Long cold winter without your … bass?

[DawnPatroller]

13 hours ago, binky_bass said:

Slacken the strings - extreme cold may contract the strings and set a warp in the neck. 

 

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

The neck and truss rod will expand and contract, too. Without the tension of the strings to work against, leaving the truss rod at tension is probably not a great idea.

 

I'm really sorry - I'm not getting what you mean - are you agreeing with the point above about slackening the strings?

 

[DawnPatroller]

1 hour ago, Cat Burrito said:

I'm assuming the thread title is a nod to Cinderella's Long Cold Winter?

 

 

 

Got it in one 😉

 

I love Cinderella but personally, I think Long Cold Winter is a rubbish song.

[DawnPatroller]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

I moved house last year but had to put most of my possessions into storage over the winter. Admittedly, this was a professional storage warehouse, but not one of these personal lock up affairs, this was in great big wooden crates, in ceiling high racking, doors open to the elements and not heated AFAIK. I put my basses and guitars into their gig bags and those into cardboard boxes. I took about a turn off of each tuner and had them stacked flat. 6 months later, I was reunited with them and it was like nothing had happened. I offer no specific advice, this is just what I experienced in the last year. I wonder how basses and guitars are stored by manufacturers and distributors?

 

I've used one of those type of storage facilities before. Main doors open all day and it didn't appear to have any type of temperature control.

I can't figure out if I'm overthinking this whole thing or being foolish by potentially overlooking it. Anyway, I think I've had great advice on here already so thanks everyone.

[Doctor J]

1 hour ago, DawnPatroller said:

 

 

I'm really sorry - I'm not getting what you mean - are you agreeing with the point above about slackening the strings?

 

I'm suggesting if you slacken one you should slacken the other, since they are designed to counteract the forces each other applies. Without string tension, the taut truss rod will arch the neck back unopposed and still be as prone to temperature induced constriction as the strings would have been. Personally, I would leave it as is.

[EssentialTension]

I would not slacken the strings or the trussrod. They are built to be at tension.

[Geek99]

5 hours ago, DawnPatroller said:

 

 

I'm really sorry - I'm not getting what you mean - are you agreeing with the point above about slackening the strings?

 

I think he’s saying it doesn’t matter in his opinion for the reason given - they are at an @EssentialTension

Edited September 15, 2021 by Geek99

[EssentialTension]

2 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I think he’s saying it doesn’t matter in his opinion for the reason given - they are at an @EssentialTension

What?

[Doctor J]

5 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

I think he’s saying it doesn’t matter in his opinion for the reason given - they are at an @EssentialTension

 

I already clarified it above but just to make sure... It does matter. If you only slacken the strings, you've still got the truss rod pulling the opposite way and as prone to temperature contraction as the strings, so you can do more harm than good if not careful.

[Geek99]

6 minutes ago, EssentialTension said:

What?

Just a weak joke about what you said here “They are built to be at tension” and your username …

[lksmks792]

My neighbour rents and sells pianos and stores them in garages just like you described. Doesn't seem to be a problem in winter (Belgium based). 

[Geek99]

@DawnPatroller 

Personally I don’t think it makes a huge difference unless there is some underlying potential for fault anyway. I’ve left several guitars in a loft for years at a time and not one has suffered in the slightest 

silica gel packets is a good idea I’d use if I had to do it again, as is standing them upright but for myself  I’d happily just bin bag them as I did before

[Hellzero]

Storing is one thing, you have plenty of more or less coherent explanations on how to do it the safest way. If your storing place is dry and the instrument is not subject to any fast temperature and humidity changes, than it will be safe.

 

The problem you don't mention is getting them back into your renovated house. I read that you'll have to make some plastering which means water and maybe a lot of water (you'll be amazed by the huge quantity you'll use). If you get your instruments back into the house with a permanent high humidity, get ready for some huge problems.

 

Buy a hygrometer for your storage place and one for your house as a good storage humidity rate is around 45 to 55 %.

 

And please store your instruments tuned with the correct tension on the trussrod as it's wood and it's the way it's intended to be used or get ready for some twisted necks and scratchy pots...

 

Another solution is simply to sell your gear and buy something "new" when the renovation is over as you wrote that they are not high value instruments.

[Burns-bass]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Storing is one thing, you have plenty of more or less coherent explanations on how to do it the safest way. If your storing place is dry and the instrument is not subject to any fast temperature and humidity changes, than it will be safe.

 

The problem you don't mention is getting them back into your renovated house. I read that you'll have to make some plastering which means water and maybe a lot of water (you'll be amazed by the huge quantity you'll use). If you get your instruments back into the house with a permanent high humidity, get ready for some huge problems.

 

Buy a hygrometer for your storage place and one for your house as a good storage humidity rate is around 45 to 55 %.

 

And please store your instruments tuned with the correct tension on the trussrod as it's wood and it's the way it's intended to be used or get ready for some twisted necks and scratchy pots...

 

Another solution is simply to sell your gear and buy something "new" when the renovation is over as you wrote that they are not high value instruments.

 

This is a god point. We have a dehumidifier for use in the winter when our house gets to humid. Condensation on the windows is a god sign...

[ped]

31 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

This is a god point. We have a dehumidifier for use in the winter when our house gets to humid. Condensation on the windows is a god sign...

Oi. No religion. 

[Waddo Soqable]

From what I gather she's only stashing them for a matter of months rather than years, so its very possible to overthink it a bit... with basic common sense applied as in many posts here, I'd really think the instruments will be fine.

[Munurmunuh]

55 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Condensation on the windows is a god sign...

[warwickhunt]

Condensation is potentially your only issue.  I'd avoid having the basses in a nice warm environment or straight from a sweaty gig, into a cold/cool environment.  Likewise amps that go from warm sweaty gigs and are then left in cold cars and vans over Winter nights will have a shorter life than those kept at reasonably steady temperatures.  Silica gel will certainly help.

 

I did something very similar to yourself where my basses were stored in rooms of a house with zero heating over Winter while we renovated an old house.  I didn't slacken any strings or truss rods but I did store them upright in either a case or gigbag.  I did find a couple of basses needed new strings when they came out but it wasn't like the strings were rusty or anything.

[Geek99]

Thought: the one in the hard case, I’d wrap a light blanket around it or the bass itself to soften changes in temp (the gig bag’s padding will do same) and add silica gel packets to both