Road Case or Dollies

[fhrussell]

I'm looking for a set of dollies and came across this:

http://www.newyorkcasecompany.com/customcases.htm

Does anyone have any experience with this company? At about the same cost too.... hmmm?

[JoeyB3]

I'm looking for a set of dollies and came across this:

http://www.newyorkcasecompany.com/customcases.htm

Does anyone have any experience with this company?

I do, Frank...run the other way. Very fast.....

[fhrussell]

I do, Frank...run the other way. Very fast.....

'Nuff said. Thanks again, Joey!

[Steve Leigh]

I'm looking for a set of dollies and came across this:

http://www.newyorkcasecompany.com/customcases.htm

Does anyone have any experience with this company? At about the same cost too.... hmmm?

There's a basic problem with road cases. They're huge.
A Leslie case is too tall to stand vertically in a full size van (due to the casters), and the organ case is just plain humongous.
Then, you have the issue of where to put them at a gig .... and - it requires 2 (or more) people to remove the top of the cases.
I've owned them (Anvil brand, not this company), and unless the Hammond/Leslies MUST FLY, I doubt I'd ever invest in them again.
The Anvil cases were made of heavier (I believe 1/2") ply, and if you end up at a gig with a high (4' - 6') stage, a truck with a hydraulic lift gate or a forklift will be required - 4-6 guys won't get the Hammond case onto a stage that high. I'm not sure, but I guess the Leslie cases weighed about 80# each, and the B3 case probably weighed ~200#.

One quick example: Jimmy Buffet has a whole road/stage crew (~8-10 guys). It's their job to get the Hammond/Leslies set up for Mike Utley (along with everything else). Twice, I did some work for him in Tampa, FL. Jimmy has 3 enormous tractor/trailers. The B3 road case came in on a forklift, the Leslie cases were rolled up a huge ramp.

[fhrussell]

Problem solved. I just nabbed a set of Roll & Kari's off ebay. JoeyB, let me know if you need to borrow them anytime.

Thank you Steve for the reply. My day job is as a production manager for a performing arts center and I certainly have become familiar with trying to store dead B3 and Leslie road cases during a show. They take up quite a bit of real estate backstage. I was wondering too if it would fit in a van; thanks for confirming that it would not. They always come in on an enclosed trailer or a semi of back-line and gear, and either lift-gated down or ramped down to the stage where we have the crew of 20-somethings lift it out of the tray. :-)

[JoeyB3]

Problem solved. I just nabbed a set of Roll & Kari's off ebay. JoeyB, let me know if you need to borrow them anytime.

Hey, congrats....you just bought them from Chuggy? I bought a set myself from him. They were in excellent condition. Just had to replace a little section of felt, but the wheels were in great shape and the straps were new.

You'll be glad you got them this way.....they're not worth buying new when you can get them in this condition and save the money!

[fhrussell]

Hey, congrats....you just bought them from Chuggy? I bought a set myself from him. They were in excellent condition. Just had to replace a little section of felt, but the wheels were in great shape and the straps were new.

You'll be glad you got them this way.....they're not worth buying new when you can get them in this condition and save the money!

Yes, I did! Should have them by next Friday. These appear to be in great shape.

[Steve Leigh]

Problem solved. I just nabbed a set of Roll & Kari's off ebay. JoeyB, let me know if you need to borrow them anytime.

Thank you Steve for the reply. My day job is as a production manager for a performing arts center and I certainly have become familiar with trying to store dead B3 and Leslie road cases during a show. They take up quite a bit of real estate backstage. I was wondering too if it would fit in a van; thanks for confirming that it would not. They always come in on an enclosed trailer or a semi of back-line and gear, and either lift-gated down or ramped down to the stage where we have the crew of 20-somethings lift it out of the tray. :-)

I left out many critical details:

The Anvil B3 case could NOT go into a van, even if you removed the rear doors. Same for the Leslie cases. I used an open trailer to move them - which scared the heck out of me! I used tarps to cover everything, but the trailer was OPEN .... and the strapping left a lot to be desired. I get very nervous about open trailers. Things can disappear.
Pretty soon, our group started renting a box truck with a lift gate, and this made life a little simpler .... not much, though.

Re: Jimmy Buffett and the (then) Ice Palace in Tampa:
First, I should say Jimmy owned EVERYTHING required for his show. No backline companies, etc. He owned it all. I believe he leased the tractor trailers, but the whole stage belonged to Jimmy Buffett.

The 60' trailers just backed right into the loading docks, which I believe are 6' high. EVERYTHING was in numbered Anvil cases - the entire stage (about 125' wide), complete lighting system, humongous (and I really mean humongous) PA system, monitors, and, of course, most instruments. One year, Jimmy rented the Sun Dome for a whole week just to rehearse his road crew on specifically setting up the stage correctly, then tearing it all down and loading the trailers. They didn't even play music - just setup and takedown. I watched this in awe: the fun started at 10:00am and it took about 7 HOURS to set up everything properly. I was completely amazed at the precision of the whole procedure. I've never seen anything like it.

But that's OT (off topic) - back to the ROKs. Unless you have to fly, Hammond and Leslie road cases are more trouble than they're worth.