THE BEGINNING

The beginning of our story is a familiar one. A couple of professional musicians meet while horse-trading equipment and instruments and strike up a friendship. Soon, we found that our knowledge, talent and enthusiasm meet a need in the local music scene, and our friendship expanded into business ventures.

THAT FIRST BAG

One of our first goals – find a better way to transport the plethora of gear we needed to and from music gigs, something better than the current makeshift choices… duffle-bags, overstuffed guitar cases, even plastic grocery bags in a pinch.

And who better to design a musician’s carry-all than a couple of old pros?  We dumped out the contents of own guitar cases and took inventory.  Everything in that pile was vital.  Everything in that pile needed a spot in the new carry-all.  And everything in that pile needed to be easily accessible in the finished product.

MUSIC EXPRESS

The PFX1 was just the first of the music industry accessories we manufactured.  By 1994, we founded Music Express, an OEM/ODM design and manufacturing group serving the music products industry.  Music Express has evolved into a leading global supplier to many of the music and pro audio industry’s premier brands. We design and manufacture bags, cases and carrier systems for keyboards, pro audio and woodwinds & brass, stands & support hardware, wire & cable, miscellaneous guitar accessories and turnkey stringed instrument and drum product lines.

A CASE OR BAG FOR EVERY GUITAR.... AND MORE

And guitar bags and cases?  Absolutely.   Having established ourselves as knowledgeable and reputable manufacturers with highly innovative and skilled designers, heavy-hitters in the guitar industry sought us out to design and build their guitar cases and gig bags for years… Fender, Gibson, Taylor, Breedlove, Larrivee and Yamaha – just to name a few.  And we became (we’ve become?) one of the biggest suppliers of guitar bags and cases in the industry.

View a Gallery of Music Express OEM Bags and Cases – Click Here!

THE MASK COMES OFF

In 2003, we finally succumbed to a growing desire to apply some of our carefully-engineered, cutting-edge innovations to our own brand. After producing hundreds of thousands of guitar bags and cases for a long list of blue chip brands, we established ACCESS Bags and Cases.

HARDCELL IS A GAME CHANGER

ACCESS is first to use high-density closed cell foam in gig bags. Our HardCell™ version out performs more commonly used open-cell ‘sponge’ foams by every measure: shock absorption, thermal insulation and resistance to impact, puncture and moisture.

ACCESS PIONEERS THE HARD BAG

ACCESS pioneers the Hybrid Bag (HB) concept, incorporating solid polymer panels between layers of foam, combining the superior shock absorption of heavily padded bags with the solid hard shell protection of cases.

The Original Hard Bag

THE UPSTART UPRISING

Following  a lot of urging from their dealers, ACCESS subverts their Very Good → Better → Best product line to introduce UpStart: an entry-level bag – but one with a with backbone.  UpStart utilizes our rigid HardCell™ high-density foam allowing it to literally stand up to the status quo of flimsy, limp beginner guitar bags.

CUSTOM BUILDER SERIES

ACCESS Stage Five Guitar and Bass Cases

ACCESS introduces Stage Five Custom Builder cases, featuring custom modular interiors to accommodate the smaller production quantities of boutique guitar builders.

STILL GROWING

With distribution across Europe, Asia, and Australia beginning in 2013, ACCESS Bags and Cases has continued to expand globally and is now available in more than 21 countries.

THE LONG AWAITED STAGE FIVE BAG

Available direct to the public and as part of the ACCESS Custom Builders Series, the Stage Five elite level gig bag, also available with the same tooled inserts as its sister product, the Stage Five Case, makes its debut.