String storage

[Rob Grant]

I've been buying my mandolin strings a dozen sets at a time. Generally I can scratch by for a year with this amount depending on the number of instruments I finish and the amount of playing the Missus' does (my "test pilot"<G>).

We live in a part of Oz that can have incredible swings in humidity. What sort of storage tricks do others use to keep the dreaded rust away?

[Paul Hostetter]

Keep in the part of the inhabited house that is most consistently heated. Otherwise, lots of gel paks (refreshed routinely) in the drawers.

[sunburst]

Seal 'em up in a Rubbermaid or Tupperware type container, with a gel pack if necessary.

[Rob Grant]

Thanks Paul and John,

The gel pack in the Tupperware sounds like a goer'. In the past I use to spray WD40 into particularly the E and A packs and store them away, but this didn't seem to work in the long run. A mate who repairs AC (air-conditioning) suggested a sealed container and chuck them in the freezer. His logic was that the freezer is, in reality, the driest place you can find in your home. Around here, the quickest way to "demist" an automobile window during the wet season or early in the morning is to turn on the AC.

[Paul Hostetter]

Wow, your humidity situation is a lot more extreme than what I'm used to here. Largely the big concern is too little. I occasionally find strings in cases that have been slumbering for 75 years or more - around here - that are still A-OK, no rust. But I've also seen strings come out of their treated little envelopes that have been in sealed plastic bags that are goners. The freezer is a surefire dessicator of things, but you have to leave a little room for cubes, after all!

[sunburst]

So Paul, you've never gotten ready to mail a letter and found that all your envelopes had sealed themselves? Never had the cloths in your closet start to stick together with mildew?
I may not have the humidity problems that Bob has, but before I got my shop as well insulated and climate controlled as it is now, I kept my garnet paper in a sealed container so the glue holding the grit wouldn't fail from moisture.

[Paul Kotapish]

I guess I'm real lucky where I've been living for the last 27 years--Alameda, Berkeley, Oakland. I routinely buy my strings in bulk--20 or 30 sets at a time--and have never had any problem with strings going bad. I have some old sets of guitar strings and some mandolin singles that are many, many (decades?) years old, and they all seem to work fine when I use them to fill in a gap.

Unless we've had a real, real hot-and-dry spell, I never worry about my instruments much either. If I head up to the Sierra, though, I bring along the Dampits.

[Rick Turner]

Even though we (Paul, Paul, and myself) all live in the San Francisco Bay Area close by the sea, our climate is incredibly moderate. It doesn't take much for me to keep an 800 sq. ft. room with 10 ft ceilings at a bit less than 50% RH. We built that room with a vapor barrier all the way around...10 mil Visqueen...before putting up 5/8 sheetrock, but even in the non-de-humidified parts of the shop, things don't much rust.

[Rob Grant]

De-humidifying my small workshop would be like trying to pump out the Titanic. Once our "Wet" season with its monsoonal rains and cyclones hits in November or as late as January, the glue bottle goes into retirement and the chainsaw comes out. I have to wait until at least June before I can actually start glueing up instruments again. June usually is the start of our "Dry" season when the humidity plummets to its lowest levels.

Like John, mildew and mold is a major problem during the "Wet." Stored leather and cotton cloth are particularly a problem. I once found spore producing fungii (mushrooms) growing from a pair of leather boots I carelessly left in the closet for only a little over a fortnight!

[acousticphd]

I've also bought strings in multiple dozen bulk quantities. I have used large, heavier-weight ziplock bags for big coils of strings (often along with a dessicant pack), and smaller sandwich-size ziplocks to store several rolled up sets in instrument cases. All the same, I have found that there is a limited lifetime before some tarnishing and corrosion begins to appear and increase. It happens first and goes more quickly with the unwound, plain steel strings. One possible reason is that the string ends tend to create little holes in the plastic bags over time (I'm in TN where it is pretty humid). To avoid having to discard never-used-but-already-corroded strings, I try now to use up what strings I buy in ~6-8 months, and not try to store them any longer.

I always aggressively wipe strings with a cloth before installing them Even strings I have had for only weeks to a few months, and that still look new, always leave a bit of black residue on a white rag. Of course, after playing them for only a few sessions, they have discolored quite a bit more, but my point is that oxidation/corrosion can begin very early, even on new unused strings. I will also sometimes polish my plain steel strings with a piece fine-gauge buffing pad, which helps shine them up for a while.

[Nolan]

I always thought one of these would be cool for strings... good for lots of other stuff too.

http://www.drystore.com/page/page/1371524.htm

[mandroid]

Seal-a-meal with a desiccant bag to absorb the moisture ?

Rob {far northern Queensland?} of course could close up the container in the dry Outback then take the pack back to the coast.

[Kerry Krishna]

Hey guys! First off, this is a pretty interesting thread, and I soo appreciate all the posts. I live way up Northern BC and humidity during the summer is around 60% to 80%. I have never had anything go mildewy on me (wow!) . I also buy my strings in bulk and after reading on the D'Addario string packs about how they little plastic bags were now filled with 'inert gas', I was wondering about maybe getting a larger Tupperware container and maybe using the inert gas that they sell for recapping your wine. It's in all the liquor stores up here. I also realize that there is a construction product available for putting a layer of the gas over an opened paint can that is going into storage. As I am writing this though, I am thinking of K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid! . I think a handful of the dessication gell packs in a Tupperware would do just as well. I'm just throwing the idea out there, I absolutely LOVE finding 'other' uses for existing products...,,,

[MandoPheel]

I agree with Mandroid- the best thing you can do is get rid of the air and water to prevent the oxidation of your strings. A vacuum sealed bag gets rid of both and locks them out, while the desiccant packs will completely get rid of any remaining moisture. The strings should essentially keep forever that way. It's really simple and the seal-a-meal is useful for lots of other things (like keeping coffee fresh!).

I live in Portland, OR and it's REALLY wet here in the winter. I keep my extra strings sealed and have never had a problem with oxidation. Never thought of including desiccant packs-good idea.

Phil

[scott carey]

A bit overkill, but years ago I used an old refrigerator (with a failed compressor) and a 100w bulb inside to keep welding rods usable in Virginia in August
Never put a hygrometer in the fridge but the temp stayed around 125deg.
A much smaller unit could be built but if it's that wet, you probably have some other things you might want to keep in there for the wet season.

[Rob Grant]

Thanks again for all the excellent ideas.

I've gone for the sealed box with the silica gel. The vacuum packaging and use of inert gas is very tempting, but the necessity of having to constantly access the storage facility might be a bit too "fiddly." The heated cabinet is also an excellent idea. I've used this technique in the past to store spare computer parts, welding rods and 35mm slides.

[OlderThanWillie]

Rob -- A good "heater" in a cabinet or in the piano (for summer heat & humidity) is a light bulb left on in an enclosed small space. It's cheap to buy and to operate.

[fishtownmike]

I just keep them in drawer with other instrument related stuff and never had a problem with them even in the summer with our high humidity. I believe the paper sleeves has some anti tarnish properties. A cheap solution over the desiccate bags is white rice in a nylon stocking.(thats dry not cooked It will absorb moisture in and enclosed space. An oldtimer who was a machinist taught me this, he kept them in with all his metalworking tools...Mike

[Rob Grant]

OTW... The globe (bulb) is an excellent idea. In the past we used a "dead" microwave (minus the magnatron) and stuck something like a 15w globe in the thing. We used it to store the old style floppy discs and strings. It did tended to take up too much room, so I was looking for something a bit more compact. Anyhow, thanks for the reply with the good idea.

Mike... The sleeves do have some sort of rust inhibitor, but it's not sufficient for our climate. I reckon the rice would start to germinate around February!!!<G>

Thanks all.