Uke Storage - Hanging?

Jerryc41

Jerryc41

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Do you hang your ukes on the wall?

The only uke I have hanging on the wall is a small one I converted into a clock. I don't like the idea of a good ukulele hanging on the wall getting dusty. I store mine in hard cases.

I always have a couple in their cases next to my chair in the living room

Aside from that, I don't have an appropriate wall to hang them on. The KoAloha wall pictured below would be just a start for my collection. :)

Clock Uke.jpg

Koaloha Wall of Ukes.jpg
 
A suitable wood molding and wood pole will do the job:IMG_2575.jpg

The climate in here (Denmark) is not a problem for solid wood ukes.
I always play my ukes in turns :)
 
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I hang all my instruments. Climate here is also not an issue and I like having them at the ready. As for dust, I play them all regularly and wipe them down when I am done, so I don’t worry about it. I too use a simple wood molding board but I use string-swing padded instrument hooks.
 
I hang all my instruments. Climate/humidity is not a problem where I live, and I also wipe them down.
5C3CFA96-C937-4064-9D2E-85E75F5B6D79.jpg
 
I would love to hang my ukes on the wall. Also live in the mild Danish climate.
Even have some "string swings" that I haven't hung yet.

Problem is that the "music room" in the basement have some cladding on the walls not suitable to screw them into. I havent quite convinced the missus that they should hang in the living room.
 
In winter I hang some of them in my basement office on the wall in large zip lock plastic storage bags. Taped to the inside of the bags is a zip lock sandwich bag with dozens of holes punched in the sides. Inside of that is half a small kitchen sponge damped with distilled water. This system allows for easy access as well as protection from dust and the low humidity in my house.

It works so well that I tuck even the daily players into humidified bags, case and all... though not typically hanging on the wall. They're just kinda laying around wherever we're not likely to stumble over them or sit on them.:rolleyes:
 
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I hang mine in a humidity controlled display cabinet I made from one shelf of my bookshelf. They hang on hooks from above with a Martin neck strap extension that is attached to the tuners (no, there's no strain on them). There are two water trays below with lids that I open or close depending on the humidity showing on two hygrometers, an analog and a digital. I sealed all the seams with door weather stripping and had lexan doors doors made at Lowe's.

Shelf 7 ukes 800.jpg


Shelf recent 2.jpg


Uke shelf trays.jpg


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
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I keep all my instruments, ukes and everything else, in their cases in the spare bedroom that's strictly off limits to our cats. Not on the wall, because I prefer to use the cases. (But there's no free wall space anyway, so it's moot.)

bratsche
 
I had most of mine on floor stands around the music room until the Earth tilted or somethin’, and the sun now comes streaming in the windows around noonish every day. My sopranos are hangin on a wall but outta the sun beams.

Now, most of my instruments are in gig bags or cases until the Earth shifts back. The gig bags,etc. keep the dust off ‘em and guard against scratches, but gig bags unfortunately look like gig bags — Ahh, well . . .

We coulda had a Tsunami or a giant forest fire or an Earth splitting earthquake or a . . . Nevermind. :eek:ld:
 
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Cases and gig bags for me. All in the bedroom as it is the only climate controlled room in the house. They are beside the bed by an interior wall. I kinda like the cases as no two are the same. And, it is like opening a jewelry box to take out the ukulele.
 
I hang pretty much everything. I'm lazy. I'm of the temperament where it it's out of sight it's out of mind, and if it's out of mind it doesn't get played. So I have a few hooks on the bedroom wall, a couple in the living room, and a bunch in the studio. Any time I have a few minutes it's easy for me to pull something off the wall and play a bit. The outdoor uke lives in the car. I don't have a good spot for cases in the any of the rooms I'm likely to play in, so there's a lot of friction to pull a cased instrument out to play. The cases mostly stay empty unless I'm going out to a jam or a class.

If I'm hanging out for a while I may leave an instrument (especially electric) out in a floor stand, but ... cats. One of our cats finds cables and cords particularly tasty.

I'd probably be more paranoid with more expensive solid instruments. Most everything is at least partially laminate and we have fairly moderate humidity. My good (but still laminate sides & back) acoustic guitar lived in its case until I realized I wasn't pulling it out to play. I keep a couple of hygrometers near where the better instruments hang, and even the wildest swings have stayed within the 40-60 range.
 
My sopranos are in the living room swinging from hooks by their paracords. The tenor relaxes on its floor stand. All are within easy reach and consequently each is played often.
 
Laminates either hang on the wall or sit in floor stands. The two all-solids live in their cases during the winter with humidifiers in case. I keep the hanging ukes away from the heating vents, because I've heard the fretboards can shrink even if the bodies are laminate and won't.
 
I keep them all hanging in my office with the door closed. I have a humidifier and a digital hygrometer in the room and when the humidity gets below 50%, I turn on the humidifier.

The room is not that dusty, but I have found that the “ultra-sonic” humidifiers leave a white dusty residue. I try to find a humidifier that has a fan inside to create the humidity. They work great.

When I buy an old Uke that has been in someone’s closet for 20+ years, I hang it in the office and after a 3-4 days, you can really tell that the Uke has taken in some moisture. They go from feeling like a soda cracker to feeling more like a fresh slice of bread. :)

Laminates have solid fretboards that shrink due to lack of humidity and bridges that like to pop-off. They’re not humidity proof. :(
 
I hang mine on the wall using these. They hang with a few other instruments (guitar, mandolin) in a small bedroom/office. I have a humidifier I use when the heat is on. Part of my joy in owning the instruments is to see them on a daily basis; what better wall decorations could I have? Also, it makes it much easier to just grab one to play rather than going to the closet and taking it out of it's case.
 
I like to play throughout the day, so having at least one out would be a must for me. The rest could be in cases if that’s your preference, but if one is out and nearby, you will play more. If climate is an issue and you are not one for getting too fussy with humidity just right keep a decent but not too expensive laminate handy. If you are worried about the wood fretboard a flea or fluke is nice. I would find a space on the wall in a handy location (especially if you have pets) and put up a solitary hook for that uke. I cringe when I see folks with instruments leaning against the wall or chairs and such. It's a disaster waiting to happen. At almost every jam I see someone do this and it inevitably ends badly.
 
Mine are all tucked away in their hard cases....safe and protected from my two littles (2 yr old and 4 yr old). Otherwise I would like to keep my ukes out on floor stands so that way they're more accessible throughout the day for me to play.
 
You need to consider more than humidity and dust. UV damage can ruin your instrument as well. I converted an antique bookcase and an antique clock case. The clock was already gutted and in poor condition. I keep a case for each size in the room in case I want to play out.

The glass on both cabinets has been replaced with Acrylic, (museum grade UV filtering for display cabinets), and neither case gets direct sunlight and both are on walls that do not back up to the exterior of the house. Because the cabinets are real wood with no finish on the inside, the humidity level takes care of itself in the summer. In the winter I have to add a few open containers of water, (tasteful tea cups work well). I keep a good hygrometer in the cabinets and monitor them regularly.

It is nice to see them and not fumble through a stack of cases to find the one that I would like to play on a given day. For those members that have been around for a while, I apologize for the restatements and the re-posting of the pictures.

book case 1.jpgcc2.jpg
 
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All mine are hanging from the walls, but out of direct sunlight. I'm also somewhere where humidity isn't really an issue, but a very good point about sunlight!
Only one lives in a case, and that is because it lives at my parents house.
 
Django said:
The glass on both cabinets has been replaced with Acrylic, (museum grade UV filtering for display cabinets), and neither case gets direct sunlight and both are on walls that do not back up to the exterior of the house.
Click to expand...
Very nice, man after my own heart. In the summer here in Los Angeles, my cabinet does not get direct sunlight but in winter with daylight savings time, I put a folding screen in front of the bookcase.

8 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 10 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video
 
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