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Thread: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

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    Still Picking and Sawing Jack Roberts's Avatar
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    Default I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    It has been in its case most of the time for the last 100 years, but I think I am more likely to damage it pulling it out and putting it back than if I keep it on the wall.
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    Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
    When time is broke and no proportion kept!
    --William Shakespeare

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    Registered User slimt's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    That looks good there..

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    If you look at it you are more inclined to play it, aren’t you?
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    If you're that concerned for its safety, being so dangerously close to your hands, I'll be glad to take it off your hands - keeping it far from that danger. I know, I'd be taking on a tremendous responsibility, at inestimable personal sacrifice, but sometimes a fellow's just got to step up and do the right thing for the sake of the good for all concerned.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    JB, what a monumental offer! You just crack me up!
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

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    Registered User Cary Fagan's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Works of art should be on the wall.
    Cary Fagan

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Thank you, Tim. I'm just a helping-out kind of guy. But beyond that, the Mandolin Café is well-known for the generosity, compassion, and social awareness of its membership. I'm sure I'm only one of many who would be willing to step up and help another member in his or her time of need. I just happened to be first this time.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Quote Originally Posted by journeybear View Post
    Thank you, Tim. I'm just a helping-out kind of guy. But beyond that, the Mandolin Café is well-known for the generosity, compassion, and social awareness of its membership. I'm sure I'm only one of many who would be willing to step up and help another member in his or her time of need. I just happened to be first this time.
    You are correct - I too would be willing to take it for safekeeping, but you got the first offer in, so you do it and make the sacrifice for all of the rest of us.

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    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Many years ago I kept my instruments on the wall for that same reason, ready access, mostly. I remember a few nights with a cold of coughing and the echo of all those strings with each cough—sort of nightmarish.

    OTOH one evening I was planning on going to New York City for a jam session. When I arrived there I realized that I left my fiddle hanging on the wall and had carried the empty case.

    These days I also fear for lack of humidity problems for case-less instruments, so I pretty much keep all in their cases.
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Oh my! I've done that! Not that far, though at the moment, it might as well have been. One time at a gig, I broke a string mid-set. I went to swap out out with the spare mandolin - and the spare's case was empty! I had to run home during the next set break to get the spare. Problem solved. But pretty embarrassing at first blush - so to speak.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    My motto is "everything in its case," though the "gigging" instruments I use frequently are usually kept in, well, gig bags.

    Easier to control the immediate environment (temperature, humidity), safer from accidents, "ready to go" if I need to carry one to a particular event, plus I have so durn many, there's not enough wall space for 'em.

    On the other hand, if I had a framed Mandofest poster that matched my F-4, I would be tempted to showcase them side-by-side.
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    A compromise storage idea that displays well is a barristers bookcase. I used that method in the past although it would have looked better if I had made something to tilt the mandolin at an angle. The glass doors keep the dust away...

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    Still Picking and Sawing Jack Roberts's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Quote Originally Posted by allenhopkins View Post
    My motto is "everything in its case," though the "gigging" instruments I use frequently are usually kept in, well, gig bags.

    Easier to control the immediate environment (temperature, humidity), safer from accidents, "ready to go" if I need to carry one to a particular event, plus I have so durn many, there's not enough wall space for 'em.

    On the other hand, if I had a framed Mandofest poster that matched my F-4, I would be tempted to showcase them side-by-side.
    This is the "Jeanette Greene" mandolin. It was purchased in over 100 years ago by Meredith Green in San Diego, CA, and went to her daughter, Jeanette, when she was in her 'teens. Jeanette stopped playing it when she was married, and went to her son, Jim, after her death. He never remembered seeing it or hearing it played. Jim was an engineer at NASA, a very close friend and fellow Gideon. I gave him lessons, but he was too busy with other things to learn to play, so it came to me after a few years. I kept "Jeanette" in her case for over 10 years, and it lived in the case pretty much full time since it was purchased new.

    Where I live we have stable humidity and temperature, so after a lot of thought and watching other instruments that are kept out for a few years, I decided it was time to bring Jeanette out. It is not in a place where it can get dinged or banged and it does seem to sound a little better when played that it did when it was in the case. (go figure).

    The only time I have ever damaged a mandolin is when I was taking my A-5 out of the case and I scratched the top with the lock.

    Jeanette never goes out of the house. I have a gigging mandolin (1918 F-1) that has more of a "outdoor voice", while Jeanette sings more softly and sweetly.
    Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
    When time is broke and no proportion kept!
    --William Shakespeare

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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Now that is a lovely bit of family history - an heirloom with heritage.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

    Furthering Mandolin Consciousness

    Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!

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    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    "Wall hanger", as I came to learn it, is a derogatory term, meaning a mandolin more appreciated for how it looks than for how it plays, either because it has been compromised or because it always was prettier than it sounded. My regular procedure is all instruments in cases, all cases fastened.

    My idea for the wall art is to have a professional take a straight on large format picture of the mandolin, and get it professionally framed. Put that on the wall!

    As long as you don't hang on an outside side wall, or a wall that gets direct sunlight, etc., it's probably ok. Inside cases too I avoid stacking them next to an outside wall or in direct sunlight.

    On the wall the mandolin is in clear view of anyone looking into that room, including baby sitters, house cleaning, plumbers, electricians etc. A host of folks I really don't want to advertise what I own.

    A stack of instrument cases in a room, and not in a closet, have the same problem I suppose. Items valued at several/many hundreds of dollars, or more, with convenient carrying cases.

    Ultimately the difference is more a personal decision of which set of problems / hassles do you want to deal with.
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    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Jack, thanx for the history of your F-4. Consider yourself very fortunate to know about all those who've owned it since it was new. Most of us get "anonymous" vintage instruments, which may have passed through many hands since they were first sold -- or may have sat for years in closet or attic, unnoticed by the heirs of their first owners, until "Grandpa's house" was being sold, and the old mandolin came to light. I'd give a lot to know who first purchased my Larson Brothers Stahl mando-bass, for example, or my three-point F-2.

    You mention having an "F-1" -- a typo, or is that a model I've never seen?
    Allen Hopkins
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    Stradolin Vega banjolin
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    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
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    Still Picking and Sawing Jack Roberts's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    Oops, yeah. A-1!

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    Registered User Strabo's Avatar
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    Default Re: I decided to hang it on the wall: it might be safer there

    i like mine hanging on the wall. They are works of art, and I think they should be honored as such. My A-Jr is 100 years old. It has been in continuous action for a century, and in my judgment should not be hidden away. Hanging on the wall, string up and in tune, it is always ready to be exercised. After 100 years, it is always ready to speak. Making it present in my life is the most worthy tribute to this and the other wonderful works of art.

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