healthy temperature swing for bass and amp?

[J-B'ass]

hi there
I dont really know about this kind of stuff so im hoping some other kind sir or sirress will, but what would you say is a safe range for a bass, amp and speaker cab in terms of temperature and humidity fluxuation from night to day?

I ask because I sometimes leave my gear at a friends house, but because he's so organic (environmentaly friendly, 'green', whatever) he doesnt turn on the central heating, although he sometimes turns the radiator on if people are in there, so on a sunny day the room is pleasantly warm, but at night it gets very cold. Now I respect him for his stance on this global issue, but Im thinking its perhaps not too good to keep music gear in a place like that (he also keeps a drumkit, mics, and recording gear in there).

So yeah, thats my long rambly question
long rambly answers welcome!

[Pilgrim]

I don't think that equipment of this type will be at all threatened by any temperatures that human beings can stand to live in. "Very cold" for us might be 50 degrees F at night....but that's not "very cold" for inanimate objects.

If his house got to below freezing at night, you might have a problem - but then his frozen plumbing would tell him to turn the heat on.

[Incognitus]

I live in Alaska, its 14 degrees F (-8 C), and the cold doesn't hurt your stuff as long as you let it warm up sufficiently before playing. You do that to avoid condensation. As for just leaving it in cold, it'll be fine. My last band had a gig in Fairbanks and our stuff was in 15F to below zero temps and as long as we gave it time to warm up it was fine. I would suggest maybe slightly loosening your strings.

[202dy]

The basic rule for instrument care is to not subject it to any environment in which you would not place a child or small animal.

It is true that extremes of heat and cold will not cause harm under normal circumstances. The caveat here is that the gear be allowed to warm up slowly so as to minimize condensation. It is usually the water vapor that causes the most damage.

If you think about it, it makes sense. Guitar and amp manufacturers ship gear in the dead of winter. Loads of it, as a matter of fact. The NAMM show is in January and they start shipping on the Monday following the show. The gear sits on the shippers dock for at least twelve hours, sometimes for a couple of days if it leaves the factory on Friday.

As far as reducing tension on the neck, it is always best to leave the system in balance. Loosening the strings allows the truss rod to pull the neck toward a back bow. Again, most guitars arrive from the manufacturer in tune or nearly there.