We had all three of our kids out of the nest at one point and due to different circumstances, they are all returning home. My sons have been back for a bit and my daughter will be moving back this weekend. So much for some guitar practice space. My first reaction was to sell everything. :evil: After I calmed down, I am thinking I am going to store them all but my acoustic. The issue is that I only have a hard case for one of them. I do have gig bags for most of them and will get bags for the the rest.Will they be okay in a semi-controlled climate in bags? We have a dry storage space in the basement where I can keep them for now. It stays about 60-65 degrees year round. The humidity is higher in the summer of course. I need to get a hygrometer down there to see what the humidty level is currently. Should I loosen the strings to keep the strain off the necks?
I don't know how long they will need to be stored. It could be a few months or a year or more.
Any advice is greatly appeciated.
Thanks,
Jim
I called a couple of local guitar stores here and they both said (basically) the same thing. If the area is dry and comfortable to me, then the guitars should be fine in gig bags standing up, not stacked on top of each other. They did differ in the string area though. Both did say to keep the strings on. One store said to keep the guitars in full tune, the other said said to drop the tuning to either a half-step or a full step below standard.
I am going to compromise and tune them all a half-step down.
Jim
Reading your post just made me think of something. Maybe my logic is way off but the more that I think about it why would you need to tune them down a half step?
The guitar doesn't know it's being put into storage, if you weren't putting it in storage the guitar would be sitting in your room tuned normally for months/years why would anything change when it's being stored, unless there are some super extreme temp changes and if that's the case you probably have more issues then string tension.
Just my thought.
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Reading your post just made me think of something. Maybe my logic is way off but the more that I think about it why would you need to tune them down a half step?
The guitar doesn't know it's being put into storage, if you weren't putting it in storage the guitar would be sitting in your room tuned normally for months/years why would anything change when it's being stored, unless there are some super extreme temp changes and if that's the case you probably have more issues then string tension.
Just my thought.
Completly agree with this!
I would never loosen the strings when stroring a guitar, the neck is built to withstand tension and if its in a dry place i would think the neck would benefit from being kept in correct tension. Also when you do take it out of storage if your guitar is out of tune you will be able to tell if the neck has warped slightly. :wink:
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I always have two guitars ready for play (but in the case or gig bag) and two into the closet. The temperature in the closet is several degrees lower and it is a "external" wall. The weather is mainly dry but sometimes we have several consecutive raining days. I never had a problem, just a smell to "wet" in the bass strings, it disappears when I clean them.
Usually I play (or check) the guitars in the closet every now and then and I put some bags of silica gel in the cases or bags.
I tune mine down and they are always kept in a basement just like yours. Nothing bad has happened in the past 10 years.
If the guitars are in the basement, you're not going to play them. Leave the guitars where you can play them and put the kids in the basement. :wink:
Seriously, it's sometimes hard to find a practice space, but you need to figure out where that space is going to be and when you can use it. Set some rules. The longer the kids are there, the harder it will be to claim something for yourself.
I never had a problem with too much humidity, since I live in the desert, so I can't offer any advice there.
Renee
