Is Eastman discontinuing their hard cases?

[greenbean]

Anyone know what the deal is with Eastman fiberglass cases? Have they been discontinued?




(I read something about this on Facebook but... um... it could be FAKE NEWS!...)

[Burgerbob]

Yes.

[JohnL]

Link to Facebook post

That'll be a bigger deal for string players. It seems a lot of them use Eastman cases.

I've always been a little hazy on the relationship between Eastman Cases and Jakob Winter. They look like the same cases, and I've seen Eastman cases sold under the JW-Eastman name. Anyone have the straight dope on that?

[greenbean]

I know that they were produced under the name Jacob Winter long before the name Eastman appeared. I have always assumed that Eastman bought the company that make Winter cases (or at least the rights to sell the cases).

Regardless, this is unfortunate...

[sacfxdx]

Agreed. I like how light they are. I had the wind blow my case over two times recently (grrrrr) and hardly a scratch on a the case. Zero damage to my horn.

[JohnL]

Jakob Winter still has a website, so maybe it's just that they and Eastman have parted ways?