batch and the way they are trying to ignore it.

End result as of today: No case. Sweetwater took the second one back and are continuing to work with SKB to see if SKB will do the right thing. I hope SKB fixes this issue; if they do, I would like to buy one someday soon (even though the immediate need I have is now) for future travel; however, only if it is fixed.