Keep Mandolin in OHSC?

[RMcGregor18]

Hi,

I'm actually a steel guitar player nursing a lengthy mandolin obsession, and finally got an F-stlyle over the summer, an Eastman M515. A huge upgrade from my Rogue A-style!

Anyway I've realized that I'm used to taking care of steel guitars, which take a lot of punishment, but I don't want to mess up my beautiful mandolin, so I'm wondering if it's ok to keep it in the case that it came in? You can see an indentation from the bridge on the lid of the case so I'm wondering if this is putting too much pressure on the bridge.

Is it better to keep it outside the case, like on a wall hanger? Or keep it in a nice case that has room for the bridge? Or is this not a problem?

Thanks!
Raphael

[Nevin]

In general, in the case is the best place for a mandolin when you aren't playing it. It is hard to say how well your case fits it as you are right if it is a bad fit and pressing on the bridge that isn't good. Can you tell is it actually pressing on the bridge rather than just leaving a line in the fabric. Do you have to push to close the lid? If it is a case from Eastman for that model you should be ok unless you really raised the bridge.

[mandroid]

OHSC is 1922, as is the mandolin in it, here. foam blocks keep it from pressing against the arched case top, much.

[RMcGregor18]

Haven't touched the action on the bridge and I don't have to push to close it, so thank you!

[journeybear]

A good tight-fitting case will cause the bridge to make a mark in the foam. That's normal. As long as you don't have to push on the top to close it, nothing to worry about. After all, you don't want it to move around inside the case. while you're carrying it.

I've developed recently a truism, which has helped me be responsible for my mandolin's caretaking and well-being: "If it's not being played, it might as well be in the case; if it's in the case, it might as well have the top closed; if the top is closed, it might as well be latched." It's sort of a step-by-step-by-step reminder to not be neglectful, even if just taking a short break in the middle of a session. And it really doesn't take much time or effort to do that - and much, much less than you might have to put into restoring it if you should happen to pick up an unlatched case and your instrument fell out.

BTW & FWIW - generally, OHSC refers to the antique case that comes with an antique mandolin. These have antique value on their own. This does not refer to a modern hardshell case, be it for an antique mandolin or modern mandolin.

And welcome to the Café! No foolin'!

[CES]

I keep mine in cases unless I’m playing them or take a break from playing with plans to return, when I usually hang it on my Hercules stand. All of my instrument cases touch the top of the bridge (not pressing with force), and you actually don’t want it rattling around too much in there as it increases your risk of damage. As long as you keep humidity reasonable you shouldn’t have any issues with keeping it in the case. I have a guitar I leave on the stand most of the time and seem to have to change strings more quickly on it than the case kept instruments, for whatever that’s worth.

Of course, there will be folks chiming in to say they always keep theirs out on a stand or wall hanger so they can just grab it without being bothered with those pesky case latches, and there’s no wrong answer as long as there’s no risk of damage from younglings or pets.

Congrats on the new mandolin, and nice choice of mandos, as well!

[J Mangio]

One on a stand, and one in it's case.

[RMcGregor18]

Thanks for the replies and the nice welcome! Yes, it's a gorgeous instrument, and I'll happily take any advice on keeping it that way. Humidity has been ok, I've had it in every season now and in a few different states, from a Georgia summer to an NYC winter, and it has been fine, but I'll keep an eye on it. I wipe it down after every time I play too.

Any advice is welcome!

[JeffD]

Case! I can make a huge list of common everyday ordinary things not happening right now to my mandolin, because it is safe in its case.

[Frankdolin]

Case, in case.

[Bill McCall]

After decades of case storage only, I hung my 2 Arrows in a corner in my music room. I play one every morning and the other in the afternoon. It’s very convenient, especially for the Jazzbo, much less amp and chord fussing. I rotate the amps and acoustic mandos periodically. Unused instruments wait in cases in the case closet. My wife has kept instruments available for a while, a guitar hanging in the den, one in the living room and usually one in the bedroom.

With no pets and just the two of us, it’s pretty safe.

Ymmv

PS: That petit Bouche Arrow in the classifieds is spectacular. NFI, just lust.

[Denis Kearns]

Because of the high potential for earthquakes here on the left coast, I keep everything except a pawnshop Gibson A50 in their case unless being played. Also, I’m too klutzy to have expensive, breakable things in my vicinity.

[lflngpicker]

I get it Bill. You and your wife are on to something. I have the left coast issue that Denis does. I have been keeping one mandolin in it’s case next to my easy chair. I open and grab it often to play. When I put it away in my music room, I get lazy and I will let a day or two pass. Playing every day, I am gradually improving— learning more and more.

[Richard500]

Natural selection: most of my treasures are at least a century old, having spent decades under tension in attics, freezing closets, damp basements. And survived to live (by the standards of inanimate things) to luxuriate in modern digs, protected from rampaging porcupines seeking salty necks. Some of their contemporaries lacked such fortitude, but that’s life.
I do like to read about the finicky custodial issues that seem to go with new, very high cost instruments, and wonder if these can also survive a century of indifferent treatment once they too pass into other hands, or no hands at all.

[GMorgan]

I absolutely concur with the "keep it in the case next to your easy chair" philosophy. If my favorite mandolin is always next to my easy chair, where I spend the most time sitting, then I will, and do, reach for it all the time. I never leave the instrument sitting out of its case as probability will ensure that I am most likely to sit on it within the next fifteen minutes. and when I want to play from my favorite chair on the porch, the case goes with me. I don't play the odds, just the mandolin.

[journeybear]

Zackly. Better safe than sorry. And it doesn't take all that long to take it out of its case. The few seconds you spend in so doing is about the same amount of time that it takes to call your luthier after you've sat on it. And doesn't cost anything. Better safe than sorry.

Or, as the tailor from New Delhi said when he made a career change to locksmithery, "Better safe than sari."

[Jeff Mando]

On a related note, I do instrument repair and pick up several instruments needing repair every week from various local stores. I'd say about 4 instruments a month come to me WITHOUT any kind of case or gig bag, believe it or not! I keep a few gig bags in my car for safer transport to and from, but I tell the store owners they are missing a golden opportunity to sell the customer a case or gig bag. Surprisingly, these are not all student grade instruments -- many are really nice guitars that for some reason have lived their "lives" without the protection of a case. Sad, IMHO.

[journeybear]

I've had a couple of mandolins shipped to me without a case. It's been a long time, but I'm pretty sure the teens Gibson A had packing material around it in a rather large box. The 1935 A-00 had naught, not so much as a by-your-leave in the box. And the box was a large rectangular prism, with the mandolin occupying the diagonal. How it escaped damage is far beyond my comprehension. It's nearly miraculous, one of the great mysteries of my life.

The solid-body electric was also shipped without a case, but at least it was packed very well, wrapped tightly in lots of bubble wrap snugly stuffed into a box of suitable shape and size.

[mandroid]

Bought a Godin. It came, left @ my door, with just a tag wrapped around it's case handle.

[allenhopkins]

Yeah, keep mandolin in OHSC.

And buckle your seat belt, get your COVID shots, and don't run with scissors.

Common sense ain't always that common...

[journeybear]

Every now and then, when I'm feeling a little wild, I actually run with scissors. Yes, it's living on the edge, but I'm up to the challenge.

[LadysSolo]

Every now and then, when I'm feeling a little wild, I actually run with scissors. Yes, it's living on the edge, but I'm up to the challenge.

Good for you! I actually can't run any more. I settle for walking quickly. Maybe if I was being chased by a bear, I would manage (with enough adrenalin,) but maybe I would just be bear food.

[journeybear]

It would have to be a really big pair of scissors to take care of a bear. Unless it were a care bear - any pair will fare there.

[Elliot Luber]

The case is its place.

[journeybear]

Sun Ra would agree ... after a while ...