storage question

[harihari]

I've thread-searched, can't find an answer for this:

How should a mando be stored? Other than keeping it away from fast changes in temp and humidity,should I hang it on the wall, keep it in its hard-shell case, or put it on stand?

chris

[Dfyngravity]

D: All of the above.

[MikeEdgerton]

If you want to keep it safe I'd keep it in the case. Then make sure that it doesn't come under any harsh changes in temperature or humidity.

[Elliot Luber]

Mike's right. Case is safest.

[allenhopkins]

If you control the environmental temperature and humidity carefully, storing it "out" won't result in any harm -- unless it gets knocked over, bumped into, played with by your Rottweiler, dropped when the bracket pulls out of the wall, etc. etc. Cases are sold with instruments for a reason, and not just to carry the mandolin around.

There are people on the Cafe who leave all their instruments out on stands, so they can pick one up when the impulse strikes them without having to go through the bother of pulling out and opening up a case. While I see the charm in this, all my 75+ instruments are in cases 24/7, when I'm not actually playing them. Reduces spontaneity, increases my peace of mind.

[harihari]

The reason I am asking this is:

I for years hung my guitar (a Tak and now a Larivee) and then my gibson mando on the wall. Since I have bombproof brackets, no dogs, no direct sunlight, steady humidity and temp, etc etc, there has never been an issue with any of my instruments.

However, I got an octave mando last year, and it has gone way out of whack in the neck. The builder has fiddled with it and done a set-up, and it sounds fine again, but I am wondering if hanging it on the wall was possibly the issue. Also a pain because the instrument (for which I have a soft case) needs a hard case, and it fits properly into a resonator banjo case-- read: $300-- which are a pain in the ass to find here in Canada.

[allenhopkins]

Some instruments "adjust" to a new environment by losing their proper set-ups -- which were fine in their former locations. I had a 5-string banjo neck built by a well-known luthier who lives here in Rochester, and he set it up perfectly on the guitar-banjo "pot" in his shop. When I'd had it at home a couple days the strings were rattling on the frets halfway up the neck. I live about two miles from where the neck was built, so it's not like taking an instrument from Louisiana to Colorado. I took the banjo back to the builder and he re-set-up the neck so that it had proper action and intonation.

You should have noticed changes in your OM sooner than a year, though. As I posted above, I'm an advocate of case storage, but that won't cure sensitivity to overall changes in temperature or humidity. I still push the concept of storing instruments in their cases, but that's mainly because I've seen quite a few damaged when left out.