Howdy, Mark!

I have mixed feelings about this because, frankly, I don't know. I've seen a lot of people hang instruments, usually guitars, on a wall (and they certainly make a nice-looking wall hanging and sometime conversation starter), but I've had a few people tell me that this is not a good idea because moisture tends to gather around walls. Neither Al Roker nor my local meteorologist has confirmed this, however, and music stores routinely display guitars by hanging them on walls. It makes quite an elegant display, but of course their main concern is selling the instrument, and unless there's a store warranty, once it's out of the shop, it's no longer their problem (sounds like a good bit of advice from WYSIWYG, just above). I keep my guitars in their cases, partly because I'm in a wheelchair and hauling a guitar down off the wall is a bit more exercise than I care to get, and most of our walls are covered with book cases.

Splott Man raised an interesting point about ambient vibrations possibly helping prevent an idle instrument from growing dull. Some years ago, a friend bought a classic guitar from a luthier in Oregon (no Ramirez or Fernandez, but a very nice guitar indeed), and when the friend was leaving the shop with his brand new guitar, the maker said, "Now, don't forget to feed it." "Huh?" sez my friend. "Feed it?" "Yes," sez the luthier. "Put it on a stand or prop it up securely near your stereo speakers and play music for it. It takes awhile for a new guitar to 'play in,' and this will help the process."

Now, that may by a total crock, but unless you're real clumsy and knock the guitar over, or crank the stereo up so loud that the guitar explodes (along with several of your neighbors), I don't see that it could hurt. Sounds kinda plausible.

Don Firth