Reviving a slightly older thread as I'm thinking about ordering yet another uke stand for the tenor I just bought this week. Like several others in this conversation, our humidity is pretty stable year round and the only time the humidifier kicks on is when temps drop down to near freezing. I really do love to see my ukuleles so they're all on stands sitting on tabletops...never on the floor. When I'm wearing my readers, it would be too easy to step or kick one of them moving around my tight playing space.
I'm wondering what people think about wood being exposed to air, light, acoustic vibrations from other instruments nearby....and also the lack of those things. In the long term lifespan of the instrument, what the exposure to those elements might do to the aging of the wood. It's easy for me to romanticize that something made from a natural material OUGHT to exist in the environment it came from and in a dark velvet lined box.
Then there is the very real fact that an instrument is more likely to be played when it's seen. Heck, even just the convenience factor that some songs/music I play on specific instruments and having to pull one of the ukuleles out of a case would be a barrier to do so, however small. I'm to the point that I can put more hooks on the walls and hang things, now that the kids are both out of the house but I'm also really drawn to the curio cabinet idea. That seems to be the best of both worlds. On display as well as insulated from drastic temp/moisture changes and minimized dust exposure.
Thanks for reading, all
=Steve