Let's talk about storage...

[Lefty SSB]

Hey guys, I'm sure I could find some great tips on storing my bass if I Googled it, but I wanna hear from you all! That's what bass forums are for, right? So, what are the ways you maintain your bass in the heat/cold? I live in the northeast & it's definitely getting colder! Obviously, I'm going to keep her away from the direct heat... any hints on the best ways to keep an ideal temp for your bass? Also, what are your best & worst bass storage stories? Share with a hungry neighbor! 

[the mojo hobo]

Your bass will be happy in an enviorment that you would be comfortable with. Not to hot, not too cold, not too dry, not too wet.

The best place to store a bass is under the bed. Just put it under the bed and forget about it. Then years in the future someone can say:"look what I found under the bed".

[Droombolus]

Your beloved instruments need air to breathe, don't stifle 'm in their cases !    I keep 'm in the ol' musicroom ..........

[Denis]

For a while I tried hanging them on the wall for convenience as well as art. However, I found that they seemed to lose intonation/go out of tune more quickly that way so now I keep each one in it's case if I have one for it. The ones in the cases reside in the larger bedroom in the house against the wall opposite the window and the ac/heat vent. That way any change is a slow one.

[godofthunder]

 I'm in Rochester NY and the winters tough, cold and dry. I run a humidifier on the furnace to keep things from getting to dry. Instruments like things not to hot not to cold .........................just right. No basement or attic storage and please never in your car or trunk ! I have a walk in closet I use to store my basses,some are in stands but most are in cases. I also have found that I need to set up my basses with the change of season and will have to set them up again in the spring. No big deal I am constantly tweaking them.

[uwe]

Temperature (within reason) is not as much an issue as humidity. So do keep them from drying up too much. But if they do, they will 're-soak" humidity once it is there again. Too little humidity: fret ends become spikey and the action rises, too much humidity: action becomes way too low and gets buzzy. I keep my basses in stands at home and in the office all the time - weird things happen in cases, fin reactions, electronics corrosion etc. Those closest to the large terrarium (which is hot and humid) do best in long cold dry winters, but I still have to do a lot of tweaking as seasons change, especially with basses less than ten years old. Once a bass is past the thirty year mark, the neck reacts less to humidity changes.

Uwe

[Pilgrim]

I measured and built my own wall o'hangers...and I have a humidifier in the room for use as needed.

The backing is 1x4 oak strips, stained and mounted to the wall with 3" screws.  The hangers are padded U-shaped hangers from ACE hardware - they have a threaded end that sticks through the oak strip into the wall, so if I move them I have patching to do.  But the thread means that if you're hanging a Fender-style headstock, you can twist the hanger a few degrees off level and it fits perfectly. 

This works really well, but some hints:

- On the top row, leave room for the length of headstocks AND a couple of inches extra so you can lift the bass with the longest headstock up and off the hanger.  You don't want to bash the headstock into the ceiling.
- Remember not only the body width of your widest bass when spacing the hangers on the lower row, remember that each headstock on the lower row has tuners sticking out one or both sides.  This can reduce the clearance for basses hanging on the upper row by 6 inches or so.

[Grog]

I keep mine in their cases, upright, on an inside wall. For the hollow & semi hollow body guitars, I try to remember to add water to the case humidifiers monthly, in the winter. The ones I rarely play, I detune a bit.

[Lefty SSB]

Awesome answers!  It's great to hear all this advice - as contrasting as some of it is - from storing in the case under the bed or closet to out in the open, on racks or hangers. I think I'll look into a humidifier this year, and probably keep her in the case either under my bed or beside it - enough away from the registers (they run all along the base boards). I play enough so she'll get her fresh air! ALTHOUGH...

I keep my basses in stands at home and in the office all the time - weird things happen in cases, fin reactions, electronics corrosion etc.
Uwe

<... this worries me. What experience have you had with these probs?
It'd be great to have wall hangers, as my bf has quite a number of geets & basses, but it wouldn't work w/the landlord we have here. We have a couple of racks, but they're all full + there are some more geets in cases in closets - has anyone ever seen a two tier (vertical) rack? I've looked online before but the only ones I could find were the kind that are 360 degree (circular) racks with 2 - tiers that you'd find at a guitar shop. I suppose we could build them... who knows? Maybe it could be my boyfriend's new project after he does his series parallel mod on his Jag.  Any one else with storage advice....? Like what NOT to do besides the obvious - store near heat/cold?

[exiledarchangel]

Never leave your bass in a case for a long period of time. Cases except your bass store moisture too that can cause problems to your bass finish and electronics, as Uwe said.

[uwe]

Yes, prolonged periods of time like a year or so are issues, not a couple of weeks. It just bothers me that you don't know what happens in a case over a long time. My Kubicki's electronics died in a case when I didn't play the thing for 18 months or so. Plus new cases - like a new car interior - still fog out and you can't rule out reactions with the fin.

Things happen outside a case too, but at least I can see it! I can live with the seasonal drying out of wood as the basses "swell up" again in the spring, wood works with nature and is meant to or you would need a carbonfibre bass. With acoustic instruments you have to be more careful so that humidity difference don't end up being so drastic the wood begins too tear. But if you keep them in a living environment where your sinuses too have an healthy interest in enough humidity, chances are you'll arrange for a climate for the basses to have enough humidity too.

BTW: Warwick keep their basses in storage outside of cases, but at refrigerator temperature (7-8 degrees celsius) at continuous humidity. I'm not sure why that should be more beneficial than room temperature with continuous humidity though. Still wanted to pass it along in case you have an old mansize refrigerator collecting dust in the cellar! ! - ) They are also handy for hibernating tortoises (no joke!).

[dadagoboi]

IMO a bass in a case is generally no problem.  A case cannot create moisture where there is none and protects from quick temperature and humidity changes that can crack finishes and cause warpage.  The quick temperature change trick is used to relic finishes.

I have basses that have been in a case for 30 years.  In that time they have been out of the case for a month total.  No problems that pot cleaner wouldn't cure.  Electronics deteriorate, mainly due to humidity and dirt.  A proper case causes fewer electronics problems due to less dust and moisture incursion.

A case may  react with a finish but mostly with nitrocellulose and at a place of concentrated pressure like a neck support.  I keep a cotton handkerchief between the plush and the neck.  Modern plastic finishes generally don't have a problem with reaction to case material.

Overall a case is safer especially to protect from nicks and scratches.

[uwe]

Ah, a religious schism here! ; - )

No doubt, scratch, ding and nick protection is better in a case, but that is not an issue for me, a thirty year old bass can a have a nick or two with me. Also the rubber and foam of many stands will react with fresh finishes in the first years too, so that is another thing that speaks for cases. As is the fact that daylight will wear a finish out sooner, I can practically watch as my burgundy red 68 EB-2 has first turned bronze and is now on its way to brown. But not a single one of my 150 or so basses is in a case, I just don't like it!

I once read an interview with Sting where he said he kept his basses in cases at his mansion  "until I heard you're not supposed to keep them in cases that long". And Entwistle kept his huge bass collection in his castle in the nude too.

But if I'm honest: I like to keep my basses outside of a case because I see them more often that way and they look better nude than confined to a case!

[Droombolus]

I have basses that have been in a case for 30 years.

Torture ! Let's start an international Free The Basses committee !

Ah, a religious schism here! ; - )

I'd say ... 

[Grog]

Most of my basses & guitars do ok in cases for long periods of time, but I only have one EB-2 from the fifties. Some of the plastics used in the early years seemed to emit acidic gas over time. A friend of mine had issues with the gold on his pickups, we concluded that it was caused from deterioration an old pickguard. The plastic tuning buttons on my '59 EB-2 shrunk, don't know if being out of the case would have helped. A new case most certainly emits formaldehyde. I was looking into building a two level rack years back. I didn't have room to angle them & an eight foot ceiling wasn't high enough to stack basses 2 high. As Uwe mentioned, Gibson's cherry, gold and cherry sunburst finishes, (also sparkling burgandy),  fade with long term exposure to sunlight. I make it a point to not leave these out for long periods of time.