Proper way to store for six months

[unclelee]

I will be leaving my home vacant for six months this winter and will leave several mandolins and guitars in the house. I realize the ones that have cases should be stored in them but what about those with no cases, also how loose should strings be, or should they not be loosened. should the instruments be stored flat, on edge, standing up or http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif the house will not be allowed to freeze but will get cold, thanks for responding, lee

[Jim Broyles]

Depends. What kind of mandolins are we talking about here? Maybe a kind-hearted cafe member could care for and feed your instruments for you? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jim Broyles]

Seriously, any climate conditions that you don't like, your instruments won't like either. I'd definitely store them in a climate controlled place for that length of time.

[Willie Poole]

Heres my thought on that...If you were home you wouldn`t do anything would you? And as long as the house is heated or cooled like it would be if you were home then don`t do a thing...I leave my home and instruments for 4 months in the winter and I set the thermostat at 55 degrees and just let the instruments stay where they are as if I was still home, and I have never had a problem....I know some people on here will offer other suggestions but thats what I do....Loosening the strings surely can`t hurt though...Willie

[Jerry Byers]

What part of the country do you live? What is the winter like there? Humidity? Will your house maintain a constant humidity during the winter, in the proper range? You may be better off having somebody watch your mandos for you.

Your stringed instrument is better off left under tension.

[sunburst]

If everything is in good shape, string tension won't hurt anything.
If, on the off chance, a glue joint were to pop loose about the time you start the car, then the strings have several months to see how far they can pull things out of shape before thay get caught in the act by your return. Best to take some tension off, and no tension at all won't hurt a thing.

I agree with most of these posts. It would be best to leave them where the climate is well controled. Temperature, by itself, isn't really a problem in the 55 degree range. That's not cold enough to really hurt anything unless there is a drastically fast change in temperature. Low 40s can cause lacquer checks - I've seen that happen.
Mostly, the relative humidity should be kept in a decent range. Ideally not far from 45% to 50%, but realistically, between say, 30% and 65%.

[Blueglass]

I wouldn't get the house under 50 degrees
other than that I think your just fine. I leave them all perfectly in tune. Then when you get back see which ones kept in tune and which one didn't. the one that is furtherst off you should sell to some ebay person.