Best way to create custom 'dust covers' for gear

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Rhetorical question - well, maybe not so rhetorical, but I don't want to put anybody on the spot:

I tend to have some silly habits:

1.) I cover some of my electronics and gear with ugly looking plastic bags to protect them from dust, thinking that they'll live longer. My wife hate the 'look' of the room with these stupid, ugly plastic bags all over the place.

2.) I tend to buy instruments and gear - and then not use it until several years later, almost as if I'm 'preserving and protecting it' for future use. And almost as if I feel "I don't want to play that better instrument until my musicianship improves a little more". So - I have some really good equipment that's been sitting unplayed for more years than I care to share in this post.

Is there a group out there for people like me to get over these ridiculous habits, so I can actually start enjoying and using my instruments and gear ?

And for the sake of my wife - please give me some ideas on how to make some custom dust covers so my music room doesn't look like a sanitation pickup station : )
...or convince me that dust isn't really going to decrease the life (of the equipment I don't use lol) because the chasis and pots are sealed adequately.

I would think that plastic bags might be the worst thing to cover electronics with. Pulling the bags off and putting them might cause static electricity that may damage the equipment.

I would either keep them in the boxes they came in, contact an upholstery or fabric shop (be sure to explain that you are covering electronic equipment) or buy covers from a music store.

Just my thoughts first thing this morning.

Soooo... you cover your gear with protective film? Would that be like PROaudio PHYLACTICS?
(ba-boom)

a variety of stupid ideas:

1) use gift wrap to cover them. Wives love gifts more than they like plastic bags. An added advantage of doing this is that you can hide Christmas and birthday gifts out in the open and nobody will know which are real gifts and which are gear. Plus, once she realizes some of the boxes might be gifts, she'll feel a lot better about seeing the number of boxes increase

2) Get magazines and cut the eyes out of face pictures and then paste the eyes on the boxes. Then give names to each box. Pick sentimental-sounding names like "BABY" "MOM" "HONEY" etc After doing that, they'll be creepy, but in a way that will be hard for your wife to act on. What woman can recommend that you get rid of "MOM?" (OK, bad example...)

3) Bunny ears. Put bunny ears on the boxes. She might think they're cute

4) <obvious>
Or... you could keep them in the factory box and store them in a closet until you're ready to use them.</obvious>

5) Keep a jar on a shelf labelled "GEAR". Every time you have the irresistible urge to buy new gear put the money in the jar, but don't buy the gear. Later when you're ready to rock, whatever you buy with the jar money will be new technology, not something you bought 6 years ago and stashed, and is now incompatible with current technology.

6) if she complains that she hates looking at all the mess, put one of the bags over her head so she can't see it. Plus there are enough old jokes about "a bag over her head" that one of them might suggest a way to make things interesting

Covers sewn from cotton cloth (or cotton-containing cloth, just don't try to use synthetics here) make great equipment covers. And sometimes we can get the wifey and her sewing skills in on such a project.

Plastic isn't so good, does not allow for the atmosphere inside the bag to breathe, which can trap humidity and lead to faster corrosion of switch contacts, potentiometers (volume and other knobs or faders) and jack connect points.

Basic rule of thumb for most electronic appliances is the same as for pets, children and guitars, don't put in an environment that you yourself either would not like to be in or could not survive in. Plastic bag is not a safe environment for humans, right?

--Mac

Quote:

Covers sewn from cotton cloth ....... Plastic bag is not a safe environment for humans, right?

--Mac

Point one concur - I have a lot of guitars on multi-stands and I keep them covered with cheap cotton pillow cases (each in its own), and I throw pillow cases over my keyboards, amps are covered with mfg covers and my Juke 1210 came with the neatest faux snake skin cover ever. My rack is problematic (open on all sides) but life is never perfect... (yes I should keep them in guitar cases but I don’t because of the logistics of getting too them [small house - but BIG yard] )

Point two - it depends on the human <G>

larry

NO PLASTIC in my neck of the woods, we do have humidity (and from time to time humility) a problem down here, so plastic would have my gear swimming within a month or so.

Of course (here it comes Joe V) . . . the best thing to do with this equipment is to stop worrying how to store and USE IT!

Later,

Beach towels
Artist's towels

At first I was hesitant to submit until I read Pat Marr's stupid idea post and saw that I either do exactly or a variation of 4 out of six of his ideas. So, that eliminates any risk my material for a cover will sound stupid. It will.

I ran the automobile upholstery section of an upholstery shop for several years and beyond the car upholstery, my section did all of the unconventional upholstery jobs such as tractor seats, boat seats, airplane interiors and more than a fair share of guitar amps, speaker enclosures, etc. Diamond tufted and roll/pleated speakers were the rage down here. Soft vinyl was normally the material of choice. Vinyl use to be called Naugahyde. Joke use to be how many Naugha's did you kill and skin this week?

But I'm drifting off subject. Back to the subject. Guitar amp covers are almost universally still made using vinyl material. There is a low cost alternative that is breathable and durable as vinyl and equally as good at repelling rain and dust. Cuts and sews as easily ( actually better as a commercial machine is not required, a regular sewing machine will do just fine.) The material does not stretch when sewing as does cotton pillow cases or t-shirts.

So, any electronic equipment where you normally may choose a vinyl cover, you can substitute this material, which is .... Dog food bags.

Dog food bags work marvelously for this. If you like the picture on the bag you cut around it and center it on the front, otherwise, simply use the inside of the bag as the outside. Patches and such are easily sewn on the material if you want to dress up the cover a bit. Extra material can be used to sew pockets onto it if desired. Moisture should not be a concern unless as someone stated, you are in an area with high humidity. Readily available desiccant bags may be a good idea if you are concerned but even here in the high humidity of coastal South Carolina, I have never had an issue with moisture.

If you have dogs, this is a recyclable freebie, if not, you can by the size bag or bags needed and donate the dog food to the local animal shelter and have them save bags for you.

Originally Posted By: Joe V

I do #1 to some extent sometimes. (more explanation in a moment)
#2 is me. Current list is a midi controller, mic isolation gizmo, Ibanez hollow body electric, 4 channel headphone amp, Samson a6 studio monitors, Behringer studio monitors, Epiphone viola bass, Presonus tube pre amp and more if I were to take time to think of them.

"Group of people to help me get over..." The root cause and cure are one and the same, the spouse. How so? Due to space restrictions, you are probably required to set up/take down/store equipment on a per use basis. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission to buy new gear and there are always competing chores to do in the free time you think you have to work with your music. Then in one of those get it off your chest moments, you find your spouse ranting and raving how you under-utilized your musical talents thus robbing your spouse of the opportunity to enjoy in the millions of potential dollars you wasted away. It may sometimes feel a spouse impedes your musical creativity by demanding life's priorities over your music, but you will also find they may be quietly your biggest supporter and share in your dreams. It's just that someone has to be the adult.

It's easier to convince you that dust will not decrease the life of your equipment than to make a acceptable decoration decision for you. Go to any vintage, high end studio where a $350,000 console has set uncovered for 50 years and is still used by top engineer and artists daily. Dust can be controlled.

For the record - there are no more 'dust covers' on my equipment, and I'm using a little more of it than I did in the past - but still working on that. Thanks for all your responses.

I gave up on standard music shop covers and now use plain old beach towels. That way I can throw them into the washer every now and then and wash away any accumulated dust.

>>...you can substitute this material, which is .... Dog food bags.
...>>>

How is this possible? They are just paper, no?

Flatfoot. They are paper bonded over plastic grid strips. I am speaking specifically of the dog food bags that have a strip sewn across the top where the string unravels to open the bag.

Charlie

Any type of plastic or synthetic nylon is liable to collect an electrical charge. The danger is NOT from the static charge directly but from the fact that is will impart a charge to the dust itself. The dust will then adhere to the equipment.

A better option is to use cotton cloth. I use old cotton flags and small blankets to cover my gear. Especially when I used to gig for a living, I had a southern heritage flag I used to cover the amp and speakers from the cigarette smoke and dust that would settle from the air in the clubs and get on the gear. We always covered the mixer too. One day I got a call from the club system manager (military clubs) stating that the site club mgr had removed my "rebel flag" since it was "offensive" to some of the people in the club.... so I had to use something else on that base.

Now, here in my studio, I use my Gadsden and Southern heritage flag on the amps, and on the mic, if I leave my Rode on the stand overnight, I have a purple & gold trimmed Crown Royal bag that fits over it nicely, and the draw string tightens snugly at the base..... that works for me. I have no mixer in my studio so that's a moot point.

You want to protect the gear from dust, but don't be crazy obsessed with it. Dust will still get in regardless, so a cleaning every now and them is all you need to do.