SKB 66 Pro

Having bought a brand new American Strat for my son's 18th birthday, it seemed the logical thing for him to ask for the Fender case to keep it in. However, the Fender branded SKB case is not readily available as a stand-alone item any more. But - this SKB case appears to be the direct replacement, the only apparent difference being that it has the SKB logo embossed on the case instead of the Fender logo.
The quality is excellent, the catches open and close firmly but easily and it is lockable, always a good idea at college! The fit for a Strat is just right and the padding inside is snug and soft. It might have been slightly improved by the accessory compartment having a lid but we have to trust that items will not move about inside once the case is shut (not put to the test yet).
Another bonus which we hope never to need is that having done some research, it would appear that Fender's own warranty on their branded cases was somewhat limited and I have read reports of cracked cases not being covered, but with a "direct from SKB" case the lifetime warranty applies and all spares are readily available.
We hope this case has a long and happy life along with the guitar safely inside it.

I've bought this case one year ago and waited to see how it behaves before writing a review. The Strat-style guitar I'm storing in the case does seem to fit well.

So far I've only used it for storage, so I don't know how it would behave when stressed more, but what I do know is that the case smells noticeably of off-gassing chemicals (a somewhat acrid smell). This is probably from the glue, maybe from the foam, I can't be sure.

I expected this to go away with time, and to some extent it has, but especially in hot weather, after storing a guitar for about a week, the smell is pretty strong when I open it, and it also lingers on the guitar for about a day or so after I take it out.

All in all the case feels solid, but the TSA-approved latches feel like a plasticy gimmick and the smell creates an impression of cheapness. It also makes me uncomfortable to store more expensive guitars in the case, since I'm not sure what chemicals are off-gassing to produce that smell, and how they might affect the finish, strings, etc.

Reading a bunch of websites to try to find a cure for the smell (I've tried to gently use a hair drier, left a small bowl of ground coffee in the case, left some newspapers inside for a while, nothing really worked), I found reviews of Les Paul SKB cases where the handle just disintegrated. I will never buy another SKB. I hear good things about Hiscox, I'll probably try that if I ever need another hardcase.