Patent ID: 6959810

Claim:
A case for storing, carrying and displaying a handheld stringed instrument characterized as having an enlarged body and a narrow neck with a fingerboard, said case comprising: a main body that is generally symmetrical about a longitudinal axis, said main body having an open instrument receiving cavity located therein, said instrument receiving cavity being at least as long as an instrument to be positioned within the case, said instrument receiving cavity having a lower portion for the body of an instrument and an upper portion for the neck thereof, said instrument receiving cavity being formed, in part, by a back panel and a bottom panel, said bottom panel intersecting and being continuous with said back panel, said bottom panel being the main body component most distant from the upper portion of the instrument receiving cavity; a cover having a bottom cover portion for covering said bottom panel, an upper cover portion for covering at least a portion of said instrument receiving cavity upper portion, and a lower cover portion hingeably interconnected to both said bottom cover portion and said upper cover portion, said lower cover portion for covering at least a portion of said instrument receiving cavity lower portion, said bottom, lower and upper cover portions having outer and inner surfaces, said inner surfaces being reversibly securable to said main body, said bottom cover portion being hingeably connected to the bottom panel along a linear joint that is both perpendicular to said longitudinal axis and parallel to said back panel, said linear joint being located along a rear bottom edge of said main body, said bottom cover portion hinging away from said bottom panel, the outer surface of said lower cover portion folding back onto the outer surface of said bottom cover portion, said upper cover portion folding behind said back panel, and an upper edge of said upper cover portion reversably attaching to said back panel to establish a display mode configuration for the case.