About us ....
Our cases are hand made in Norfolk, England. Each case is made individually by brothers Neil and Mark Haynes who have been with us since the mid 1990s. Both Neil and Mark have developed great skill in making strong and very durable cases.
Our case making business was started by Alan Stevenson who had been the bass player in the Scottish Baroque Ensemble and went on to become Sub Principal bass in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Alan's wife Sara was a 'cellist in the BBC Welsh National Orchestra and later in the Birmingham orchestra where Alan and Sara met. Before following his vocation in music, Alan was an hons graduate from Edinburgh University Architecture. Alan has always focused on the strength and structure of cases for durability and for maximum protection of instruments.
As a team, we have gathered a wealth of experience making cases for different size and shape 'cellos and basses. Alan Stevenson discusses each instrument with players and orchestra managers and together they agree what will be the most appropriate case for the specific purpose.
We ship our cases all over the world both to individual players and orchestras. Some of the orchestras who use our cases all day every day include Suisse Romande, Danish National Radio, Shanghai Symphony, Amsterdam Concergebauw, Warsaw Chamber, Sydney Symphony, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Rotterdam Phil, Salzburg Mozarteum, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, all of the London symphony orchestras and UK orchestras and BBC orchestras, just too many orchestras to mention.
We've been privileged to have been asked to make cases for many wonderful 'cellos, including Stradivarius cellos, 'cellos by JB Guadagnini, Domenico Montagnana, the Testores, the Goffrillers, David Tecchler, etc. We take the same care and trouble on every case including cases for electric carbon 'cellos. We know that every player has to do their gig!
As well as making cases for 'cellos and double basses, we have made custom travel cases for gambas, lutes, therobos and violones.
We made the special custom stunt 'cello case in which James Bond and partner escaped from the bad guys down the snow slopes in The Living Daylights film. We also made one of our regular cases which was used to conceal the sniper's rifle earlier in the film. These options aren't available from our standard range!