Last remaining stock • In 4 active carts right now • Only 10 left
Wade's Handmade Piano Bags
Wade's Handmade Piano Bags
Ships within 2–3 days
90-day return policy
Insured & free shipping with tracking
Couldn't load pickup availability
Wade's Handmade Piano Bags
Cut by Hand in Gloversville, New York
Wade Merrick, 73. His grandfather cut his first pair of gloves in this town in 1931, his father cut after him, and Wade has been at the same bench since 1974. When the tannery he had bought from all his working life shut its doors, he took the hides that were left rather than watch them go out as scrap — and spent two years cutting them into 398 keyboard bags . This is the final run. There is no second workshop and no more of this hide.
“My mother taught me to play in the evenings, on the upright in the front room. There was one piece she asked for more than the others, and when I got to the end of it she said the same thing every time, in French, because that’s how her mother had said it to her. Fifty-one years of leather all day and the piano at night, and it never once occurred to me the two had anything to do with each other — until I was about seventy.”
— Wade Merrick · Merrick Leather, Gloversville, New York
What You Receive
Everything That Ships With Your Bag
Your Keyboard Bag
Full leather, cut and finished by one pair of hands. Flat structured base, one-handed flap, ready to carry the day it arrives.
Large or Small
Large 13.8″ × 9″ (35 × 23 cm) for sheet music. Small 8.3″ × 5.9″ (21 × 15 cm) for keys, phone and a pencil.
Two Ways to Wear It
A detachable strap that re-clips to be worn across the body or over both shoulders. Same fitting on both sizes.
Struck by Hand
Your bag’s number pressed into the inside of the flap with his father’s steel dies. Numbers run to 398, then stop.
Why This One
Six Things You Won’t Find on a $16 Copy
Every detail below came out of fifty-one years of watching other people’s work fail, and knowing exactly where it fails first.
Leather, With Nothing Bonded To It
Coated bags are a thin polyurethane film sitting on a fabric backing. Humidity breaks the film down, it loses its grip and lifts — tacky first, then a flake on your thumb, usually inside two to three years. Leather has no film to lose. It does not peel. It darkens where your hand goes.
Doubled Where Straps Actually Break
A strap never fails in the middle. It fails at the fixing, where the whole load pivots on two stitches. That is the one place Wade puts a second layer of leather behind the seam. It is invisible, it costs him time, and it is the reason the bag outlives the bags it is copied by.
It Stands Up When You Set It Down
A flat, stiffened base, so the bag sits upright on a bench, a pew or a passenger seat instead of folding over the moment you let go. No board, no plastic frame — the shape comes from the hide itself, which is why it holds loaded or empty.
Opens With One Hand
Because the other one is holding something. And at the thumb point — the spot on the flap that gets pushed every single time — there is a firmer patch of leather. That is where coated bags crack first. Here it goes dark instead, and after a year it stops looking like anybody’s bag but yours.
A Real Octave, Not Decoration
Correct spacing, correct groups of two and three black keys across the front, and his mother’s line — C’est ma chanson préférée — stamped where your hand rests when the bag is closed. Wade plays. He would have noticed. Most of the copies got it wrong and nobody checking them could tell.
Bigger Inside Than It Photographs
The large one takes loose sheet music laid in sideways — not a ring binder, and not a bound method book standing upright, and Wade would rather say so than have one come back. The small one was cut for a different job entirely, not scaled down from the large.
Craft Note
“You can tell hand-cut leather goods from the coated ones before you have even opened them. Real hide has weight without padding — there is no foam sheet glued behind a lining doing the work. Look at the edge: on a coated bag you feel the cut line where the film stops, often sealed with a bead of paint that chips. A burnished, folded edge takes considerably longer and it is the reason the thing does not fray. And a coated bag has a shelf life whether you use it or not. Leather does the opposite. The places that get handled most are the places that improve.”
Dale Whitfield — Saddler, 34 years · Bench-trained, Upstate New York
Where It Goes
Made For Being Carried, Not Displayed
Quality Promise
Five Things You Get With Every Bag
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Carry it about. If it isn’t what you thought when it arrives — the weight, the stitching, the size, anything at all — put it back in the post within 30 days for a full refund. No questions and no forms. Wade sold these at markets for years to people who could pick the thing up first; this is the closest we can get to that.
A hide is not a rectangle. The spine is dense and good, the edges are thin and stretchy, and the useful part is smaller than people assume — which is why the flap panels come out of the back where the leather is tightest. Small differences in grain, tone and marking between one bag and the next are not faults. They are what a hide looks like when a person laid it out on a table and decided where to cut. No two are identical, and that is the point. Wade’s granddaughter Nora set up the shop after people at the markets kept asking where else they could be found; the two of them pack every order themselves, on the same bench he cuts on, which is why it occasionally takes a day longer than it should.
The Details
Product Specifications
| Material | Full leather outer, cut from the last hides of a Gloversville tannery — no coating, no bonded film |
| Construction | Cut and finished by one pair of hands; folded and burnished edges; doubled leather behind the strap anchor; firmer patch at the thumb point |
| Sizes |
Large
13.8″ W × 9″ H (35 × 23 cm)
Small 8.3″ W × 5.9″ H (21 × 15 cm) |
| Fits (Large) | Loose sheet music laid in sideways, a notebook, phone, keys and a wallet. Not a ring binder, and not a bound method book standing upright |
| Fits (Small) | Keys, a phone, a pencil and a folded programme |
| Strap | Detachable and re-clipping — worn across the body or over both shoulders. Identical fitting on both sizes, so straps are interchangeable |
| Closure | Fold-over flap, opens with one hand |
| Base | Flat and stiffened — stands upright loaded or empty. No board, no plastic frame |
| Front Panel | A correct octave — proper spacing, proper groups of two and three black keys — with C’est ma chanson préférée stamped beneath |
| Marking | Number struck by hand into the inside of the flap with his father’s steel dies |
| Care | Wipe with a dry cloth. A leather conditioner once or twice a year is plenty. Do not machine wash. The flap will darken at the thumb point with use — that is the leather working, not wear |
| Use | Everyday carry · Lessons & rehearsals · Sheet music · Recitals · Travel · Gifting |
| Maker | Wade Merrick — Merrick Leather, Gloversville, New York. Third generation; cutting since 1974 |
| Final Run | 398 bags. No reorders — there is no more of this hide and the workshop closes when the shelves are empty |
| Price | $49 per bag, either size — down from $109 |
| Shipping | Ships from New York · free US shipping · 3–5 business days |
| Sold By | Marlow Market Co. — the only place Wade’s bags are sold |
| Guarantee | 30-day full refund, no questions asked |
The Final Sale
The Final Sale
Message from the Artist:
After years of making things by hand, our workshop is closing. These are the last pieces we'll ever ship. Every item on this page was made slowly, carefully, and with more love than any factory could replicate. Nothing rushed. Nothing outsourced. Just real craft from real hands.
We're proud of every single one. We hope they find good homes.
When they're gone, they're gone — and so are we.
Shipping with UPS / USPS
Shipping with UPS / USPS
Free shipping across the United States
- Delivery time: 7–14 business days
- Insured: Every package is fully insured
🌳 Carbon-neutral shipping with UPS / USPS
800+ Happy Customers
Excellent 4.9
What Wade's customers are saying
Freqquently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
My wife and I personally respond to every single email — as fast as we possibly can. Whether you have a question about your order or just want to talk craft, we're here.
You can reach us:
- Mon – Fri: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CT)
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM (CT)
Email: info@craftfolk.com
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Can I return my order if I don't like it?
Of course. We stand behind everything on CraftFolk 100%. If you're not happy, neither are we. Just shoot us an email within 90 days and we'll make it right — no hassle, no headaches.
How are your products made?
How are your products made?
Every single product on CraftFolk is 100% handmade — crafted by hand, using only premium quality materials. We're proud to carry on a tradition of craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations.