LukeFRC Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 not sure if it's true but i was led to believe that moisture in a garage/shed etc would cause oxidisation on the coils of a speaker and wreck it....? true or false? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 It might be worth you looking at Hiscox cases as one of their selling points is their great insulation properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allighatt0r Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I'm a bit worried, because I've left a (nameless and rather crap) 15" speaker cab in the shed throughout this snowy period (my brother put it in there on thursday night) with nothing more than a small rug on top of it to keep some of the damp off. I'm putting a new speaker in regardless in the new year. So should be alright! (fingers crossed) I'll have to get a decal made up and call it something like The Iceman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbass1 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) [quote name='Jesso' post='690580' date='Dec 21 2009, 12:54 PM']I really should know this, but is a 73 P nitro or polly?[/quote] Fender changed to using Polyester in 1968: [url="http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender2.html#pbass"]http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fender2.html#pbass[/url] And FWIW I wouldn't leave a wood instrument in the back of a van, extreme changes in temperature and humidity (likely to occur due to night/daytime differences) may well cause wood to swell and twist. Your call, but if it was mine I would take the basses with me. Edited December 21, 2009 by alanbass1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRadford Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 When I was on tour around Europe this time last year for 2 weeks, we had temperatures of -10 during the night when we were travelling. All the gear was in hardcases loaded into either a trailer or 7.5ton lorry. None had heating. We would finish the gig at 12, and load out by 1 or 3 am. Most of the load out was done in the snow with the guitars going in last. These are profesional musicians and wouldnt risk thier gear. They never had problems with leaving the gear in the cold over night. My brother left a laney bass amp in my dads garage about 10 years ago. The garage isnt heated or well insulated and the amp wasnt covered or in a case. It was left below my dads workbench and was covered in all sorts of crap. However, I plugged it in a few weeks ago and it worked as it did when it was left there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Luckily this sort of thing doesn't affect graphite instruments until you get down past minus 40 degrees or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theplumber Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I played in Glasgow with my band last Friday night,in a place called Rockers.....it was freezing cold outside,and my guitar had been in my home office all day(wee room with rubbish,dvds etc) I put it in a soft gig bag,out into my van for the 30 minute drive to Glasgow,then into the band room of the venue......After about an hour,I tuned it and then we sound checked.....it was well out on a couple of strings......I might have bumped into something on the stage,as its a bit compact and we are a 5 piece band.... After the sound check,I tuned it and checked it a couple of times.....I have a small Korg tuner,with the built in mike.....It seemed to be picking up everysound in the venue,so I used the guitar players tuner on his zoom pedal..... When we started to play...it was out of tune again.....I wished the stage would open up and swallow me......I tuned it during the song,but everybody in the bloody place noticed!........Something to do with the hot,then cold,then hot situation maybe!.....its a Tokai Jazz sound bass,never had any tuning issues before.....though the strings were a couple of weeks old...so maybe not played in yet!...any one else had this trouble? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GM10 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 I leave my bass and guitar in padded gig bags my studio, which is a converted garage. So PC, synth, mixer, amps, speakers etc also in there. It's well insulated but can go down to 0 deg if it's -5 outside. No probs to date. I have a hygrometer in there and constantly keep an eye on the humidity which I stabilise with a de-humdifier after any life form has been in the room for a period of time. I also have two large open tins of rock salt as a contingency When I go in the room I obviously turn the heater on especially in the kind of temperature we're currently having. I don't often get my guitars out straight waay. Too obsessed with creating trance/dance looped stuff at the moment. So with the forementioned precautions I feel my gear is safe. And yes it is alarmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanbass1 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 [quote name='theplumber' post='690890' date='Dec 21 2009, 07:02 PM']I played in Glasgow with my band last Friday night,in a place called Rockers.....it was freezing cold outside,and my guitar had been in my home office all day(wee room with rubbish,dvds etc) I put it in a soft gig bag,out into my van for the 30 minute drive to Glasgow,then into the band room of the venue......After about an hour,I tuned it and then we sound checked.....it was well out on a couple of strings......I might have bumped into something on the stage,as its a bit compact and we are a 5 piece band.... After the sound check,I tuned it and checked it a couple of times.....I have a small Korg tuner,with the built in mike.....It seemed to be picking up everysound in the venue,so I used the guitar players tuner on his zoom pedal..... When we started to play...it was out of tune again.....I wished the stage would open up and swallow me......I tuned it during the song,but everybody in the bloody place noticed!........Something to do with the hot,then cold,then hot situation maybe!.....its a Tokai Jazz sound bass,never had any tuning issues before.....though the strings were a couple of weeks old...so maybe not played in yet!...any one else had this trouble?[/quote] Yep, going from cold to hot will cause tuning issues - however, the situation normally settles down after an hour when left on a stand so if you get there early enough then you should normally be OK. With regard to leaving stuff in vans overnight etc, I know lots of people who have done that without apparent issues, especially when the instrument is in a flight case. If the tour crew were doing their job they would ensure the cases were not opened for at least an hour after unloading at the venue which allows the instruments to slowly aclimatise to whatever the conditions are at the venue. However, I know at least two people who wrecked the necks on their instruments by leaving them in their garage in all weathers. At the end of the day I wouldn't risk it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 [quote name='Jesso' post='690110' date='Dec 20 2009, 08:22 PM']Here's my question. My band has a van, which is insulated (i.e. wood panels with some insulation behind them) and is kept in a shed. We gig a lot, and it's a huge amount of bother to unload the equipment when we get home (sometimes it could be 5am in the morning). Everyone is knackered, so we usually just leave everything securely locked away in the van. Sometimes the gear could stay in the van for up to a week, but usually it's only a night or two. I know that it's probably ok to leave the P.A. and even the amps in the van overnight when it's cold, but I feel like over a long period of time it might be bad for guitars. We keep them (obviously) in their cases. Sometimes when I bring them in from the van they are really cold... I've read that you should try to treat instruments as you would treat a person (temperature wise)... but I don't know if thats true or not. So far, I haven't noticed any bad effects, and my bass has not warped or anything wierd. It's a modern Fender Stu Hamm urge. I'm thinking about making a vintage P bass (valuable!) into my main gigging bass, so I'm a bit cautious about leaving it in the cold... Would a top of the line insulated flight case be any better than the normal fender case? Any ideas much appreciated. Jesse[/quote] bring any thing up to temperature slowly and without introduction of moist air.. cameras electronics wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesso Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 [quote]It might be worth you looking at Hiscox cases as one of their selling points is their great insulation properties.[/quote] Thanks for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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