On the wall or in the case?

[Mookulele]

Mine stay cased (or bagged).... I don't trust the dog and kid that are often running around.

The biggest accident any of my ukes has had was caused by me, unfortunately. The Great Dusting Incident of 2023. While I would love to blame the Golden Retriever, until he takes up housecleaning, he is not considered a suspect in this event.

I knocked the uke over and it fell of a table and hit a bookshelf and a subwoofer on the way down. Anything with a nice, hard, sharp corner, essentially. The damage was all cosmetic but wow, there was quite a bit. Had only owned it for a day at the time, too.

 

[Mookulele]

I keep the instruments that I’m currently playing on the wall. The rest live in their cases.
Living on an island with a “tidal” creek in the backyard keeps everything pretty well humidified year round…View attachment 166328View attachment 166329

Have you had any issues with temperature swings with them on an outside wall? Or is the temperature relatively constant there?

 

[Mookulele]

Considering the winter humidity in my place hovers between 20% and 30%, most of my ukes are in humidified cases. Those cases are in a closet both because it's neater and because of the Golden Retriever and the occasional small child.

I leave my Enya Novas out, either hanging or on a stand in the living room where I can grab it any time I have a few minutes.

I tried leaving an Ohana laminate hanging in my bedroom with room humidifiers this fall as an experiment and if I ever get the impressive fret sprout fixed, I might play it again.

 

[Brouk]

I play them in and out every few days so they are in cases

 

[rustydusty]

Have you had any issues with temperature swings with them on an outside wall? Or is the temperature relatively constant there?

The house is insulated well enough that I don’t think it’s an issue.
Actually, in my 50+ years of playing around with stringed instruments, (including 26 years of living and cruising in boats), I’ve never used a humidifier, and never had any issues…

 

[don_b]

I like to put a strap on mine and hang it around my neck

 

[Wiggy]

... Actually, in my 50+ years of playing around with stringed instruments, (including 26 years of living and cruising in boats), I’ve never used a humidifier, and never had any issues…

rustydusty: Considering where you live, stable bridges are mandatory

The ones I regularly play are always out on wall hangers or floor stands for immediate access. I take the others out to keep them tuned in hopes of rediscovering a forgotten gem... not likely though. And they're not worth the cost of shipping. As so, they languish in their cases.

 

[Jerryc41]

I was wondering how others feel about the merits of displaying your ukuleles on the wall as opposed to keeping them in a hard case with humidity control.
I love having my instruments where I can see them all the time and just reach up and take one down to play. I have a small environmentally controlled room where the temperature is always 70 and the humidity is always between 45 and 50.
I’m hoping that this is as good for my ukuleles as keeping them in a case with individual humidity control.
How do you guys store your ukes and do you feel that hanging them on the wall is not as good for them as in the case?

View attachment 166338

Definitely in the case.

 

[ailevin]

I just remembered that I do have one instrument hanging on the wall, a Kay mandolin. My father bought it in Detroit sometime between 1955 and 1957. That mandolin has been hanging on the wall of every house my parents lived in since then, and when they passed, I put it on the wall in my house. I have taken down off the wall maybe five times in twenty years, usually when a child or grandchild asks a question about it. My kids and their cousins have fond memory of their Pops playing that instrument so it is in the category of family heirloom.

The only period in which I regularly played it was in 1967 and 1968 when I was part of a group (two mandolins and three recorders) that played at the Renaissance Pleasure Fair, back when it was a fund raiser for KPFK, a local radio station. My father affectionately called it The Commie Fair. I recently saw this article about the history of the fair in Smithsonian Magazine. My father was more correct than I thought! The fair was caught up in black lists, the McCarthy committee, and free speech. I didn't think of it in those terms at the time. It was a gig where we got in for free, busked for money and food, and donated the money we raised to KPFK. At sixteen, I felt like a grown up, and it was my first real experience of the counter culture.

 

[doctorapatite]

I keep all of mine except one on the wall in my office. Our house AC was just redone ($$$$) with an emphasis on humidity control (we live in the Houston, TX area, so think "yuck" in the summer) but I also have a humidity monitor and an electric humidifier in my office to manage things locally. In the wintertime if we have a cold snap and the air gets too dry, an alert goes off (yes really) and all the solid wood instruments get put away with humidifiers in their cases.

But recently I've been thinking about what I'd really like, which is a decent looking, affordable clear acrylic case (just a box, really) that mounts on the wall, has a door on the front, and is big enough for a uke. Then I'd be able to see and protect them. But it seems hard to find something like that. I've seen the thread about violin cases, but at over $125 each, that adds up (even if you only get them for your solid wood instruments).

 

[engravertom]

Wall or stands. I need to see them to play them. My solid tops stay in my bedroom, and I keep an eye on the humidity and adjust as needed. The laminates stay in the basement. I keep an eye on the humidity there, too, but can’t adjust it as easily.

 

[Canada Jim]

When I was single and lived alone, I kept everything out on the wall or on a stand.

Then a girl came over and said "WTF, its like you live in a frickin music store or something."

Her, noticing old school Witmer metronome, "Seriously?"

So I backed it down to just two or three hanging at one time.

My biggest mistake was marrying that one. The next one will be a player too!!

Does she know that you're already planning on a "next one"?

 

[counsel1]

Always out -- on stands (or chairs) -- pretty constant 50-60% humidity--

 

[frets alot]

My husband and I made 2 oak cabinets for all my instruments, storing them in their cases in our music room (whole home humidity controlled). I have the theory that if I don't have room, I can't buy. They hold my guitars, ukes (guileles), mountain dulcimers, NA flutes and my grandpa's fiddle. Of course, many more instruments have come and gone over the years. I'm content with where I am. Everything gets played and all serve a unique purpose.

 

[RosieKamozie]

One wall hanger & the rest are in cases w/ humidity packs!

 

[Altrove]

I always keep mine in the cases, but they are leaning against the wall of my bedroom so it’s easy to grab one and play.

 

[Kenn2018]

I used to keep several on floor stands. (The dogs passed away before I started ukulele.) In the bedroom, my office and the family room. Then I had a slight mishap. I had temporarily placed two Crossrock ABS cases on my drawing/drafting table while I retrieved some strings I was going put on the ukes. Next to the table were 5 or 6 tenors in their floor stands. The top Crossrock case decided to slide across the other case and took a dive into the closest uke in the floor stand. That uke was thrown into the next uke in line. Which was knocked into the next uke which toppled into the next... Five tenors were damaged from this accident. The first had a big gouge in the soundboard. And on the headstock. The next had dings and dents in the binding and side of the body and one of the points in the crown of the headstock was clipped slightly. The next had dings and scratches. ... The last in line was left standing and undamaged.

After that I keep my ukes in their cases with a humidpack or two. I do have a wall hanger next to my desk—where I hang my Enya Nova U Pro.

Now that the ukes are in cases all the time, I am used to grabbing the case and taking the uke out and playing/practicing. I place it in a better floor stand. Then when I go to bed, I put it back in the case. It's become SOP and no longer a hassle for me. Plus, there's no dust accumulation.

In my part of Wisconsin, during a very cold, sub-zero winter, the RH will drop to the teens. We don't have whole house humidification through our furnace because we have well water and the amount of water needed to run that kind of humidifer uses way too much water. I use four large room humidifiers, two on each floor, and each goes through 5 gallons every three to seven days.

In the summer, the himidity can hover at about 50% and hiigher. The A/C is on and the house is at about 40%.

 

[Dave Holiday]

I have one electric guitar, no case.

One electric bass, no case.

Two acoustic guitars. One in a case, one on the wall.

Two baritone ukes, both with cases.

Three soprano ukes. One in a case, two on the wall.

One tenor uke. No case, but I'm getting one.

I guess I like a bit of both. I had never really thought about it much.

I like having at least one case for each type of instrument or each size of ukulele so that if I take one out somewhere it is well protected.

Purposefully, all my instruments are relatively inexpensive. All laminates aside from one vintage soprano uke.

This is actually my preference. I lost everything I owned in a flood in 2010 and no longer care to pay more for something that I have to be more concerned about with regard to fragility or susceptibility to changes in temperature and humidity.

I realize non-laminates typically sound better. I don't care. If I play live it's going to most likely go through an amplifier anyway.

 

[Freya Vie]

I wish I could display all my ukes.. unfortunately I have to hide them all so my husband wouldn't figure out how many ukes I actually have

Lol, on a serious note, with a humidity as high as 85%, I think they're better off in their bags.

I squeezed them all in my children's wardrobe. If I had to fit more, I may have to lay them on their backs and stack 'em.

 

[gustophersmob]

I keep mine on the wall

View attachment 166359


Apart from the ones that are in their cases

View attachment 166360

We don’t really have humidity problems in this damp little corner or the world, well not low humidity anyway. Several of the cases are empty, and the ukes that are in cases are mainly waiting for me to stop procrastinating and sell them.

What’s in the hiscox guitar (?) case?