The Voyager has arrived, finally.
It has been travelling for 8 days, from Germany to my small place, to brighten up my day.
Although the card said: ...for your best Friend, I know that it came to me. It arrived to accompany me to other places, nearby or far away ones, it doesn't matter. What is important is that we will go together to our gigs, and it will help me carry my stage piano. We will have such a great time together, I'm sure.
The Voyager (this will be its official name) was ordered from Thomann, a family-owned company, founded in 1954. They offer a diversified list of musical instruments, accessories, software, lighting, sheets, cables, cases...
You wish and they probably have it.
The prices are accessible, and you can choose from more than 100.000 products, made by 2.331 different manufacturers. They also sell their own brand's musical instruments and accessories. The transport bag that I bought, my new friend Voyager, has actually the same last name, Thomann.
I needed a new bag for carrying my stage piano, as the old one was already in bad condition. Two zippers out of three were broken and in the last gig the third zipper, the only one that was in working conditions also started to give problems. I almost couldn't open the bag and take out the piano. That was the moment when the decision to buy a new one was born. And I wanted one that would have wheels. Carrying the piano on my shoulders became a bit "boring" :)
The search didnt last for long, I already knew Thomann would give me the product that I needed. There were a lot of different cases and transport bags, but I wanted one with wheels. Also, I had to select the right size, for a full-sized 88 keys stage piano. It has the same number of keys as a standard piano and weighted keys but it looks like a bigger keyboard. I can not play on a smaller keyboard, it is not my thing. This stage piano weighs 10,5 kilograms, you may think it is not heavy, but still, it is when you carry it. As an addition, it needs a stand (I have an X stand for it, it is the most comfortable for these transports.
My choice was Thomann Voyager Keyboard 8 , as I saw it had many nice details, two big outside pockets for accessories and seemed of more quality than the other models. The pockets are indeed great ones, I can put here the small sheet stand, the sustain pedal, the cables, and even the scores. Maybe also my personal things, like a wallet or keys, so I don't need any other bag to take with me if I go to a gig.
The bag inside: it is covered by a soft velvet plush in grey and has thick walls for protection, like 20 mm high-density foam padding. It is really good in cases when the audience is not satisfied with my playing so they want to throw me and my piano into the street. My Voyager friend would protect it from any damage as it also has velcro straps to fix the instrument. Hurray, I can play as bad as I want on purpose and my piano in the bag can fly, be thrown, and it would stay intact.
Well, I should not try this strategy...or, what do you think?
Another thing I like about this gig bag is that it is waterproof so my tears would not enter the piano when I start to cry if the aforementioned situation would happen. Also, it has this shock absorber on the bottom and very good quality zippers. Many of them, and I hope they will last.
Oh, and some small decorative details. Apart from its name, Voyager, we can see one cool phrase: Music is our passion. We all can have many passions, of course, it all depends on where the focus goes, but one of the most important ones is to have a passion for life. That is the first one and from there everything else comes, a passion for music too. Thank you Thomann guys for adding this cute decoration.
All good and all 10 out of 10 for this bag, right? However, there are one or two things that are not perfect. The first one is my mistake. I ordered the exact size for my piano, which is 1320mm long. The bag (inside) is 1330 long...so the piano is just the size but there is no space to move even a cm, and I didn't count that it would have so thick walls filled with that foam. It enters, but I will have to be very precise when putting the piano into the bag and taking it out, not to damage the plush fabric. Also, the zipper can be damaged if it is very tight and under constant pressure. I hope you see in the photo what do I mean.
Luckily, I saw some hidden zippers, to take out the double foam padding, it might be a solution, but then the piano would not be that protected if I opt for it. This Sunday will be our first voyage to the gig, after that one I will probably know more about how do I manage everything. The bag arrived today so these are my first impressions of my new friend. To know it better, we have to spend a bit more time together.
The second drawback is that the bag doesn't have those small legs as a brake as the travelling suitcases have. I am not sure am I explaining well what I want to say. My transport bag with the piano inside can not stand by itself. I can lean it against the wall, but it's also very unstable because the wheels turn. If the wheels move, the bag would fall. I am here challenging physics, but I would not leave the bag with the piano inside in this position without my supervision. This was just for the photo :D
I am happy I could meet this new friend of mine and also present it to you. It came as a very wanted item, I hope it was worth the price. As musicians, we always try to have good instruments and try not to save on money there. But what about these additional costs? I could have bought a very simple and cheap bag, as I had a simple one before Voyager, but I am sure I would not be this satisfied. Well, I still can not say how it will work in practice, at the moment these are the first impressions I have got.
Quality - meeting the expectations.
Protection, wheels, pockets - all good.
My bad: could have searched for a few cm larger bag.
Not meeting the expectations: it can not stand by itself.
But hey, I didnt buy it for standing but for transporting the piano :D ... I am a weird person!
{I hope Voyager will not realize that soon, and not run away from me}
