Do you need a hard shell case for your gourd banjo?

[Tom Berghan]

I needed a hardshell case for my gourd banjo.  As I was drawing up the design for building my own homemade case and adding up the cost for the various needed materials I realized the cost was adding up quickly.  I had the thought: "What off-the-shelf-case might work?"  The thought then occurred to me that a Greek Bouzouki is about the same length as most banjos and the bowl of a bouzouki is about as deep as many gourds . . . it might work!  Well, I found one and it works great.  My gourd is a small bottle gourd so I there was a lot of extra space.  I simply took up the extra space by adding more foam to the case . . . no big deal just more protection!  I cut the foam with an electric carving knife (their cheap).The brand name of the case I bought is "Roosebeck," and the case model is "Greek Bouzouki."  There is enough space in the neck of the case for the peg of the short string.  I cut the foam so that the neck sits off to one side.  Perfect!  Below, you can see the dimensions of the case and it might work for your gourd too.  The was a problem with one of the buckles which was poorly assembled (crooked and loose), but a bit of epoxy fixed it.  With the exception of that buckle, the quality of the case is good!  Best Wishes, Tom