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Thread: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

  1. #1
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    Default Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I have a nice guitar hanger on the wall in my home, but for some reason still like to keep my mando closed up in the case. Is there any downside to hanging it up on the wall?

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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Here we go again!

    Gravity will ensure that there a downside when you hang it up. (Are you acquainted with the rules of cricket? i.e. about coming in until you’re out etc.)

    Not getting at you but this has been discussed to death - welcome to the forum.

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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    For whatever reasons I always keep my mandolins in their cases, don't really like them on a stand, and I've never been a fan of hanging instruments on the wall. I don't mind guitars or banjos in stands, but not mandolins. Cases only. I know you didn't ask about stands, but threw them in the mix anyway.

    Many folks hang their instruments on the wall. To me, not worth the risk. Different strokes for different folks.

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    Registered User Mike Buesseler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Ray(T) is correct. Almost everything has been discussed here. A Google search for your question will bring you back to the Cafe for that discussion. The short summary, I believe, is that the biggest downside to hanging your mandolin on the wall is that you will spend more time playing it. Is that down or up?

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    Registered User Mike Buesseler's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    And, yes, a stand is another choice. If you have pets or kids, it might not be your best choice.

  7. #6

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Do what you like, you'll get many, many opinions here and they are all right.

    FWIW although you didn't mention stands I have several Hercules multi-instrument stands and keep most of my instruments out and accessible, I seem to play them more that way.

    I monitor the humidity in the room adjusting with a small humidifier I got online for about $25.
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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I’d hang one if I had any wall space! I’ve collected too many paintings and other art already!
    There, now, you have learned to remember it’s all up to you, I think if you can, you can. If it allows you more playing, better still!
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Remember the story Humpty Dumpty ? Think about it ! Case for me !

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    Registered User Doug Brock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I hang my mandolins because I play them a lot more that way. With them in easy reach I can play for ten or thirty seconds on my way to doing something else. In their case, I only play them when I’m doing a more serious bit of playing. Plus I love seeing them! I only hang on interior walls to reduce the possibility of disagreeable temperature differences.
    Doug Brock
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  12. #10

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    These folks have some experience with the issue. https://cartervintage.com/collection...ted-descending
    Pretty obvious what they do.
    "I play BG so that's what I can talk intelligently about." A line I loved and pirated from Mandoplumb

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    Registered User sblock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    1) Mandolins hung on walls collect more dust than those placed in cases.
    2) Mandolins hung on walls are at significantly greater risk of falling (and consequent damage) than those placed in cases.
    3) It takes less effort to hang a mandolin on the wall than to replace it in a case, and less effort to retrieve it for playing.
    4) Many folks enjoy the look of an instrument hanging on the wall, for aesthetic reasons. It might also tempt them to play more.

    If (3) and (4) are more important to you than (1) and (2), then by all means hang your mandolin on the wall. But if (1) and (2) concern you more, then store it in the case. It's YOUR mandolin, and YOUR decision. Writing for myself, I consider (1) and (2) to be more important than (3) and (4).

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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Quote Originally Posted by FLATROCK HILL View Post
    These folks have some experience with the issue. https://cartervintage.com/collection...ted-descending
    Pretty obvious what they do.
    Sorry, but this misses the point entirely! Music stores like Carter Vintage Guitars are in the business of selling instruments, and sales are promoted by displaying their wares, and making these more accessible to potential customers. This is completely irrelevant to the consideration of whether you would choose to hang your own instrument on the wall in your home, or store it in a case. You're not displaying your mandolin in the hope of selling it to visitors, are you? But perhaps you are?

  16. #13

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I have one mandolin hanging on the wall at any given time. I use the hangers that have a mechanism that closes two gates across the front when weight is on them. Very secure, very accessible, very aesthetic. I'd say this method has me playing one more forty minute practice per day.
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Establish Case Discipline before you buy an instrument that you can't afford easily to replace or repair.

    Horror stories abound.

    When a valued instrument of mine is not being played, it gets cased immediately. I leave a beater guitar lying around for the grandkids to mess with, mainly because it doesn't have a case ($50 Harmony guitar).

    Your toys, your rules, of course.

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    Eschews Obfuscation mugbucket's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Easy access and encouragement to play has mine hanging on the wall out of reach of my boisterous corgi's and my wife's idiot cat.

    Don't tell her I said that tho. ;-)
    Despite the high cost of living, it still remains popular...

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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Quote Originally Posted by Bob A View Post
    Establish Case Discipline before you buy an instrument that you can't afford easily to replace or repair.

    Horror stories abound.

    When a valued instrument of mine is not being played, it gets cased immediately. I leave a beater guitar lying around for the grandkids to mess with, mainly because it doesn't have a case ($50 Harmony guitar).

    Your toys, your rules, of course.
    Bob, I like your version. I am not sure if it is all because of the sensibility of your standards, such as "establish case discipline" or the fact that you mentioned grandchildren. When mine are about, and I mean they roam about, I have to close the door to the music room so that the last guitar or mandolin I had out and on a stand, won't be imperiled. You really said it!

    The answer for me is found in the simple thought that when I was a young man and could only afford one serious guitar which was needed for songwriting and performing, I always kept that 1970 Martin D35 in its case (ironically, that one was stolen in a burglary which the case didn't protect it from and it led to my purchasing my beloved 1976 Guild D55 that I still have). As I acquired instruments in greater numbers decades later, I wanted to decide how to leave them out so I wouldn't forget to play each and every one.

    I am back to putting them in their respective cases and leaving the door open for the grandkids! Thanks!

  22. #17
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    1. Keeping an instrument in a case allows for easier regulation of its environment, especially regarding humidity. It's easier to get a case humidifier (or moisture absorbent, in a limited number of instances), than to humidify or dehumidify an entire room. Same goes, to a lesser extent, for temperature; a cased instrument can be moved away from heat sources, or out of the blast of an air conditioner.

    2. Careful as you may be about keeping kids, pets, inebriated friends, jealous mistresses etc. away from a "naked" instrument on a wall or in a stand, you still have a greater risk of damage. I'm sure all of us exercise care in storing, transporting, and locating our mandolins et. al. -- nevertheless, stuff happens. Let me recount to you the times that gig bag straps have come unhooked, stands have tipped over, instruments have been set on top of each other in automobiles, guitars have been leaned against walls "just for a minute" and have met grisly fates. Does your strap ever come unhooked from the strap button? Does an instrument hanger's nail/screw/whatever ever pull out of the wall? Do you sometimes absent-mindedly stick the headstock into the hanger improperly, and the mandolin heads for the floor?

    3. The "out of sight, out of mind" argument -- "I'll be so much less likely to play my mandolin, if it's not immediately visible and accessible" -- fails to persuade me, though I'm sure those who make this argument are sincere. While I've never held a stopwatch on it, I bet it doesn't take me 30 seconds to un-case my mandolin, and a similar amount of time to put it back. I know Fate only allocates us so many minutes, and each one is precious, but still...

    As pointed out, this issue's been discussed N>50 times on the Cafe, and I'm sure partisans of each view remain unconvinced. I've dinged up my instruments enough times to consistently follow the cautious path of keeping all my instruments in cases -- though I do keep the instruments I gig with a couple hundred times a year in sturdy gig bags, recognizing the additional exposure that involves. (And I only have a soft case for my mando-bass, due to the shortage of hard-shell mando-bass cases.) You will do what you want, and, if you exercise due care, will be OK whichever way you go. So, just my 2¢...
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    Registered User Doug Brock's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    The "out of sight, out of mind" argument -- "I'll be so much less likely to play my mandolin, if it's not immediately visible and accessible" -- fails to persuade me, though I'm sure those who make this argument are sincere. While I've never held a stopwatch on it, I bet it doesn't take me 30 seconds to un-case my mandolin, and a similar amount of time to put it back. I know Fate only allocates us so many minutes, and each one is precious, but still...
    It may not persuade you, and I'm sincere, lol! When I've gone any length of time with my mandolin(s) cased up, I just haven't played them nearly as much. When they're hanging on my bedroom wall, I see them many times per day, when I wake up, when I'm getting ready for bed, and those mandolins get played. A lot! I see them and I think about a new lick or that song I just heard, and I grab a mandolin and play it.

    That being said, I'm just saying what works best for me.
    Doug Brock
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    If something can go wrong, it will.

    Which is often countered by…

    Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.

    Alas Mr. Murphy, I know him all too well…

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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Those of us who have made decisions about hanging vs case have done so because of our own experiences, our own preferences and our own characters. You get to do that, too! do what you want, like or feel good about. If it doesn't work out, you'll be able to make the opposite decision if and when you want/need to.
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  29. #21

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I recently purchased a very expensive mandolin that had been hanging for quite some time (from the look of the dust that is still caked in the areas around the bridge and various places where a cleaning cloth cannot easily wipe away). The biggest travesty is the damage to the finish around the nut area from where the material the hanger was made out of reacted to the finish. This is an occasion where an $8k instrument was better off in its case (it obviously was not being played) rather than hanging from a hanger on the wall. Yes, the mandolin probably looked great there, for all to see, but as the finish is French polish, this is going to be an expensive and time-consuming repair.
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  30. #22

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Instruments I collect are in the case, in a closet. Instruments I play are on the wall .. otherwise, they don't get played. I have three rowdy kids and no Nerf gun or Airsoft battles have resulted in damage to an instrument so far. Touch wood.

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  32. #23

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    I'm as Marty - only instruments I'm not playing are stowed in cases. There are too many instruments I am playing and that unfortunately is "clutter" (from my wife's perspective), but it is kept to one room. Mine are like furniture - they're just around. (It is a mess though, for sure...accordions laying all over the floor..). I used to have a second room, when I was drumming...

    Only exception is my hardanger fdl - it's very delicate and I'm afraid I'll sit on it...and it took me years to find it.

    Bari sax, bass clarinet...they're on stands too. If my bass cl is in its case, I end up not playing duets with my kids.

  33. #24

    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    This topic may have been discussed ad nauseam I missed it.
    The only time I case an instrument is when Im playing out or shipping it.
    I like my instruments close to my desk, being retired I like them close so I can play when I want.
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    Registered User Simon DS's Avatar
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    Default Re: Storage: Case vs Hanging on the Wall

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Buesseler View Post
    And, yes, a stand is another choice. If you have pets or kids, it might not be your best choice.
    - I have a fair number of different instruments on stands and the walls AND I do have a pet, it’s a cat, but I never have any problems -the banjo is always locked up in a case. And the cat doesn’t know where the keys are.

    The other thing, though is PEANUT OIL. I wouldn’t cook with it anywhere in the house, it produces a fine mist that gets everywhere. Olive oil better.

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