To hang, or not to hang?

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littlebadboy

Roadie
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To hang it, or not? I live in the Midwest, where the four seasons bring extreme weather conditions, with humidity as low as 22% in winter. My wife doesn't want to use a whole-house humidifier anymore because she's worried it may cause mold in the attic again. I'm thinking of removing my guitars from their cases and hanging them on the wall year-round for easy access; is this a good idea?
 
littlebadboy said:
To hang it, or not? I live in the Midwest, where the four seasons bring extreme weather conditions, with humidity as low as 22% in winter. My wife doesn't want to use a whole-house humidifier anymore because she's worried it may cause mold in the attic again. I'm thinking of removing my guitars from their cases and hanging them on the wall year-round for easy access; is this a good idea?
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No .
I see a lot of vintage guitars and everything lasts far better in the case .
 
I keep a 6 way stand out and rotate 6 on that, the other 24 ( I think) live in cases and acoustics always live in cases.
 
Show her this:
www.kenphilp.com

How Much Humidity Does Mold Need to Grow | Ken Philip ClimateCare

How much humidity does it take for mold to grow? Keep reading to find out the ideal conditions for mold growth and what you can do to avoid them.
www.kenphilp.com

And make a deal to get it up to 45%?

Personally I keep all me guitars for grabs, including some vintage ones. Cause a few of them are archtops I do monitor humidity…22% I’d wanna do something about it.
For solid bodies I’d be less concerned….but…never experienced the consequences of extreme conditions like you are dealing with.
 
I keep my whole house humdifier set to 35% and my Hydrometer says it is 41% Relative Humidity
in my Music Room right now. I'd never go as high as 55%. WTF??

Anything below 30% scares me and I notice a bit of drying/shrinking with my guitars. I have a
friend who doesn't use an humidifier and burns wood for heat in his home and all his guitars
are getting whacked and the necks are shrinking---which makes it seem like the frets are
"sprouting."
 
Humidity can be quite low here in Finland during the winter. I've just kept my guitars on a stand and while there is some neck shrinkage that may cause fret sprouting. You can just file the frets in the winter, then if the wood expands a bit during summer it causes no real issue in my experience.

I'd think of guitar storage in terms of "would I be comfortable in this space?" Like if it's very cold in the room, that'd be an issue, right? I find that if I keep a guitar in my office, it is more often out of tune compared to keeping it in another room that happens to be a bit warmer.
 
laxu said:
Humidity can be quite low here in Finland during the winter. I've just kept my guitars on a stand and while there is some neck shrinkage that may cause fret sprouting. You can just file the frets in the winter, then if the wood expands a bit during summer it causes no real issue in my experience.

I'd think of guitar storage in terms of "would I be comfortable in this space?" Like if it's very cold in the room, that'd be an issue, right? I find that if I keep a guitar in my office, it is more often out of tune compared to keeping it in another room that happens to be a bit warmer.
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This is right but if you have a hard case you still have to store it somewhere. Guitars definitely last far better in the long run in a hard case in the environment described 👆🏻.
 
Eagle said:
This is right but if you have a hard case you still have to store it somewhere. Guitars definitely last far better in the long run in a hard case in the environment described 👆🏻.
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Sure, but the way I see it, the less effort it takes you to get that guitar out and playing, the more often you'll do it. At least I'm lazy enough to think like that.
 
laxu said:
Sure, but the way I see it, the less effort it takes you to get that guitar out and playing, the more often you'll do it. At least I'm lazy enough to think like that.
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Oh I agree, I always have a guitar on a stand nearby. I have 6 on rotation in my office on a 6 stand and about 25 in cases. But I don’t leave Gibson, acoustics or vintage out of their cases.
This is pretty much always at arms reach;
IMG_4438.jpeg
 
I hate putting my guitars in cases. Granted, I don't have a flock of valuable guitars either and here in GA the weather is fairly moderate.
If it's in the case it's less likely to get played, unfortunately.
 
FuzzyAce said:
I hate putting my guitars in cases. Granted, I don't have a flock of valuable guitars either and here in GA the weather is fairly moderate.
If it's in the case it's less likely to get played, unfortunately.
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If you have more than say five some don’t get played often or maybe not at all for a few months.
Putting them in cases is best for them. I own tones of gear that isn’t my favourite but I don’t want to sell it. It’s definitely a dilemma.
 
Eagle said:
If you have more than say five some don’t get played often or maybe not at all for a few months.
Putting them in cases is best for them. I own tones of gear that isn’t my favourite but I don’t want to sell it. It’s definitely a dilemma.
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Oh, I have at least 10 in sight, ready to go. :grin
I do try and rotate as much as I can but there are definitely a few that get more attention.
 
I keep all my guitars (6) out in a multistand

Very dry here especially in the winter...

:sofa

I've never experienced shrinkage leading to sprout though, outside of the SE silver sky I no longer have
 
littlebadboy said:
To hang it, or not? I live in the Midwest, where the four seasons bring extreme weather conditions, with humidity as low as 22% in winter. My wife doesn't want to use a whole-house humidifier anymore because she's worried it may cause mold in the attic again. I'm thinking of removing my guitars from their cases and hanging them on the wall year-round for easy access; is this a good idea?
Click to expand...
22% is WAY too low. Just get a small evaporative humidifier, and keep out the guitars you play. I've got three out year round, and my music room is consistently 45% humidity.

22% is too low, even if they're in the case.
 
Eagle said:
Oh I agree, I always have a guitar on a stand nearby. I have 6 on rotation in my office on a 6 stand and about 25 in cases. But I don’t leave Gibson, acoustics or vintage out of their cases.
This is pretty much always at arms reach;
View attachment 38708
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Mine is always nearby on the wall
 

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Are your guitars for playing or for collecting? Are they for you to enjoy or your kids/heirs to sell when you die?
 
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