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Keep basses in case?

J

Joe Geni

Sep 19, 2020
22
11
#1
I have four basses. My 1960 Kay short scale hollowbody is mercurial and the intonation gets messed up by even a couple days out of its case, so I must keep it in its case with a humidifier pack when not playing it.

My other three basses are Fenders, two fretless (P, J) and one fretted (Frankenstein PJ). The PJ and Fretless P are from the 70s. Do you think these instruments need to stay in their cases or can they just hang out in my living room? What do y’all do? I welcome advice.
 
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#3
If your living room can maintain a decent humidity (around 45%) then, they should be fine. Just avoid huge swings, like 20% to 70% over short periods of time…(as in one day blast the A/C and then the next day blast the humidifier because the A/C removed all the moisture from the air…and then the third day blast the A/C because it is now “raining” in the house from blasting the humidifier the day before…)
In other words, don’t “blast” the conditioned space with any “conditioning”.
 
#4
Some folks like looking at their instruments which can inspire them to play/practice. Not me. I remember what’s in the case. :)

Cases protect from accidents. Dust, falls, other items impacting them. They allow temperatures and humidity to change slowly when big swings occur.

It seems very personal. In some cases (play on words:)) our locations are so different say Fargo to South Beach that our needs differ greatly.
 
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#9
Mine seem to be very happy in their cases.

Bass rack.jpg
 
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#10
Joe Geni said:
I have four basses. My 1960 Kay short scale hollowbody is mercurial and the intonation gets messed up by even a couple days out of its case, so I must keep it in its case with a humidifier pack when not playing it.

My other three basses are Fenders, two fretless (P, J) and one fretted (Frankenstein PJ). The PJ and Fretless P are from the 70s. Do you think these instruments need to stay in their cases or can they just hang out in my living room? What do y’all do? I welcome advice.
Click to expand...

My experience is that in or out of the case really does not matter, just let it stabilize, and setup accordingly, and all should be fine. It sounds like you cause the humidity in the case to be much higher than your overall environment, and essentially cause your own problem by causing large moisture changes in your instrument.
 
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#15
I just keep mine out. But I live alone.

If there were small or rambunctious children, animals, or similar hazards in the house, and I couldn’t keep them in a room away from that, I would keep them in the case.

Also if I couldn’t keep them parked out of the sun, I would keep them in the case. Long term UV damage can be horrific.
 
#17
I don’t own a case. At home my instruments live on stands or hang on the wall. I dislike owning many, so every one gets played daily anyway.

Back when I played jazz gigs on guitar I started to use gigbags instead of cases for transportation, even with expensive hollow bodied instruments like my es-175. All the other guitarists on my conservatory did (and still do) too.

Cases do not protect against falls. Did you know that many broken necks are the result of cases falling over with the guitar inside? Gigbags offer better protection in that respect, but then they don’t stack as easy of course. Granted, our basses are not as fragile as Gibsons of course.

We had a joke back then: “Do you know why I keep my tele in its gigbag? To protect the other guitars!”
 

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