January 07, 2025
Gator Cases: Meet the Makers
When musicians of all stripes have gear-transportation problems, Gator has durable, smartly designed solutions.
“Alligators are tough,” says Rob Garofala, director of U.S. Sales for Gator Cases, one of the world’s most popular instrument-accessory companies.
He’s referring, first off, to the animals—the seemingly indestructible creatures that slither throughout our various wetlands, bearing a distinctive skin resilient to the elements. These creatures are a common sight in Tampa, Florida, where, in 2000, the father-daughter duo of Jerry Freed and Crystal Morris founded Gator around the latter’s kitchen table. “Our cases are also tough,” Garofala adds, “and now you see them everywhere.”
The mission statement was—and is—simple: addressing the practical needs of committed musicians, from middle-schoolers lugging around their saxophones to pro guitarists figuring out how to transport their gear via airplane. But Gator wouldn’t exist without the vision of Freed and Morris, building on a lineage of hard work and hustle.
Freed brought decades of experience to Gator, having previously worked with various brands throughout the gear industry—including the International Music Corporation, which he co-founded with Tommy Moore in 1969. IMC struck a distribution deal with the influential Japanese electronics/instrument company AKAI, and with additional help from Roger Linn, creator of the LM-1 drum machine, the revolutionary AKAI MPC workstation was born. “[The MPC] became this very important product,” says Garofala, “that took on a whole new life with hip-hop and other genres.”
But Freed made his most notable career move with Gator, filling a market void with their line of molded cases—including their ubiquitous heavy-duty guitar and bass cases. “Once you dial it in, once you get it right,” Garofala says, “there’s not a whole lot that needs to change.”
Meeting the Needs of Working Musicians
Over the years, Gator developed into one of the industry’s most reputable brands, with “guitar cases at the core” of what they do. But they also expanded to build cases for just about every instrument imaginable, along with pro audio, audio-visual and utility equipment. “It’s really grown into a one-stop case operation,” says Garofala.
A key step in that development came in 2008, when Gator acquired XL Specialty Percussion, a small drum-case manufacturer based in Central Indiana. The founder of XL, the late Neal Graham, was also a drummer and drum instructor—experience that further elevated Gator’s reputation in the drum community. It also created an even more direct pipeline to professionals, helping Gator design creative yet practical products. Today, Gator’s drum and percussion offerings are robust—from made-to-last padded cases and molded plastic cases to popular hardware bags.
“Artists have always been a huge part of what has made Gator successful, simply because of the connection to the product that we make and the solution they’re looking for,” says Garofala. Gator’s dealer network is crucial in that regard, servicing musicians on every level—from students to touring and session musicians. He highlights a couple examples, including players who’ve been “thrust onto the national spotlight” as part of a breakout band and suddenly had their travel demands change. The “most famous” request, he says, is this: “I have to fly with my gear for a gig. Please, Gator, help me!”
This brings Garofala to the Minivault, which is designed to transport guitars via airplane to gigs all over the world. “The whole idea is you can wheel this thing, and you can bring two solidbody guitars, like Les Pauls and Stratocasters, and still come in under that 50-pound airline weight limit,” he says. “This is the kind of solution-oriented building that comes from working closely with touring artists, working closely with artists at every level. I love it when I get on an airplane and I see our customers carrying our stuff, putting it in an overhead bin, getting off an airplane with a transit gig bag. It’s a common sight. Everything we do comes from that connection.”
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Carts, Racks & Cables
Today, with Morris at the helm following Freed’s passing in 2014, Gator is known for far more than just cases: The top banner of their website proudly lists the Frameworks, Rackworks and Cableworks divisions, all of which help diversify their reach.
“The biggest category in our Roto-Mold facility is our G-Pro Racks,” Garofala says. “They’re some of the most popular rack solutions in the world. We were recently in Las Vegas for the lighting and staging tradeshow, and there were all these different manufacturers and companies using these G-Pro Racks made at our little facility in Columbia City, Indiana.”
Cableworks, he notes, is the company’s newest addition—something that “took a very long time to develop,” as they aimed for something “unique and patented” with series like the Headliner cables, which ship with TORIColor identification rings. Each cable comes with eight colors in the packaging, allowing musicians to organize cables based on application. “If everyone in the band needs to have their own color, if you’re mixing at the board, if you’re a pro and you want to set up your event, a lot of times you’ll color-code—[for example, separating] your 50-foot XLRs from your 20-foot XLRs,” he says. “That way you know exactly where to lay out each cable. It makes it very easy to set up and break down each event.”
One of Gator’s most popular products is relatively new: the 52-inch Utility Cart, which has become a favorite among band and orchestra directors. The standard cart is a versatile workhorse that holds over 500 pounds, featuring stair climbers and folding handles, spring-tightening knobs, non-pneumatic tires and a heavy-duty welded-steel frame—design elements that help maximize flexibility and minimize uncertainty. “We designed our Utility Cart to be able to work with not only our keyboard cases but also our line of stands,” says Garofala. “Which is really cool, because now you can start to use multiple solutions together.”
Band & Orchestra
Gator does a lot of business in the band-and-orchestra world, partly because they realize every one of these instruments has different casing needs. This is especially true for students, who may be lugging around their heavy gear to school and back.
“When you’re a beginner, there are so many hurdles toward playing that instrument: getting the right sound, finding a place to practice—and one of the biggest hurdles is hauling that instrument to and from class and lessons,” he says. “I play a tenor saxophone—it’s heavy. When you’re a beginner starting with this instrument in sixth or seventh grade, it will feel even heavier, especially when you’re carrying books. So we designed our cases in the Largo and Adagio series to be the lightest on the market for carrying these heavy instruments.”
These cases also have backpack straps and exterior pockets—small details that can make a big difference in the day-to-day lives of young players. “Anything we can do to make it easier to access that instrument—to practice that instrument, to play that instrument, to bring it to school,” he says, “we’re going to do.”
A Solutions-First Approach
Every bit of Gator gear, Garofala says, is a “solution”: a way of eliminating barriers between musicians and the music they make. To that end, they’ve become a “new-product machine,” having introduced 180 new products in 2024, with hundreds more planned for the next 18 months.
“We’re an accessory company,” he says. “What accessories allow you to do is really access and connect with your instrument. You’re not going to buy a new guitar every month or a new amplifier every year. But [it helps] when you have something you can buy to add to what you’re doing—like a new pedalboard that makes it easier for you to bring exactly what you need to the gig. And many of us don’t play that many gigs. It’s something we need every once in a while. [We provide] these accessories at a price that every musician can afford and with a feature set that allows you to actually play that gig, connect with your instrument and connect with other people.”
Gator’s even looking out for the small-town buddies who want to jam after work—a process that “requires more than your guitar and your amp,” Garofala says. That’s why they release nearly 200 products every year—to make these musical connections easier for everyone.
“We always say, ‘Nobody ever buys a flight case until they’ve already booked their airline ticket,’” he adds with a laugh. “That’s the last thing they think of on the way out the door—‘How am I gonna bring my guitar? I have this gig!’ That’s the kind of understanding and connection that drives all of these solutions at all of these different levels.”
