Be Careful How You Store Your Ukulele...

Most of you know (or at least those that read my ramblings) that I am not an advocate of overbearing ukulele owners. That was until now. I live in Georgia and our winters are mild and our summers are harsh but there is always humidity and I have always stored my ukuleles in cases. Three of them are stored with a herco and two of the ukuleles get a rotation on one of the hercos. We recently had a string of extremely cold weather for Georgia, with temperatures dropping into the single digits. It was so cold that we even canceled school for two days (a Friday and the following Monday). Enough of the background information, now my story...

I had been sitting in my classroom trying to film "Let it snow" when they announced that the school was closing in 15 minutes (2 hours earlier than normal). I placed my beloved Mele double puka on my reading table and grabbed my bags and my ukuleles. I made my trip to the car to load up and I wasn't able to get back in the building. I figured everything would be fine. I'd just get my uke tomorrow. Well tomorrow never happened. Tomorrow turned into 4 days later. I found out that our district turns off the heat at night to save money and evidently extreme cold weather can make an ukulele crack. I didn't find out until later that Tuesday night while meeting with fellow SEUkers at StarBucks. To say the least I'm bummed but I contacted Mele and Cheryl is going to take care of me. My uke cracked b/c of my stupidity and over confidence in my belief that we baby our ukuleles. Well I have learned from my experience and now I can say that overbearing ownership is needed at times. So moral of the story is to make sure that you store your ukes properly.

sorry to hear that,

I'll take note, thanks for sharing

a reason for a new uke maybe?

Ah, man. Sorry to hear that! At least we have an excuse to baby them now, eh?

Sorry to hear about the Double Puka John. Hopefully the can get it all fixed up for you.

Jack

I am so sorry to hear about your ukulele John. I hope it is fixed up fine.

Bummer, John. Thank goodness for the helpful Cheryl!

Ohh, man, sucks to hear that. I think that when I move to somewhere that isn't as wonderful climate-wise as Hawaii, I'll need to start taking care of my ukes too. I usually leave them in their cases so nothing gets knocked over or sat on, but your story is a great reminder that humidifiers and proper storage are important in harsher environments. Glad to hear that you will be taken care of though!

Wow sorry to hear that.Now you got me worried.Do you know how cold it was ?We turne down the thermostat at 64 F here at night.But I keep my kanilea in the case with a herco and 2 film canisters with wet sponge inside and a planet wave hygrometer and I have a hard time to keep humidity above 45% in the winter months.

John,

Sorry to hear about your uke! I'm also guilty of thinking that since I live in a humid climate that I have nothing to worry about, but the HVAC systems we use really pull the humidity out of the air. Thanks for the reality check! I'm sorry it had to come at your expense.

pithaya9 said:

Sorry to hear about the Double Puka John. Hopefully the can get it all fixed up for you.

Jack

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Yes sorry that happened to you! I know how upset you must be after watching your excitement on your youtube video when you received the double puka!! Glad to hear Mele can fix her up!! Also, this is a great reminder for all of us!!

So what temp / humidity level should you store a uke? I have all my guitars on stands, and was going to hang the uke on the wall in the same room. We keep the temp about 65, 67 and I've never really monitored the humidity levels...I'd hate to see one of them take a hit.

Sukie here -- so sorry to hear that, Eller. Info duly noted.

Skitzic said:

So what temp / humidity level should you store a uke? I have all my guitars on stands, and was going to hang the uke on the wall in the same room. We keep the temp about 65, 67 and I've never really monitored the humidity levels...I'd hate to see one of them take a hit.

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MGM recommends at humidity level of 50%. How to measure humidity, I haven't a clue.

Sorry to here about your Uku. It's like when a computer crashes on someone that didn't do regular back ups. It reminds us to do a back up when we get home. Again, sorry for you problem. and it does remind me to be more carefull with my UKu. I hope everything works out for you.

UKISOCIETY said:

MGM recommends at humidity level of 50%. How to measure humidity, I haven't a clue.

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Hygrometer

http://www.google.com/products?hl=e...snum=0&q=hygrometer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf

Yea I've been puting off getting a humidifier for too long now. And in Phoenix where there is NO humidity, I'm only gonna screw myself bc of it. I looked at some at Guitar Center last night but wasnt impressed with the 3 that they had. The best one was probably a snake one that could go in the case or in the uke but I didnt get it. I need more info on them. And I need 2 decent ones bc my Honeybee just hangs on wall and is just askin to get bent or warped. I need HELP!!

Sorry to hear about the crack in the Mele. At least it sounds like Mele will take care of you on this, which is very nice. It is consistent with what I've heard in the past about Meles though, that they are prone to cracking. There is a guy on the Fleamarket forum that really liked Meles but said that everyone he knew, including himself, who owned Meles has had it crack (I believe he lived in New Jersey).

Here in Minnesota, I have at least 2 humidifiers in every case and most cases gets a hygrometer too. I'm taking no chances with the cold winters (and dry air caused by heater) here.

phanzo said:

Yea I've been puting off getting a humidifier for too long now. And in Phoenix where there is NO humidity, I'm only gonna screw myself bc of it. I looked at some at Guitar Center last night but wasnt impressed with the 3 that they had. The best one was probably a snake one that could go in the case or in the uke but I didnt get it. I need more info on them. And I need 2 decent ones bc my Honeybee just hangs on wall and is just askin to get bent or warped. I need HELP!!

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One of these in the room where you keep all your ukes should do for all the ukes you can fit in the room.

http://www.amazon.com/Vicks-Warm-Mi...ef=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1263922866&sr=8-4

Thanks for posting. I will pay more attention to the humidity - even though we live in Washington State with mild damp winters and mild damp summers we do have baseboard electric heat. Thank you, too, for the information about Mele. I have been looking at their mahogany concert pineapple for a while. It is encouraging to hear good things about the company.

GX9901 said:

Sorry to hear about the crack in the Mele. At least it sounds like Mele will take care of you on this, which is very nice. It is consistent with what I've heard in the past about Meles though, that they are prone to cracking. There is a guy on the Fleamarket forum that really liked Meles but said that everyone he knew, including himself, who owned Meles has had it crack (I believe he lived in New Jersey).

Here in Minnesota, I have at least 2 humidifiers in every case and most cases gets a hygrometer too. I'm taking no chances with the cold winters (and dry air caused by heater) here.

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Since I'm fighting a loosing battle trying to keep the room above 30% RH, I figured that you in a colder place than Helsinki and a gazillion great ukes would have an opinion on this question:

How long do you keep the ukes out of their cases when playing, or do you play them at all during this point of the year? Christmas sounds like a great time for a new uke, but then I get paranoid about taking it out of it's cosy humidified case.