For 10 years my husband's Lanikai LU21B sat in a closet in the cold NE US, with heat, a/c and no case. When I decided to break it out and try it, it was still in fine shape. 10 more years later and it's still going strong (a son plays it now). I keep one laminate now, a soprano as my ultra portable, take anywhere, no worry uke. We've been in SW Florida for six years and it's so frigging humid that I never had to worry about humidity. My solid ukes have all been fine and I always have my ukes on hangers, ready to play anytime. Cases are just for traveling. We just moved to Cali and I was thinking that I'd have to start humidifying and using my cases for storage, and I hated that thought. I play on and off all day and want my ukes at my fingertips. Turns out we moved to the central coast and we have very moderate climate. We use very little heat, no a/c, and wound up by the beach, so humidity is good. So life goes on for me unchanged (ukes just got wall-mounted this week). If we had moved a little inland, into the deserty areas, I would probably be forced to keep my two best ukes humidified and in their cases, and only break them out for longer practice/playing session. I'd still mount my two beaters, one sop lam and one solid wood but well-worn, no nonsense Bari for all day long fun and the hell with worries about potential problems.