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Storing basses in their cases or on the wall?

#42
I have one bass out on the stand when I am practicing. All the others are in either a soft case in my bedroom, hard case in the closet or under the bed. I don't mind taking the time to put them away and pull them out. I live close enough to the pacific that leaving stuff out will kill your strings.
 
#43
Pilgrim said:
What a miraculous catch!!!! (See post #5 above)

If you wall hang, DO NOT EVER trust screws that go into sheet rock. I don't care if you have a screw anchor the size of a dinner plate, don't trust it.

Wood screws into solid wood ONLY.

When I set up this room for hanging basses, I used oak 1x4 strips as a mounting base. Each oak strip was secured to wall studs by a dozen 3-inch sheetrock screws; then the hangars were mounted on the oak wood strips.

PC250032.jpg
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You've inspired me to set up my wall hangers in the same format. What is the centre-to-centre distance between your hangers if you don't mind me asking?
 
#44
Maxdusty said:
Something like this... this isn't mine - I like how the guy did this though. I do put mine in a cedar wardrobe I picked up for like $50- haven't put dividers in yet, but stacked vertically in gig bags for now. A Cedar cabinet is a great place to put basses in because the wood sucks in moisture and keeps everything in it dry.
Nice and safe, plus you can lock it if needed. :) Also you can waterproof it on the outside if a leaky roof is something you get often.
View attachment 521330
View attachment 521331
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That a sweet looking set-up. I'm going to keep my eye out for a nice used wardrobe.
 
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#46
wintremute said:
That a sweet looking set-up. I'm going to keep my eye out for a nice used wardrobe.
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Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift stores are great places to find them cheap. Mine is quite a bit smaller than the one in the pic but I can still fit 11 basses in there comfortably.
I would normally like to keep the basses out, but having militant cats prowling around the house makes it a risky proposition.
 
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#47
shadven said:
I have about a dozen vintage basses. They all live on wall hangers in my climate controlled music room at my home.

I only gig with two or three of the basses regularly, the others I play once a month of so, sometimes less. I love seeing them when I walk into the room and if they were stored in cases I would certainly play them less.

Vintage music stores display their basses and guitars by hanging them on the wall. But they need to have them out in the open for potential customers to view.

Is it better to store them in their cases or on the wall?
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I store them in hard cases, standing up - my logic is this is the best of both worlds.
 
#48
Maxdusty said:
Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift stores are great places to find them cheap. Mine is quite a bit smaller than the one in the pic but I can still fit 11 basses in there comfortably.
I would normally like to keep the basses out, but having militant cats prowling around the house makes it a risky proposition.
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I like the idea of just opening a door and having them ready to go, but yet they're out of the sunlight. I'm in Las Vegas, we have a LOT of sunlight.
 
#49
Cases for sure...earthquake country! Had a friend who lost one off a Hercules latch wall hanger...elevated "up and out" during a rockin-n-rollin good size quake! The hanger was still securely fastened to the wall...minus the bass! :(
 
#51
If your climate controlled ,not much to worry about out of case , I have a beautifully playing Pedulla that is ridiculously temperature sensitive , so much so that it lives in its case so i don't have to adjust it every time i go to play it , but unless youve got something like that or have no climate control I don't see a problem keeping them out
 
#52
shadven said:
I have about a dozen vintage basses. They all live on wall hangers in my climate controlled music room at my home.

I only gig with two or three of the basses regularly, the others I play once a month of so, sometimes less. I love seeing them when I walk into the room and if they were stored in cases I would certainly play them less.

Vintage music stores display their basses and guitars by hanging them on the wall. But they need to have them out in the open for potential customers to view.

Is it better to store them in their cases or on the wall?
Click to expand...
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I'd LOVE to hang all 17 of my basses and guitars all over the house, but I'm in dry colorado, and I've never managed to keep humidity levels high enough...almost as bad as that, IMO, leaving strings out in circulating air likely causes quicker oxidation of strings, even in a dry climate. I've noted it, but can not prove it. If you have great humidity control, and don't mind replacing strings much quicker, then the UV that gets in the house and affects finishes is probably the only drawback (if tht's a drawback), in my consideration I've thought a LOT about this issue. I go with cases because it's the best way to keep all my axes in really great shape and need less adjustment, because even though those cases are hardly sealed, I believe they SLOW the climactic change upon the instruments (by that, I mean, if it's 5% humidity, and a rainy day raises the humidity to an actually ideal 40%, that could still cause more expansion of neck wood, thus prompt more need for adjustment to maintain meticulously low string action. But that's my concern...playability, stability, less adjustment. As far as longevity / protection, again, it seems you're really only risking more ultraviolet light-which bounces around all over. Example: A friend bought a virtually identical blonde Les Paul six years ago. Though he mostly has shades on the windows, he kept his Lester out all the time: mine LIVES in the case when not being played. Mine is almost white today, compared to his, which has really yellowed quite a bit. But it's not like he was crazy enough to lay it out where direct sunlight would heat it up...
 
#54
Jughead6 said:
Agree with this! My metallic green Jazz has been slowly turning silver over the last 10 years. It was never in direct sunlight, but almost always out of its case. I didn't notice how much the colour has changed until I started to do some modifications and I saw the original colour underneath the pickguard. Lucky that I like the new colour ;)
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That's because of the amount of UV in lighting. The use of fluorescent lighting is frowned upon in most museums because the UV will destroy the collectable items.

I have always kept my basses in their hardshell cases until I was going to play them. My Rivoli has been in its case most of the time; since I bought it new in 1967 and there is no damage to the body, neck or paint. The 1st year it was in a flimsy original Epiphone light duty case. Then I found the Gibson case that fit. This is the original Cherry Red with no sign of fading. If you like "road worn" leave it out.
GktVqE3l.jpg
 
#57
Ive got more basses and guitars than I have cases to put them in, so they are all on the wall.

As far as hanging them on sheetrock, mount your hangers with these, and you will have no issues, unless your bass is heavy enough to pull half the wall down with it.

169a-2008.jpg
 
#60
I worry about mine. Right now they're out on floor stands but admittedly I don't own anything really nice, yet. In a couple of weeks I intend on picking up an American standard so I don't think leaving it out will be an option... The humidity drops dangerously low during the cold winter months so I'm thinking in the case with a case humidifier will be the safest way to go.
 

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