Guitar storage advise

Chris-Mason

For those following the various threads I have mentioned that I have several guitars on sale at the moment.
It seems as though the market is flat. I am going to place my guitars in storage. My son can have them when he's old enough if he's interested or maybe the market will be better then. I need advise on storage though, does one store the guitars fully strung to correct tension or does one slacken the stings off. What will be the affect of not playing them? They will be stored in a room no damp or exstreme heat and will be kept in their Hard Cases. Humidity is my main concern as I am not going to keep on taking them in and out to check them. I am not too concerned about the electrics mainly teh acoustics for obvious reasons.

I will be storing them in cases, with a cloth between the strings and the fret board. What other preventative measures should be taken?
Any sound advice welcome (no pun intended)

Saddle and nut

Conrad

Saddle and Nut wrote: For those following the various threads I have mentioned that I have several guitars on sale at the moment.
It seems as though the market is flat. I am going to place my guitars in storage. My son can have them when he's old enough if he's interested or maybe the market will be better then. I need advise on storage though, does one store the guitars fully strung to correct tension or does one slacken the stings off. What will be the affect of not playing them? They will be stored in a room no damp or exstreme heat and will be kept in their Hard Cases. Humidity is my main concern as I am not going to keep on taking them in and out to check them. I am not too concerned about the electrics mainly teh acoustics for obvious reasons.

I will be storing them in cases, with a cloth between the strings and the fret board. What other preventative measures should be taken?
Any sound advice welcome (no pun intended)

Saddle and nut

Sorry. You could store them with me? ?

[deleted]

I think you might want to reduce the tension on the strings slightly, but not leave them totally slack - you probably need enough tension to keep the bridge where it belongs but take a bit of pressure off the neck and truss rod.

Higher humidity is less of an enemy than low (or extreme fluctuating) humidity, last I checked. So I'd only be concerned if you live in an very dry area (very low humidity = cracks). Generally though, I think stable humidity at any level should be ok. It's sudden changes (e.g. Capetonian cold fronts or travelling from the Karoo to Durbs) that do the damage because the wood expands and contracts too quickly. I'd also say make very sure, wherever you store them, that there isn't a leak risk from a rusty roof or a burst geyser etc, and avoid rising damp in the walls too...

If you're near the sea, strings and frets might get a bit rusty, but I think this is almost unavoidable in a coastal area. Strings, at least, can be replaced, and frets can be polished.

In my experience not-playing instruments for a while deadens the wood somewhat (this definitely applies to bowed string instruments, maybe less of an issue for solid guitars?) but it's nothing that can't be undone with a few weeks/months of vigorous playing!

I'm no expert on guitars, but all of the above definitely applies to cellos, violins and pianos so much of it may hold true for guitars too ?

AlanRatcliffe

Yup agree completely with MoreCowBell.