How Do You Store Your Basses?

[bbl]

The black '77 Jazz raises this question.

I once stored a bass in it's gig bag under the bed. The pole pieces started rusting after less than a year!

Then I moved everything to a closet, in a rack, outside of their cases to increase airflow and minimize condensation.

Then I decided to store all basses in their cases, upright.

Then... to improve temperature consistency, I moved them all to a closet that doesn't touch an exterior wall. That's where they're at now. In their cases, upright, in a closet that's not near the exterior of the house.

What do you do? Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations?

[Matt R.]

Mine are situated in my office/bass room on wall hangers and a couple floor stands for eye candy/availability purposes. In the winter I do the humidifier thing.

[superheavydeathmetal]

I just put them on stands, or in a case lying down.

When I leave them in the case, I always put something under the horns to raise the neck so that the neck isn't bearing any weight. I don't latch the case, either.

I also tune down to D or C# to lessen the tension, but still provide some tension to balance the pull of the truss rod. I doubt that is really necessary. What is the difference between leaving it at standard and playing it every day and leaving it at standard and not playing it?

I don't really do anything for temperature or humidity, except leave the thermostat at 72°. Maybe I should.

[bobjones2260]

All my basses are stored in cases, valuable ones (more that $1500 in hard cases) then due to space and cost approx 10 bases under $1500 in well padded gig bags. I have them standing up as it's easy to grab. One strong suggestion all bases are stored appox 8 inches off the ground. My area is 100% dry except when Hurricane Sandy hit we for the first and only time we got 4 inches of water in that area of the house.

It was my wife and I in the dark (LED lanterns only) doing what we could to get them off the floor before the water rose to get them as at the time they were on the floor. This was the one and only time that area of the house was flooded however you never know what could happen so suggest keep them off the floor if any chance of flooding or water pipe burst.

[blablas]

Wall hangers and racks.

[tim]

[paulo]

WOW blablas that is lefty paradise right there!

[AzWhoFan]

the basses that are in rotation live on hangers on the wall for easy access. The non-rotation basses live upright in their cases in the gear closet. I leave them tuned at normal tension and check them on a regular basis. My acoustics live permanently in their cases and I use Oasis humidifiers to keep them from drying out.

I do agree it's a good idea to elevate instruments off the floor in case pipes burst, or the occasional hurricane crosses your path.

[pjmuck]

Wall hangers and racks.

Awesome. This begs the question, where do you keep the cases?

I have a small house and a large collection, so space is at a premium. I wish I could hang everything, but there's nowhere to do it so everything still resides in their cases and/or gig bags in a storage room and I check them from time to time. I still keep everything down in my basement where I had the flood, but I've modified the area since. I had a french drain dug around the perimeter of the house in conjunction with a sump pump and I modified the storage room to now have two levels of elevated platforms. I also use a dehumidifier for spring/summer and humidifier for fall/winter.

In a perfect world (and a larger home), I'd love to have one of these to store my instruments instead

Dry-Cleaning-Conveyor-Systems.jpg (82.42 KiB) Viewed 9467 times

[blablas]

Awesome. This begs the question, where do you keep the cases?

I've only got two cases and 4 or 5 gig-bags. I can never move them all at once.
Never use the cases, they both came with a bass, I prefer a gig-bag.

[Matt R.]

I have 3 or 4 Jazz cases, a P case, my Höfner case, and a couple gig bags (one for my upright as well). I live alone, so they all live in a hallway closet.

[J-meister]

Wow, Blabla! I see this now, after responding on your "couple of new basses"-thread.. Talkin 'bout a museum!