If you’re going to be carrying your guitar around, even if its just along the road you really need to have a guitar case for it. This is going to protect it from the elements, water, dirt etc. The things that will reduce the life of your guitar and end up costing you money further down the line. Soft cases might not be ideal for all situations, but they do have their place and its certainly better than no case at all.
Soft cases are the starting point for guitar storage. They are not the best solution for keeping your instrument safe, but they do a better job than no case in fending off some of the harm that will come your way, in some instances they have advantages over hard cases.
A soft case is going to be much lighter than its harder cousin. This makes for easy transportation. If you have to walk around with your guitar, you really want something that isn’t going to pull your arm off after a short walk to a gig or your practice room. Coupled with the rest of the stuff you have to carry, effects pedals, maybe even an amplifier, every few pounds you can shave off of your gear is going to be a great relief to you.
When you aren’t using your case, with it being soft its really easy to store away. Fold it up into something one tenth its original size and you can put it in a drawer out of the way.
As well as being really light, a soft case costs far less than its hard equivalent. If its your first guitar and you need something to get you going, then a soft case is ideal. You don’t want to be spending a fortune on your first guitar then find out a few months down the line that its not the instrument for you, that’s money wasted. Or if you are already an established player, maybe you have a new guitar but your local store doesn’t stock the hard case you want, a soft one will get you home and dry perfectly.
Sadly its not all good news for soft cases, they do have their weaknesses. Being soft they offer pretty much no protection against any sort of direct impact. If anything hits the bag the force will go right through onto the guitar, not an ideal situation. If you take it to a gig and there are many people around your gear, moving it, lifting it, whatever, if they drop it or knock it over there maybe trouble ahead, damage or even a repair bill.
Being relatively cheap, soft cases are not anywhere near as durable as a hard equivalent. It may last quite some time if you really look after it and don’t abuse it. But if its given a hard life your case isn’t going to last anywhere near as long as a high quality hard case.
As you can see there are pros and cons to buying a softer type case for your “axe”. If you want more information on hard cases follow this link, Hard Guitar Case. Hopefully these two articles will help you decide which option is better for you.