Cold Storage?

[man dough nollij]

I'm waiting to hear about two possible jobs here in Montana, but I'm not holding up too much hope... Looks like I might be going back to the ice.

Last time I went, I left a mandolin and an octave with my dad in Colorado. I told him about the humidity issue before I left. He somehow got the idea that there was no upper limit to humidifying instruments. He had 'em in a small laundry closet with the dryer vented into the room, and he used to run the dryer with the door closed! (I didn't learn of this treatment until I was back in the real world.) Thankfully, there was no damage. Yikes.

This time, I'm thinking of putting a humidifier in each case, and just putting them in my storage unit. Probably wrap them in a trash bag, too, to keep the humidity in.

If I do go back to the ice, I'll be gone from the first week of February through 'till probably November. The instruments will probably experience temps from the '80s to the '20s F. (I can't imagine it'll get much colder or warmer than that here in SW Montana.)

The storage unit is actually a windowless garage, and I doubt that the instruments will experience any radical temperature changes.

Anybody have any input on the safety of this approach? It seems pretty safe to me, but I'm fairly ignernt.

:whistling::confused::disbelief:

[JEStanek]

You could always house them with... I dunno...




me.

Jamie

PS Good luck if you go back down to the cold. Get a decent 4 string solid body this time. I'm envious and think you're crazy at the same time.

[Andy Miller]

Being away from your instruments for that long sounds like a real drawback to that job, what a bummer!

Although the humidifiers in the cases can't hurt, I'd guess they'll be dried up long before you get back. In the cases and inside the storage unit, I suppose any temperature changes should be gradual enough not to do harm. I'd take the string tension way down before you put them away though.

Alternatively - got any local music stores who might help you out by storing them indoors, climate controlled and locked up and insured for you? I guess I've never asked one to do that, but maybe it's worth a phone call.

[lone-woodwose]

You can always send them to me if you like. (you knew someone would say that)

All seriousness aside, I would ask a friend who also has instruments or a music store. The problem I see with a storage unit is humidity, if it has a concrete floor or walls it could get pretty wet and humid in there, especially if the building is newer.

[mandroid]

Case humidifiers dont refill themselves remotely, so being so far away monitoring each case could be an issue.
a good idea , based on a Cigar store humidor, was posted, a cabinet for all the cases at once,
and climate controlling the cabinet seems more feasible.

perhaps looking at piano Damp-it's will give you some ideas.

I left some of my mandolins with a trusted friend while I went to a long bike tour up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, with my wee travel mandolin(Leo)
only trouble was he talked me into trading my EM150 away when I returned,
because he took a liking to it , but all were well cared for in the interval.

[Barbara Shultz]

Any chance you could give your dad more explicit instructions, and trust him again? Barring that, do you have any friend you could trust?

You are talking about just two instruments, right? Upon the advice of a technician at Weber, I bought Herco Guitar Humidfiers (which are a little plastic case with a glob of clay in them, and a hole in the top) for all my instrument cases. The directions say to replentish the water every two weeks. Of course, this is only when you are needing humidity, and I'm not sure what the humidity issues are there in Colorado in the summer.

I wouldn't want to put instruments in a building that wasn't climate controlled, like a storage building or a garage. I would much rather they be in someone's home. In a closet, rather than in the laundry room! If you could just get your father, or some other responsible person, to put them in the room YOU chose, and twice a month in the dry season, take the little humidifier out, put water in it, wait 5 minutes, pour the excess water off, and put it back in the case.... seems pretty easy!

I agree... I can't imagine being away from my instruments for that long... just what / where is 'going back to the ice'?

Barbara

[man dough nollij]

"Back to the ice" refers to another (austral) winter contract at McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It's actually a good way to save money-- the food, travel, gas, and housing is all free for eight months. One big drawback is the winter thing. I did a Montana winter, then an Antarctic winter, now I'm back in Montana winter. I worked with a guy down there who hasn't seen summer since the '90s. Yikes.

I have four mandolins and an OM now, and I'll take the Stadium beater with me to the ice. I don't have to worry about it ever getting too humid in the storage, Montana is pretty dry year round. My damp-its have to be replenished about once a week here. When I settle down, I'm going to have a humidified room-- no two ways about it.

The reason for the question was just convenience. It would be a lot easier to pop 'em in storage then to schlep them clear to Colorado again. I've been doing that-- taking them into motel rooms at night. It's a hassle.

When I was trying to keep my poor little Weber Sweet Pea from dying of low humidity (1% RH in the dorms), I would put a fresh Dampit in the sound hole, breathe into it for a while, put it in a plastic trash bag, then into the case. Unfortunately, it had a cracked brace before I deployed, so its death was inevitable.

Seems like if I put humidifiers in them, then sealed 'em in bags, the water would hang out for the whole ten months. (If I go, I'm hanging around in the southern hemisphere springtime for at least a month or two!)

I also like the idea of loaning them to players. That'd keep 'em warmed up.

[Barbara Shultz]

I would agree, that if you have someone who you can trust, who will play and maintain them, THAT would be the best.

I travel quite a bit (but nothing like you are describing!) Mostly by car. Comes from living in Iowa & Texas.... 1000 miles apart from my two homes! When I go to Texas, I feel the need to have several instruments with me, so I've lucked into finding some very reasonably priced instruments that I can take, and not worry so much about. I will leave several of my instruments at one of my friend/bandmates house, when I'm gone for weeks at a time. The rest I leave here with my man, but don't expect him to deal with the humidifiers, etc. But, I'm never gone longer than a month.

Well, good luck.. whatever you do!

Montana.... now I know there are mandolin players in THAT state!

Barb

[Michael Gowell]

Totally an aside - but aren't we getting a little obsessive about humidification? Thousands of teens and 20's instruments never saw a humidifier for their first 50-75 years and are still with us in fine shape. Sure, some instruments are lost to extemes - especially guitars with their wide thin panels of wood - but given a cased mando in moderate conditions the odds for its continued health are pretty good.

Now back to man dough nolij's problem...

[man dough nollij]

I hear what you're saying about humidifying... it's just brutally dry in the rocky mountain west. The old Gibsons were made in Kalamazoo and distributed in the midwest and east... instruments here shrink up and crack in nasty ways unless properly humidified.

I asked an instructor once about humidifying, and he looked at me like I had two heads-- I guess in some schools, ambient is good enough... :mandosmiley:

[catmandu2]

I have some experience with storage units. I had a couple in Colorado before I moved up here to Missoula 6 years ago. I stored a lot of ski and windsurfing gear (but no instruments!). Not only do they get extremely hot (HOT) in the summer, but Montana can get well below zero for several consecutive days (as we did last month). But, the real problem is the heat. Those units have no shade, probably tin roofs, no ventilation, and sit on concrete pads. They heat up like ovens during the day--I know this not only from being in one during the summer, but also much foam material from my gear (ski boot inner boots, etc.) deteriorated after only several weeks in a unit. Then, they cool down at night very quickly--so the temperature fluctations are extreme. IMO, summer is the worst time to think about a storage shed for anything sensitive to temperature changes. Not only that, they are prone to flooding--some of them aren't prepared for drainage.

I would HIGHLY recommend NOT using a storage shed for any instruments.

[Patrick Bjorndal]

Lee,
There is a storage business here in Billings that has climate controled rooms, if that helps.