I can vouch for the tank-like nature of those Calton cases. And that guitar had not one millimeter of play when seated in it. Yes they are expensive, but worth every nickel. I could probably have shipped 1116 home to Rob in just the case. [gasp] (No, I didn't...)
Further musing on my experience with a vintage Series guitar... when not playing it on-duty, through my cheesy little Epiphone amp... out of my old DS-5 bluebox to a pair of Fender Princeton Reverb amps was the ticket to get the full effect. After a lot of experimentation, I found using a '68 for the neck pickup and a '65 for the bridge to be my favorite. The '68, definitely more of a harsher tone, I had swapped out the stock Eminence 30 (?) speaker for a Tone Tubby San Rafael. That warmed it up considerably. The '65 has a Celestion Cream 90w Alnico. Every time I think about changing that speaker, I plug something in and play for a few minutes... and... forget about it! It's just perfect.
All in all, the sound was just magical. I'm just as happy with the beautiful, (if slightly plain) maple-topped Little Darling I fell for this past Spring, and things being what they are, I shouldn't even have it. It sounds pretty good though this same rig just using the ABY box. Stereo, or Series... well, no... but she has her charms too. But that's another thread.
https://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=26951.0Thanks Again to Rob. I was happy to be just a little part of that guitar's history. It was a very big part of mine.