Ukulele Hanging On Wall...Yes or No?

UkuleleHan96

UkuleleHan96

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Ive been thinking a lot lately about getting some Ukulele wall hangers to hang my ukuleles on. Im not sure if this is good because some people i have talked to says that if you hang them on the wall instead of leaving them in their cases, the air and dust can damage the wood and strings. Is this true?

Please give advice if you think its a good or bad idea.

Many Thanks
UkuleleHan96
 
Yes. And they can dry out dependent upon the humidity in your home. You should "put them to bed" in a case with a humidifier. I have a wall hanger, but it's only used when I'm taking a time out from playing for a few minutes.
 
Hanging them availably on the wall will lead to more playing, which leads to better skill, which leads to more requests, which leads to more gigs, which leads to more exposure, which leads to more fame, which leads to more money, which leads to more exposure, which leads to more fame, which leads to more money, etc.

At that point, you can give up playing the ukulele.
 
Skrik said:
Hanging them availably on the wall will lead to more playing, which leads to better skill, which leads to more requests, which leads to more gigs, which leads to more exposure, which leads to more fame, which leads to more money, which leads to more ukes, which leads to more exposure, which leads to more fame, which leads to more money, which leads to more ukes, etc.

At that point, you can give up playing the ukulele.
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Edited for correctness!
h
 
consitter said:
Yes. And they can dry out dependent upon the humidity in your home. You should "put them to bed" in a case with a humidifier. I have a wall hanger, but it's only used when I'm taking a time out from playing for a few minutes.
Click to expand...

Wait a minute...let me back up. Both of my ukes are expensive, solid wood instruments. If you've got a laminate, it won't hurt it a bit (unless you throw objects at them, that is).
 
I store my ukuleles in their cases. In my opinion it's safer. If they are on the floor, they can't fall down. If they are in the cases, they can't be damaged. :)

Grabbing the ukulele on the wall or grabbing the ukulele in the case is the same "effort", so there's no reason why I should play more ukulele when they are hanging on the wall. ;)



The only ukulele hanging on the wall is my self made ukulele clock. :D

http://s7.directupload.net/images/121230/yk4njz95.jpg
http://s14.directupload.net/images/121230/y5j76l3m.jpg
http://s7.directupload.net/images/121230/7zn26cdg.jpg
 
If a wood instrument is so very fragile that just air damages it? Then we're better off playing something else. If you humidify snd climate control the room like you do your case... It'll be fine.
 
Plainsong said:
If a wood instrument is so very fragile that just air damages it? Then we're better off playing something else. If you humidify snd climate control the room like you do your case... It'll be fine.
Click to expand...

But, isn't it more difficult (and costly) to humidify a whole room? And I just think it's a safer environment in a case. My kids can knock my uke off the wall or throw something and hit it. One particular uke of mine is worth WAY too much to risk that. Actually, two of them are.
 
Hang them on the wall or wherever you like and enjoy looking at them and playing them. That's what they're for.
I have a "weather station" on a cupboard which tells me temp and humidity and in my case it's always somewhere between 45 and 70 (humidity that is). So no worries. All my ukes or lying on their sides on top of a bookcase ready to be played when I want to. I don't think people in the 20s and 30s where so preoccupied with humidity and their ukes as a lot of people are nowadays.

I just came up with a word for those humidity obsessed people:
HYPOCHONDRIUKES!
 
I'd much prefer to have mine out on the wall or in a stand, but I'm just concerned about the want of humidity over the winter. This is my first heating season with ukes, so I'm using a hygrometer to track the relative humidity for the winter to see how effective our whole-house humidifier is. So far so good. Right at 50% and stable.
 
As long as your ukes are kept in a constant environment (i.e. not exposed to frequently changing climate conditions) it shouldn't make much of a difference whether you keep them hanging on the wall, under your bed or in their cases.
Avoid direct heat (like e.g. over a heater) or cold (next to an open window) and humidity below ~35% (this isn't good for you anyway). Dust can be dusted off, it does only optical damage at a certain point....
 
I hang my ukuleles on the wall because I want to play them any time.
Yes, I am afraid of low humidity and smoke. Because the wall is of our dining room, my ukuleles need cover when we have yakiniku (roast meat).
image.jpg
 
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consitter said:
But, isn't it more difficult (and costly) to humidify a whole room? And I just think it's a safer environment in a case. My kids can knock my uke off the wall or throw something and hit it. One particular uke of mine is worth WAY too much to risk that. Actually, two of them are.
Click to expand...

I've been stuck using cases all winter for many years because I couldn't find a good enough humidifier. I was just addressing the idea that all other things being constant, even just simply air alone can damage a wooden instrument. I mean yeah, instruments over time will need repairs, but they shouldn't be such delicate flowers that we're afraid that air will hurt them. :)

I found humidifier that works finally. It's one of the hot steam ones, and it costs less than the cool mist ones that are meant to fill the same square footage. Of course they can go in cases if it's still too dry. I've got case humidifiers that's no problem. But JUST air damaging the instrument?
 
I blame Bob Taylor for the current humidity fetish. He did such a good job evangelizing about the effects of humidity on guitars that everybody now believes that we must encase our instruments in sarcophagi to protect them from that poisonous fume that surrounds us (a.k.a. "Air"). Add in the financial incentive for the sales dude at your favorite music store, and we end up with humidifiers out the wazoo.

You cannot walk through any room of my house without having some type of instrument within quick reach (except the bathroom, of course). Hangers and stands safely offer up their musical goodness to all who enter my home... with nary a case (nor humidifier) in sight.

That being said, your local environment should dictate your actions - but rate of change is far more important than absolute values.
 
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That's my thinking too, the swings are even more important. The only basis I have for believing that is seeing the effects on wooden wind instruments.

Besides, the idea that air and dust are damaging is a bit flawed, in that the only way to combat that would be to vacuum-pack your ukes. A case isn't airtight, they contain air and dust.
 
I keep my ukes in their cases, in my "office" - where I'm sitting right now.

The hygrometer on the wall shows an RH of 16% - pretty normal for an upstate NY winter. With this RH, my hands dry out and the skin cracks without the constant application of hand lotion.

We have a humidifier in the bedroom - running full bore 24x7, it gets all the way up to about 38% RH.

The ukes in the cases are averaging 50-55% RH, by hygrometer reading, with home made humidifiers.

Even though my guitars don't have humidifiers, and have never cracked, they also have thicker tops than all but the republic and harmony ukes.

Anecdotal evidence, to be sure - but I don't expect to be hanging any of my ukes on the walls during the winter.
 
I've always read that if your skin is uncomfortable, so is your fiddle, guitar, uke, &c.
 
drbekken said:
If you play it regularly, dust won't gather...
If you have an expensive, high end instrument, you may want to keep it in its case, otherwise, I guess hanging it on the wall is ok.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought, until just now. My nice little Ohana has a crack down the face, from the bridge to the tail block. :mad:
 
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