Help: Looking after your guitar collection

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 12:00 PM

Oh jup you just don't get it.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: jup
Date: 13 Feb 02 - 03:22 AM

53, I don,t realy care who has what, just trying to be argumentative. I don't know what the humidity is here. It is high sometimes though.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:13 PM

I don't have a dog.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 10:06 PM

Not having small children around, and being a daily practicer, I use triple instrument stands myself. The dog keeps its distance since it once barked in the family room and was totally spooked by the sympathetic vibrations from twelve stringed instruments. I'm forced to cover the instrument farthest from the wall in each stand because of sunlight, but it seems to me that someone could making some matching dust-covers. If dust is a major factor, covers seem a whole lot easier than casing and uncasing; I only do that when I have a gig.

CC

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 09:27 PM

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 08:58 PM

jup, number one the humidity in our house never falls below 55% and that's the perfect humidity for storing musicial instruments. yes your is probably better than mine since I live in a mobile home and space is very limited. I keep all my guitars in their case, and when the morning comes, and if I awake and I" m alive I usually put one guitar on a stand and I'' leave it there for the day. Then I;ll be able to play it without the trouble of the case. cheers.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Jeep man
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 04:20 PM

CF Martin company says to always keep your Martin in its case when not in use. Nuff for me. Jeep

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: jup
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 04:14 PM

53, I bet mine is better than yours! HOW DO YOU HUMIDIFY THE MUSIC ROOM? I have a small A/C unit in the room I keep the stuff in set to recirculate the air. I want everything easy to get to,and I like to be able to see my collection.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Cap't Bob
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 03:58 PM

I'm lucky enough to have one room dedicated primarily to music and musical instruments. Like Dave T mentioned the main consideration is humidity and a good humidifier is the best bet. My instruments are all on stands or in convenient locations. I like to be able to just pick up an instrument and begin playing without dealing with the cases.

Cap't Bob

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 12 Feb 02 - 02:06 PM

Let's fight about guitars and things instead of guests, at least then we'll be fighting over something worhtwhile.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 06:21 PM

C-flat: - Probably not so good there for real skin banjo heads. I still remember the days when banjo pickers would heat up their heads with a lighter just so they'd tension up to pitch. Come to think of it, that's probably a problem with bodhrans too ??

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: C-flat
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 04:05 PM

I've never been so glad to belong to a part of the world where heat and humidity has never been a concern with regard to "drying out" guitars!Here in the North East of England you can't get washing to dry out!!

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: GUEST,Les B.
Date: 11 Feb 02 - 01:18 PM

When I looked in the closet this morning, I had eight instruments stashed upright in their cases - guitars, banjo, fiddle, mando, and autoharp, plus a few more items under the bed. Even though its a pain not to be able to grab one at a moment's notice, keeping them in the cases makes me feel much more secure. Wall hanging, I think, leads to drying out, dropping, sunburn, unwanted usage, and advertising your collection to strangers for "midnight acquisition". Also, my wife would have a few terse words about the decor!

I like the idea of the 'Guitar Tidy' and have just been contemplating building some sort of rack so they don't all tip over when you grab a shirt or a pair of shoes! Keeping instruments in the case is an easier way to control the humidity, although I've got to get my replenishment schedule more precise.

A utopian idea I've toyed with is building a humidified storage cabinet with a built in speaker playing music (like a 24-hour radio station). I read an article that claimed doing this for fiddles would make the molecular structure tighten up more quickly to give that sweet tone that most instruments acquire only with age.

Midchuck - great tip about not wearing fingerpicks when you go to pee, that sounds really cold! :) Its also good not to eat buttered popcorn before you play, so they don't fly off into someone's lap in the front row.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 04:50 PM

A $13.00 bass, 3 Seagull guitars, a tenor guitar by Harmony, a bodhran, and a $0.50 mandolin...

I'm lucky enough to have an extra closet to store my "arsenol" in... in the cases, leaned up against the back of the closet, case-handles out for easy grabbin...

I do plan on getting a hygrometer so I can keep that correct too, but that's not such a going concern here except in winter...

I'd NEVER store an instrument I cared about on a hook on the wall... 1) I don't trust 'em to not fall out (but that's just a paranoia thing) and 2) dust, humidity, accidents, unwelcome fingers are all too hard to prevent when they're out in the open...

I feel better if they're kept out of harms way...

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 04:48 PM

My point exactly, Midchuck.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Midchuck
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 04:42 PM

Owning a plywood "beater" (or two) is not only useful for playing for songs around a campfire where smoke is blowing and sparks are flying out and the guy sitting next to you is trying to decide if he has drunk enough to need to puke yet. It's also handy 'cause you can leave it hanging on the wall in case you have 5 minutes to work on something, when you wouldn't have time enough to bother taking an instrument out of a case, and not worry.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: GUEST,SlickerBill
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 04:39 PM

After my latest aquisition, a Larivee L05, I was warned in no uncertain terms to not hang guitars, at least acoustics, on walls, as they dry out faster higher up on the wall. Is this not so? In the summer I use guitar stands and leave em out, usually in corners away from traffic, but in the winter, I keep the Larry in a case for humidity purposes. It feels less accessible though, I like having em out and around so I can just pick em up and go at it. Electrics are easier that way. My question is, having an i-hole humidifier, how often do you add water to the sponge? This is southern Manitoba, Canada we're talkin' about; gets pretty dry, but I don't want to over do it. SB

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 04:29 PM

Correction, I meant to say that we have 5 acoustics, 2 electrics, and a baritone uke.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Rolfyboy6
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 02:59 PM

I have the same problem. I hung them on the wall until an earthquake (Northern California) cracked my 000-18. Now they are on stands or in their case.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Justa Picker
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:44 AM

The only one of my guitars that is out of its case and residing on a stand at any given time, is the one I happen to be playing. The rest are stored in their cases, with a "Dampit" beside the neck and another inside the sound hole, which are checked and refilled once a week in the winter. I also have a humidifier in my studio which maintains a constant humidity level of around 45%, monitored with a hygrometer. I just can't get into the idea of mounting them on walls, and feel they're safer for many reasons kept in their cases when not being played. Yep it takes more time to grab one from its case than to spontaneously grab one off of the wall - but when you have small kids and animals around, and getting dings is a major pet peeve, its the only way I can sleep securely. *G*

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: 53
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:41 AM

We have 7 acoustics, and 1 uke, and we just keep them in their cases in our front room of our mobile home, but I always keep them in their case, most of all to keep the dust off of them, I hate dusty guitars.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Midchuck
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 10:32 AM

On a Flanders and Swann record, many years back, there was a song called "Design for Living" which made mention of a "Guitar-tidy for parties."

I thought it was a good idea so I built one.

It's just a thing like a bookcase stood on one side, made out of 1" x 12" lumber. Holds 3 guitars, in cases, standing upright. Has screw eyes in each upright, just above where the upper bouts of the guitars come, so I can slide a dowel through them to hold the instrunments in place.

I also have hangers on the wall, here and there, out of reach of cats or small visiting children, for instruments I wish to leave out to play.

I don't like the idea of leaving an instrument (one worth over a couple hundred bucks, anyway) out of its case, in a floor stand, unless I'm sitting right next to it.

One warning, for those who haven't discovered this already: Never put a guitar in its case, and set the case cover down but leave it unlatched. If you do, sooner or later you'll forget, and pick the case up by the handle, or someone else will. CRASH! Always click at least one latch, even if you only put the thing in the case long enough to go pee, or whatever.

Also, if you're male, and you're drinking while playing, remember to take off your fingerpicks if you go to pee....

Peter.

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Dave T
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:52 AM

I agree with Deckman...hang them on a wall and if the younguns are coming over, store them in their cases. If you live in a temperate or colder climate, it's important in winter to make sure the humidity is kept up to a reasonable level. This is one of the most common causes of cracks in instruments. I have a humidifier and hygrometer so I can keep the humidity around 35% in winter. This ensures the wood won't dry out, shrink and subsequently crack. I have a 1967 Martin whose previous owner obviously hadn't heard this advice...I had the crack (right under the treble E-string) fixed when I got it and the instrument's been fine ever since.
You can also get special humidifiers that fit in the sound hole of a guitar or through the f-holes of fiddles, etc. They're basically nothing more than a sponge inside a plastic case with holes in it; you soak it, squeeze out the excess water and put it in the instrument when you're not playing.

- Dave T

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Deckman
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 08:24 AM

I also have quite a collection, guitars, banjos, autoharps, several oddities, cats, etc. My two vintage Martins, which are quite valuable, hang on the bedroom wall for two reasons: I can grab them quickly at a moments inspiration; and they are safe from danger. However, whenever the grandchildren are heading over, they go back in their cases for safety. Also, don't forget insurance. Theft insurance is important and inexpensive, unless you travel with them on the road. Bob

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: Gillie
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 07:27 AM

We have the same problem - six guitars, one bass, a violin, 2 banjolins, 2 banjolayies, 3 manolins the list goes on. Short of leaning them up against a wall, how about putting fittings on the wall and hanging them up.

Gillie and Magician

Subject: RE: Help: Looking after your guitar collection
From: GUEST,C-flat
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 05:46 AM

I'm wrestling with the same problem.Three accoustics,three electrics and a mandolin.I think "real" collectors use drawer cabinets to store valuable instruments in,presumably specially made,my own "collection" will probably end up on wall hangers.I have only to persuade my partner of the merits of such a display in our recently decorated house.Any tips in that direction?

Subject: Looking after your guitar collection
From: jup
Date: 10 Feb 02 - 05:17 AM

What do people do to store guitars,mandolins,banjos,etc.? I have 5 guitars[2 electric]a Gibson mandolin 1922,a couple of banjos [Windsors]and other bits and pieces. I want to set up proper storage where they are easily available for use. Any ideas ?