Product Review: Fender's Chicago Tool Box

The Chicago Tool Box (along with it's plaid cousin, The Mississippi Sax Case) is, supposedly, the Cadillac of off the shelf harmonica cases. It will hold 18 diatonic harps and one 16 hole chromatic along with a bullet style mic, some cables and maybe a petite sandwich w/dill sliver and chips. I got mine late last week from Harp Depot for $99. The suggested retail price is $149 and most online sellers that I have seen offer them at $119.

The CTB is made of black Tolex, which is a hard plastic/vinyl material used for everything from Fender amp covers and Coffin Cases to marine upolstery in Chris-Craft boats. The edges are wrapped in black leather with white stitching. The locking latches and hardware appear to be chromed brass. The interior is lined with red velvet but does not seem to have any added cushioning.

When I took mine out of the box I immediately noticed something rattling. The latch on the left hand side, although secured, was mounted in such a way that the lid and body of the case did not mate. There was a little more than an 1/8 inch of play between the two. Strike One.

When I opened the case up I found myself staring at visible staples securing the velvet lining. I was actually more disappointed in this than the latch at the time. This is the result off shoddy workmanship and lax quality control. When contrasted with the red velvet those bright silver staples were blinding. Or at least impossible to ignore. Strike Two.

The only other issue, a minor one, is that even with both harp trays filled to the brim with diatonics there is ample room for them move around as the case is carried. As this is not a custom case and diatonics come in varying lengths I can understand and accept this. I will use a thin layer of foam packing material to hold my gear in place and not give it a second thought.

So we've got two strikes on The Chicago Tool Box. Actually I'm going to go back and give the latch another strike. That's three. I'm either going to utilize the warranty or send it back for refund. I'll have to see what kind of a mood I'm tomorrow. The bottom line on this case is that if you can get it $99 or less with no defects you will probably be satisfied for years to come. And you will look very cool slinging it around. Not something to be ignored. But, on the Blues Harp Confidential proprietary "Sonny Boy" rating system (1 being the worst, 4 being the best) The Fender Chicago Tool Box gets 2 1/2 Sonny Boys.

PS I decided to investigate my options so I contacted the seller, Harp Depot. The "cool factor" weighs heavily with me. Kudos to them and to Richard who said he would send me a new case and handle the warranty with Fender himself. I paid for shipping back to HD but that's just the cost of doing business on the internet.

PSS Dateline 11/13/2007. I got my replacement CTB today from Harp Depot. It had exactly the same defect as the one that I returned. I thought that they had made a mistake and sent the same case back to me. I called Richard and he said that he had the first case by his desk. He also said that another customer had recently returned a CTB with the same complaint. Sounds like Fender has a manufacturing/QC problem. Richard said he would check his inventory for a good CTB and send it out immediately. If he can't find one I agreed that a Mississippi Sax case would do. He is also sending me a prepaid return lable for the faulty CTB. More later.....