I've decided I would like to hang my guitars - acoustic and electric, on my wall like they do at guitar center.
I'm undecided about a few things:
1.) should I even do this - given the effects of humidity, heating, and cooling (in NYC climante - hot humid summers, some dry days, high humidity transitioning to lower, etc.) - I'm thinking maybe not for the more expensive instruments, just the less expensive ones ?
2.) what mechanism to use to hang - Guitar center has those cool minimalist leather straps that go around tuning pegs while the body hangs directly against the wall - very low profile which I like.
Also I don't want the neck to have too much force on it - so I'm thinking some kind of base support, with the leather strap more for balance than hanging.
What do you guys think is the best way to go ? Or just keep them in their cases ?
I know I'll play them more if they're just hanging there - sounds silly, but it's absolutely true for my lazyass personality lol
If possible have a dehumidifier and a humidifier for those extreme relative humidity days. If not be prepared to work on the neck occasionally. If you don't know how to set the truss rod it would be less expensive to have both a dehumidifier and a humidifier. Guitar techs can be expensive.
PS - I'm near Rochester NY so I know were you are coming from. But I'll bet those humidity extremes are wider there than here.
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Considering that the tension on a neck is going to be somewhere around 150 to 175lbs depending on string size .... the weight of the guitar is minimal.
If you have central heat and air, the temps and humidity aren't an issue.... and really should not affect the "setup" in any significant manner.
I would opt for the forked wall hanger if you hang them flat.... that takes up more room but again, that depends on the number of guitars you need to hang. If you're squeamish about hanging them from the head stock, you can always make or buy a support kind of like a guitar stand that functions on a wall.
Of course, hanging them means you have to keep them dusted off.
Look online with a google search for wall hanger for multiple guitars..... there's lots of ideas out there... some are very cool.
Personally, I have never heard anything that says hanging a guitar from it's head stock is harmful in any way whatsoever. If it was harmful, you can bet the stores would be doing it differently. Yet I see quite expensive guitars hanging in this manner all the time.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
As long as you keep the guitars dusted and most importantly keep the strings wiped down, I don't think there should be any problem hanging them on a wall. I only own 3 guitars nowadays, an Ibanez JSM100, an EJ Strat and a Takamine Hirade,(I've thinned the herd quite a bit)but I feel better when they're tucked safely in their cases. If I leave them out the strings tend to get yucky.
I do have three guitars that are not in a case -- I just don't have a case for them. Two are on stands in the dining room and one is in the living room. The two in the dining room are a 1965/1967 Epiphone Caballero (the year is unclear since Gibson in that timeframe used a lot of serial numbers twice) and a 1949 Tellson 10 (a German guitar my dad once played). This one is equipped with Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swing JST 12 strings and holds the tuning remarkably well. My third guitar is by a somewhat obscure manufacturer "Weller" that I have bought 2011 in an ebay auction to practise until I have the money to buy what I really want. This guitar I have to retune quite often, but I guess this is the guitar and the strings, D'Addario flat wounds .012.
Over here strings don't get yucky in the open. But I need to dust the guitars every now and then. (I use a vacuum cleaner with a brush that has very soft bristles.) Sometimes I clean them with a damp soft cloth.
Agree about Mario suggestions - good ones - but I needed a lot more than a few so I have these (in cherry -pics below) they can hold guitars at angles or flat as mentioned by Bob
I have an 8 foot section and a 4 foot section (cherry - pics later).
I put these up a few years ago after I got tired of tripping over cases, many individual single stands, or multiple multiple-guitar floor holders like Mario pointed to (they are really nice but they eat up the floor space and in the one room my wife allows me, floor space is at premium I also have amps, keyboards on multiple stands, shelves for books, other accessorizes,...)
I hate it when I want an acoustic 6 or 12 string or a nylon, or Roland GK configured ax, or the LP or SG, or a gypsy jazz, finding and digging out the right case - etc. was a PITA plus by the time I'd go get that particular ax I'd lose all mental momentum.
My guitars have been out "in the open" to the harmful environment my entire life, and for last 35+ years here in the very, very dry high desert of New Mexico.
It's dry in summer and BONE dry in winter because we have forced air gas heat in my house!
in winter (because of my sinuses and skin and static- not because of guitars) by the time humidity gets to my room keeps it about 30 (avg) - 40 (max) %. and in summer we run a swamp cooler in heat of day - so humidity climbs to very HIGH in day time and drys out again at night.
My 1968 ES-335 (bought new by my) spent 5 years with me "unprotected" in Taiwan, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Philippines (talk about humidity and temps). Then it went from P.I. to Upper Michigan (in Dec - I was in temp shock) for 4 years in another very dry environment in winter (forced air oil heat in USAF base housing with outside temps in the minus teens for a lot of the winter).
Bottom line all my guitars are FINE!
Here are pics of wall mounts and most of my guitars (the head stock you see in the foreground on floor is a gypsy ax). Mess on desk in my "studio" is because I'm in middle of taxes, a guitar mod, some consulting work, and I'm generally disorganized anyway.
EDIT
Forgot to add - Yes I have to dust them (besides standard "dust" we get a lot of blowing sand in spring and the finest of it (almost like mica/talcum) gets into house and coats everything - so we are always dusting - everything!
I use to keep each guitar in a cotton pillow case (slip down over headstock) but putting up my '89 Stratocaster Plus, about a year ago, I wasn't paying attention and when I set it in the headstock holder the pillow case caught on the foam over the holder fork and the guitar was NOT fully in the fork - and because of pillow case I didn't see it.
Yes, I should have felt it wasn't seated properly but as I said I wasn't paying attention.
Result: I thought it was in, left go, turned my back, then I heard a sickening crash - it hit one of my slide rule carousels (seen in bottom left of first pic) that tipped it over and hit floor- headstock first. It cracked the headstock vertically through two of the tuning pegs. Luckily I found a good luthier and it was repaired and you'd never know it was cracked.
So I took all pillow cases off - I might put them back since dust is a big thing here.
Last edited by Larry Kehl; 01/26/1609:18 AM.
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Very interesting hearing folks say they leave guitars out. I used to leave mine out on stands for convenience but nowadays I always keep my acoustics stored in their cases and use a case humidifier. I was advised by my guitar tech that wood acoustics should not be left out unless you have your room fully humidified like the guitar stores have.
yep, that's what they say and you probably SHOULD keep all your treasured instruments in controlled conditions at all times. I'm sure I'll end up in guitar hell for abuse.
But so far, and I'm talking many, many decades, the world hasn't ended, frets haven't fallen out, tops/sides/backs haven't cracked, necks haven't warped (in either direction), but yes tuning DOES vary a LITTLE over the seasons but after I beat on a guitar for a few hours I need to re-tune it any way.
Besides we have no kids to hand these down to - so when I'm gone my wife will probably put them (along with all my other things ) into a trash barrel and burn them all anyway so nothing needs to outlast me by more than a few minutes ...
Larry
Larry
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Besides we have no kids to hand these down to - so when I'm gone my wife will probably put them (along with all my other things ) into a trash barrel and burn them all anyway so nothing needs to outlast me by more than a few minutes ...
Larry, have I told you lately how much I admire you and look up to you almost as a father figure? I'd be willing to sign the adoption paperwork if you will have your wife send those guitars to me instead of the trash barrel should you ever decide to leave us here on earth (which I hope won't be for another 85 years or so)!
Besides we have no kids to hand these down to - so when I'm gone my wife will probably put them (along with all my other things ) into a trash barrel and burn them all anyway so nothing needs to outlast me by more than a few minutes ...
My biggest fear/regret is when I die my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her I paid for them!
Besides we have no kids to hand these down to - so when I'm gone my wife will probably put them (along with all my other things ) into a trash barrel and burn them all anyway so nothing needs to outlast me by more than a few minutes ...
My biggest fear/regret is when I die my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her I paid for them!
My biggest fear is that she will find out now and kill me
I got banned from Weight Watchers for dropping a bag of M&Ms on the floor. It was the best game of Hungry Hippos I've ever seen!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
....fun to hear everybody talk about their "babies" and how they treat them....I still "over coddle" my babies - I really need to break them out more and play them...I'm going to start by hanging a few in the basement - F@#& it !!!
Depending on how your basement is finished, it may actually have the least amount of temp/humidity change of anywhere in the house over a year span. Temp may range a few degrees more (tempered by ground warmth) and likely is more humid than upstairs when the heat is on due again to the ground (especially if forced air), but this is probably a good thing at that point.
Depends on environment and heat/cool system. Figgered I'd mention that because most posts noticed the 'hanging on the wall' part and didn't seem to mention the basement part.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Rharv is right, I know I missed that - and his points are completely valid.
Have you actually put a hygrometer in the basement to even measure current humidity before you do anything?
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My biggest fear is that she will find out now and kill me
Hilarious! I never heard that one before! I always thought the one JohnJohnJohn posted was funny, but what a fantastic topper!
(To clarify topper isn't like a "one better", its a comedy term that means building off of a joke. If you knew that great! If not, I wanted to make sure I was insinuating a "joke off"/"Your Momma" kind of thing)
Chad (Hope that makes it easier)
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