Displaying: wall hangers versus shelves

Hello! It has been quite a while since I have posted on these forums. I lost my enthusiasm for uke a little bit but I feel it coming back. I am setting up a music room in my house, something I have wanted for quite a while. I will be having all of my instruments looking nice and pretty in one room!

At the moment most of my guitars are on Hercules wall hangers, the ones with the auto-grip. For those who don't know this mechanism grips your instrument as it is put on to the wall hanger and releases it as you lift it out. I trust them. The problem is that almost all ukulele headstocks are too small/thin to fit in to these wall hangers. At best they rest on their tuners if they are the type that stick out of the side of the headstock. I don't know whether this is bad for the tuners/uke in general. Most of my ukes are on floor stands like this:

http://elderly.com/accessories/items/images/ACC/KUS1.jpg

So...do I buy some shelves and put the floor stands on the shelves or do I buy wall hangers which will fit the ukuleles? My main concern is that I don't know how safe wall hangers without the autogrip mechanism are. Will a hard knock on the other side of the wall send all my lovely ukes flying face down on to the floor?

I like the idea of wall hangers, there are plenty made for ukulele/mandolin/violin, but most don't have auto grip. The ones I've used are tight enough to hold the instrument well.

I actually converted a bookshelf into a display/humidor by sealing all the edges inside and adding plexiglass doors with piano hinges, trays with water and adjustable covers, plus a digital and an analog hygrometer. I hang the ukes from long cup hooks, with Martin short extension head straps that I attach to the lower tuners.

That's an interesting idea.
Ikea makes doors for their shelves...

Do you leave the straps on all the time?
Also.. are you concerned about the bow in the shelf?

Boy, I like that ukulele case a lot, but what's gonna happen to those Ukes during a good ol' California earthquake?
They're awfully close together. Do you ever bump them, moving them in or out?

Nothin's ever perfect is it? ld:

Down Up Dick said:

Nothin's ever perfect is it?

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Maybe perfect is not necessary for happiness.

spookelele said:

Maybe perfect is not necessary for happiness.

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Ahhh, yesss, O wise and serene One. May happiness be your constant companion. ld:

Coincidence you should post this today because I was going to look for the sort or wall hangers you describe. Kanile'a used something like that to display their 'ukes at NAMM.

spookelele said:

Do you leave the straps on all the time? Also.. are you concerned about the bow in the shelf?

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I usually leave the strap on when I'm around the house, but when I go to rehearsal or a performance, I leave the straps on the hanger in the cabinet. That bow in the shelf has been there for years before I made the display case, so no, I don't worry about it at all.

Down Up Dick said:

Boy, I like that ukulele case a lot, but what's gonna happen to those Ukes during a good ol' California earthquake? They're awfully close together. Do you ever bump them, moving them in or out?

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We had a small quake some months ago and they all swung exactly the same way, but they will bump each other a little, doesn't bother me, I don't baby my ukes, even the customs, I bump them harder just walking around playing them. I always think about Willy Nelson's guitar to keep things in perspective.

Shakespeare said:

My main concern is that I don't know how safe wall hangers without the autogrip mechanism are. Will a hard knock on the other side of the wall send all my lovely ukes flying face down on to the floor?

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I have had all of my ukes (plus a few guitars etc) on the String Swing non-grip style hooks for years with two young boys in the house. Nothing has fallen yet.

Check out http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?99931-Paracord-Ukulele-Hangers
I wound up making my own. although http://ukulelehangers.com/ are really reasonable, I decided to save the shipping cost to Canada.

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...ung-my-Martin-sopranos&highlight=hung+martins

Still working. Sopranos top baritones. None of the issues that others have mentioned in the above thread have come even close to occurring. I know Hercules wall-hangers, and I own their free-standing guitar stands; they are wall-damaging overkill for ukes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLJrnW3hMU0

I just bought this case. It's a violin / mandolin display case with lock. It's plexiglass. I have a tenor uke in it.

Photojosh said:

I have had all of my ukes (plus a few guitars etc) on the String Swing non-grip style hooks for years with two young boys in the house. Nothing has fallen yet.

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yeah, not sure what is going on in the next room, but it would take quite a slam to knock ukes off of a string swing. You could also just put a rubber band across the forks.

I use some String Swings also and like 'em a lot. They look nice too! I keep a rubber band on each one to "put across the forks" if necessary. They also sell pads that one can use to keep them from banging against the wall, but I don't have any.

They're better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! ld: