Chris hits the nail on the head. It's changes that screw it up. Washington DC is notorious for it. It's 90-100% humidity in the summer, 10% in the winter.
I keep one or two out on stands and the other 23 in cases. Every so often I switch them out and put a case humidifier in if necessary.
Do you have to have one? No. Will it protect them from accidents? Yes.
You can get a halfway decent case for under $70. It's a reasonable investment if you have a nice guitar.
It's also dependant on how risk averse you are and what value you have placed on a guitar. Any guitar of mine that would cost more than $3k to replace goes back in when I'm done playing.
I have cases for all of my guitars, but most of the time, they hang on my wall instead of sitting in their cases. I only use the cases when I leave the house with a guitar. The wall hangers keep them safe from dropping/falling over. It also leaves them very accessible whenever I want to grab one! My climate is very dry, so my acoustic has a humidifier in the sound hole., to keep the wood from drying out and cracking.
I keep one or two out on stands and the other 23 in cases. Every so often I switch them out and put a case humidifier in if necessary.
Other 23? I only have 18. :( Now my son's bass guitars are in the house though so that does make 25. :lol:
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Door ways and stair wells take a ton of abuse from my cases, but at least it's not my guitars banging on them.
Same here TRGuitar. I'm a known doorway abuser... :)
I never take a guitar anywhere without putting it in a case - or sometimes a gig bag. I'm just too good at knocking against things.. :oops: I've even been known to occasionally put a guitar in a case just to carry it upstairs - as I have a very narrow staircase. But apart from that they live on stands where I can see them and pick them up easily and rest them safely when I put them down.
I got stand space for 6. The rest are in a closet. I rotate them of course.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I keep one or two out on stands and the other 23 in cases. Every so often I switch them out and put a case humidifier in if necessary.
Other 23? I only have 18. :( Now my son's bass guitars are in the house though so that does make 25. :lol:
I think that I need to introduce you two guys to the elite "Guitar Babysitting Service" that I founded a few seconds ago...
For a modest weekly fee I'll look after all your surplus instruments. I'll even take them for a little 'walkies' every now and then. Obviously you both have far too many to be able lavish the full amount of love, playing and care they all need... :P
I have a mere 5. :cry: Two hard cases, two gig bags, and 4 or 5 stands. Life can be tough..... :wink:
If you're travelling, get a hard case....especially on a plane, the baggage handlers really don't give a hoot - put a "fragile" sticker on a guitar case, all that means is they'll throw it into the hold from 20 feet away as opposed to 40 feet.....
Uh... Don't bet on that. As someone who works for the U.S. post office off and on, I can tell you that if baggage handlers are anything like postal workers... Label interpretation goes something like this:
1. 'Fragile' means almost nothing (frequently nothing at all).
2. 'Fragle/Fragil' means nothing at all ever, and will get you and your spelling laughed at, while your stuff (possibly your treasured gibson) gets gleefully tossed around, like one of those raggedy anne dolls.
3. 'Do not throw' means 'throw me!'.
4. 'Do not drop' means 'if heavy always drop'
5. 'Fragile' combined with 'do not throw' means 'throw me REALLY hard!'
Okay in all fairness not ALL workers treat things this way, but many do. So the moral of the story is if you're shipping something pack it as though someone's gonna go out their way to trash your stuff.
Wood doesn't usually split, warp or crack because of either moisture or dryness as such.
It usually moves, one way or the other, when it changes state too quickly. To put it another way, if it absorbs or loses moisture too fast then it is more likely to either warp or crack.
So true. In general if your room/house stays at more or less constant temp & humidity you should be okay. I know I don't worry about it, but then again my only guitar at the moment is a solid body electric, so it's not a real issue anyhow :)
Location: Home, 'cause there's more beer here.
I've seen magazine ads for hard cases with built-in humidifiers, and I don't even want to imagine what they cost. But, if someone has that much invested either financially or emotionally, it may be worth it. As for me and mine, it's a $100 guitar that I got for $60, with $100 worth of accessories thrown in, so I'm not worried about losing my shirt over it. I also know that I'm hard on stuff, so buying something delicate and expensive, at least for my first, just didn't add up for me. Everyone has to find their own comfort/risk tolerance level with their possesions.
"Yes and an old guitar is all that he can afford,
when he gets up under the lights to play his thing..."-Dire Straits
http://www.myspace.com/misterpete42
I have an acoustic size gig-bag and an electric size gig-bag, both of which usually contain the last guitar I took out of the house, while the others are leant against walls (haven't got stands or wall hooks) in various places around the computer. My first guitar I've had for 14 years and it was made, I think, in the 70s. They're all still fine. :)
I have an acoustic size gig-bag and an electric size gig-bag, both of which usually contain the last guitar I took out of the house, while the others are leant against walls (haven't got stands or wall hooks) in various places around the computer. My first guitar I've had for 14 years and it was made, I think, in the 70s. They're all still fine. :)
Haha. might just wanna make sure you don't leave it with a cable plugged in and leaning on the plug :) A friend at work had the jack go bad on his LP that way. 'course he did'nt mind because he replaced all the innards anyway, but still.
Location: Home, 'cause there's more beer here.
I've only got the socket in that position on one of them, the rest are on the front in various configurations. Thanks for the thought though :)
Darn, just when I thought I knew something. :(
:D
Location: Home, 'cause there's more beer here.
Do you have a dog in your house? Yes? Get a Case!
Do you have a cat in your house? Yes? Get a Case!
Do you have people under the age of 15 in your house? Yes? Get a Case!
Do you have people over the age of... I think you know where I'm going
It's just the same as insurance, you don't need it until you need it, and, if you aint got it...ouch
The only thing that keeps me from realising my full potential is the depressing awareness that it wouldn't take much time or effort...
So true.
I know I've walked around corners and smacked the case and thought, man I'm glad I'm not trying to save $70.
Yeeeeaaaah, buuuuuut.... every time I can spare enough money for a case, I buy a pickup. Or a pedal. Or a 12string acoustic that would've been cheap at twice the price. etc. When there's cash in my hand and I have a choice between something that'll make me play more or something that encourages me to put the guitar away, I know which I'm getting :wink:
Not that scraping enough to buy anything happens very often anyway, as I tend to spend more than I have going to watch local music :)
