Cases and bags for Thunderbird bass guitars
GB offers two ranges of gig bags DELUXE which have 20mm padding, and PREMIER which have 30mm padding. These bags are made in India and sold under different brands. The "Deluxe" bag appears to be only available through eBay and retails for US$ 69.95. Being for a right handed bass the outside pockets on the front of the bag end up being on the backside of the lefty, so a lefty only fits in the bag the wrong way round. But with both sides of the bag being the same padding this is not too much of an issue. The bag will fit a Gaskell Thunderbass even though it is a reverse body to a right handed Thunderbird. I like these gig bags as they are not too problematic for a lefty and I give the GB DELUXE and GB PREMIER bass gig bags a 8/10.
THOMANN in Germany sells their own branded version of the GB gig bag and they sell internationally. Thomann is a musical instrument and accessories chain store found all through Europe and the UK and recently have made an appearance in the U.S market. I used the Thomann versions because they have never been out of stock whereas the GB originals are very hard to find, and about 4 x the price of the Thomann! Although it lists for US$20.00 on the Thomann website, unfortunately for us here in Australia by the time you do the currency conversion and add postage this gig bag ends up costing well over AU$ 100 per bag to send to Australia. As with the GB DELUXE and PREMIER I give this Thomann bass case a 8/10.
ROCKBAG RB 20624 B by Framus & Warwick could very well be the soft case/bag that offers the best protection for a Thunderbird bass shaped guitar... so long it is a right handed bass. This one features 30mm padding all round, front and rear and will fit various pointy bass guitars. As with similar bags it has pockets for carrying leads, strings and straps but on the wrong side for a lefty and a lefty bass fits wong way round. This bag can be bought quite easily from European, US and Australian music stores and while not the cheapest is definitely very robust. If the RB20624 was not still a right handed bag in the first place, I would give this bag a 10 out of 10 but as it is I do not really recommend it and at best it's a 5/10 for it.
RITTER makes a zip-up soft case for Thunderbird bass guitars, model RGS7-TBB/SGL. It has 20mm padding, 5mm soft foam, and 3mm soft plush. Being a right handed guitar case if you try to put a lefty in it the lefty has to go face down, so the case closes on the rear of the guitar. This doesn't really work in the case of a soft case which always have a "top" and a "bottom." You can put a lefty Thunderbird bass in it but it's not good. I don't recommend this case. This gig bag can be bought through Thomann and is US$ 83.00. I give the RITTER gig bag a 5/10.
I was put on to this case by one of my UK customers. I had never heard of this brand before then. I am glad he told me! SPIDER is a brand (or model?) sold in the U.K by the Flightcase Warehouse. it is a proper a hard shell case with metal clasps, plush padding, vinyl-look finish, and will fit both left handed and right handed Thunderbird bass guitars. It's a large-sized wooden case so will fit other types of basses too. I don't know if this is still available as I cannot see it on the Flightcase Warehouse website now. I have been assured that this case does fit a Gaskell Thunderbass and perfectly. For that reason, this is a 10 out of 10. The only case that is.