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http://www.theguardian.com/lif.....in-garrett
No mention of the case being actually flimsy.. But "light and comfortable" rather than robust might come to the same thing when it's supposed to be protecting a one million dollar piece of antique wood.
I would bet though, that most violin cases wouldn't do a lot better at saving the violin when basically ridden down a flight of stairs with the weight of an adult on them. There are probably a few cases where the violin would still be fine after that, but they are probably not what most of us are using.
Fortunately Mr. Garrett wasn't injured badly.
Accidents can happen to anyone though.
Cases are no guarantee, but even a flimsy one can provide a surprising amount of protection. My first electric guitar had one of those old really flimsy cardboard and imitation leather cases lined with a sort of felt paper that was so thin as to be literally no padding at all. One time I set it on the roof of the car and somehow managed to forget about it when I drove away. I had other guitars by that time and there had been a fair amount of gear to load, so I didn't notice it right away. Not until a couple days later when someone who had found it and recognized it called. I know that stretch of road and I would have been going probably at least 45 mph at the place it finally fell/blew off. The case got a bit more scuffed/scraped up, but the guitar itself was fine and only slightly out of tune.
The case is usually the best protection for an instrument, and even a flimsy one is much better than nothing. Though a better one is an excellent investment if you have an expensive instrument or even a humble instrument where you would be very upset if something happened to it.
Most accidents happen when an instrument is out of the case, though. Not even counting things like showing off by spinning it, I've seen plenty of different instruments get wrecked or damaged when someone sets it in or on a chair "for just a moment" and then it gets knocked off or (worse) someone sits on it.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
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Wow reading this thread... gave me that queasy feeling...
OH my...
My violin seems fine. I haven't had time to inspect it more.. I have just been playing...I never even checked to see if the bridge moved... so I better check when I get home..
And note to self. Order E strings... 
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
http://www.latimes.com/local/l.....story.html
Not really related to this thread; this is a story about the famous the Strad violin Alcantara. I am not sure if it was the same story I heard - a violin in case was set on top of a car while the violinist drove and lost it on the freeway, when found was still intact -- but it's an interesting story. I haven't found out where its where about.
p.s. posted it on another thread, meant to post it here.
well, I didn't drop my barcus berry, but it got pulled off the table at a blues bar jam. Mostly my fault I guess as the patch chord was still plugged in to the fiddle and it was plugged into my amp on stage. The Table was right beside the stage and I should have had the cord tucked away better. Anyways, some guy leaving the bar caught his foot on the chord, and the bottom of the fiddle hit the floor, put a nice crack in the top. From the bottom of the fiddle, right thru the volume control and past there a couple of inches.
The bb was one of those metallic color finishes that changes color at different angles. The Luthier fixed the crack, but he got a glob of glue near the volume control. Normally it would just wipe off, but it reacted with the metallic finish and left a fairly ugly dark spot about the size of a quarter or a bit bigger.
I discovered after a while that I needed to put a little piece of stiff paper underneath the volume control to keep a couple of notes from buzzing. Otherwise, still plays great and sounds great amplified. So I just chalk it up to 'Blues Bar Battle Scars'.
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A real blues violin looks better with scars and scratches
Don't feel bad, I've done the same thing. Just got luckier with the landing.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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I have tripped over my electric gear more than once..but had a good outcome...
Knock on Wood.
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Well, apart from some minor light raps on my VSO I can't say I have any personal experience with breakage, though, as someone else said, knowing myself I will experience calamity as soon as I upgrade. Haha.
That said, at my first dress rehearsal for my first concert with my community orchestra I was walking up onto the stage when I heard a sound like a chair sliding roughly across the floor then taking a tumble followed by a jangly crash.
I looked over to see the bassist just standing staring in shock, his hands laced over the back of his head. His bass had been leaning against the wall and somehow fell (I don't know if it was bumped or just gravity taking over) but the neck at the scroll had snapped entirely off, the bridge and strings obviously were off and it was in like 4 pieces total. Pretty much no one moved for about 5 minutes. It was absolutely devastating just to see. I can't imagine how he felt.
Jessy
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