The Ultimate Guide To Self Storage For Musical Instruments

It’s safe to say that your instruments will always be some of your most prized possessions. Whether you’re a professional musician, you love to play in your free time, or you’re just getting started with your musical tuition, it will always be important for you to keep them safe. This is where the importance of musical instrument storage comes in.

As a musician, you want to know that your musical instruments are well looked after and in the best condition possible. Making sure they are stored correctly is a huge part of that. Whether you use them all on a regular basis or you want to keep precious or older items safely stored away, it’s essential to understand the best ways to do it.

In this guide, we’re going to take a look at how you can best utilise musical instrument storage to make sure your instruments are cared for in the long term. Let’s get started.

 

Why You Need Proper Musical Instrument Storage

You might be thinking – why is the right musical instrument storage important here? Well, firstly, you will want to make sure that they are kept safely away from risk or damage. However, it’s also important to make sure that you’re keeping your musical equipment away from environmental damage. 

If there are regular temperature fluctuations in your home, this can put your instruments at risk of damage. Likewise, should you have any leaks, you may also run the risk of water damage. This can then mean it becomes very costly to replace your beloved items. Storing them correctly can prevent this from happening.

 

The Types of Musical Instruments You Might Like to Store

Before we look into the options you’ll have here, it’s important to think about the kinds of instruments that might be perfect for self-storage. If you’re not sure whether your particular instrument could benefit from being stored correctly, we’re now going to run through that.

The four main types of instruments we’re going to look to cover in this guide are string instruments, keyboards and pianos, woodwind and brass instruments, and percussion instruments and drum kits. Each kind may require a slightly different style of storing to protect it best, so we’ll run through them all individually to help you here.

 

What Can Happen if Instruments Are Not Stored Correctly?

When it comes to storing your instruments, it’s important to remember this isn’t just about having somewhere to keep them. Even if you feel like you have plenty of space at home, you could still be putting your musical equipment at risk. If they are not stored correctly, you may find that you are exposing them to:

• Environmental Damage: With fluctuating temperatures and humidity, your instruments may warp, crack, or even grow mould. Metallic instruments and accessories can also tarnish without proper storage.
• Physical Damage: If not stored correctly, your prized possessions could get knocked, scratched, dented, or even broken.
• Value Loss: When any of these things take place, you may find that the value of your equipment goes down. While you may have them for sentimental or practical reasons, musical instruments can be expensive so it always makes sense to hold as much value as possible.

 

General Guidelines for Storing Your Instruments

Regardless of whether you’re a novice or a seasoned musician, it’s important to make sure that you’re taking your musical instrument storage seriously. Of course, where we have run through the implications of temperature changes, you’ll want to ensure that you are able to store your instruments at a set temperature level. This is often why professional storage solutions come in handy, as they’ll keep the temperature regulated for you in order to stop issues from occurring.

• Choosing the Right Case: Firstly, making sure that your instrument is kept in its original case will give it extra protection. If you no longer have the same case or you’d like to choose a different one, it’s always best to liaise with the manufacturer for their recommendations on the right case for the job!
• Storing Vertically or Horizontally: Most of the time, you’ll want to store your instrument based on the best weight distribution. It’s important to check any manufacturer guidelines for this. This can help you to avoid choosing a storage position that could harm your instrument.

Ultimately, you’ll find that a range of factors come into play when you’re choosing the right storage options. Knowing the best practices for each type of instrument is always a great place to start. However, you’ll also want to make sure that you’re preparing your instruments correctly for storage too. Let’s now consider the best ways for you to do this.

 

How to Prepare Your Instruments for Storage

Before you go to store your musical instruments, you’ll want to make sure that they’re in the best possible condition. This can be particularly important if you’re planning on keeping them stored away for a while. After all, you’re storing them to protect them – so you’ll want them to be in storage away in good shape. Here’s what you need to do to prepare them for storage.

• Give Them a Good Clean: If your instruments are dirty, this could lead to damage while they’re in storage. So making sure that they’re free from dust, dirt, and oil is essential here. Be sure to wipe them down, polish them up, clean and dry them, and remove any dust. Again, refer to any manufacturer instructions for support here.
• Pack Them Up Carefully: Then you need to make sure that they are packed away carefully. Here, your case will come in handy, however, you might also want to use bubble wrap as a safety precaution. You could also turn to silica sachets to help with moisture. Then make sure they’re labelled correctly as they’re packed away.
• Make Adjustments for Protection: The last thing you might want to do before storing away your instruments is to make sure that any required adjustments are done first. For example, reeds and mouthpieces should be removed from woodwinds to help avoid any mould damage.

 

The Best Ways to Storage Each Type of Instrument

Now, general guidelines can certainly be helpful when it comes to your musical instrument storage – but you will want to ensure that you’re storing your specific instruments based on what is best for their type. So next, we’re going to take a look at the best way to store each type of instrument.

 

Storing String Instruments and Guitars

Remember when we were talking about those temperature changes before? Well, string instruments such as violins and cellos are very much sensitive to fluctuations. So here, you need to focus on keeping the temperature controlled.

A great tip is to make sure that you’re storing them in their protective cases with a humidity control device to stop any unwanted damage. If it’s acoustic or electric guitars, they tend to be a bit more sturdy. But it is important that you loosen the strings first.

It’s also important not to stack them on top of each other. However, if you are storing your acoustic and electric guitars here, it’s important for you to remember to do so vertically.

Where necessary, also remember the wrap them in bubble wrap and consider storage boxes as a way to label and organise them. If you are considering any wall mounts as storage options, be sure to choose the right kind for the item in question and make sure it’s suitable for the space you’ve got in mind.

 

Storage for Pianos and Keyboards

When you’re looking at storing your piano or keyboard, you may need specialist help. This is because of the size and weight – particularly when it comes to grand pianos. You won’t want to risk damaging them or even injuring yourself. In this situation, you may want to hire professionals to transport it for you.

In terms of the storage side of things, it’s important to make sure that your pianos (or organs) are tuned before storage. This can then be done yearly to keep things in check! You’ll then want to make sure that the keys are covered with a dust sheet to keep them protected. Again, also be sure to check with your manufacturer here to follow any guidelines that they recommend.

 

Storage for Woodwind and Brass Instruments

For your woodwind and brass instruments, like flutes, trumpets, and saxophones, you need to make sure that you’re breaking them down and dissembling them before storage. The best practice here is to make sure that you store each component individually to avoid damage.

Then, before putting them into storage, remember to remove the mouthpieces to stop any mould from growing. It’s also best to keep them away from direct sunlight where possible. This is often why professional storage solutions are a great idea. You’ll also benefit from climate-controlled self-storage solutions to ensure that no corrosion can take place on your brass instruments.

Again, remember to give them a good clean before storing them – particularly inside. It’s also a wise idea to keep your cleaning supplies in the case so that they’re there ready for future use.

 

Storing Percussion Instruments and Drum Kits

With your percussion instruments, it’s always important to make sure that your storage facility of choice has enough space for them to be stored upright safely. You won’t want to risk anything falling onto them or crushing them, this needs to be a priority.

Then, when you’re storing things like a drum kit, be sure to pad each of the surfaces properly and store them individually in cases. It’s important to ensure that they don’t collect dust here, so wrapping carefully is key. It’s also handy to have a cymbal bag for your cymbals and then another separate bag for your hardware to keep that safe too.

Again, due to the metalwork here, you’ll find that climate-controlled storage is the best solution to prevent any damage or tarnishing.

 

The Benefits of Using Professional Self Storage for Musical Instruments

Now that we’ve been through what each type of instrument needs for the best storage, it’s easy to see why professional musical instrument storage can be useful. Here are some of the key reasons why sourcing the best self-storage options can hugely benefit your instruments.

• Temperature-Control: Storing your musical equipment at home yourself may seem convenient, but if that means it’s exposed to drastic changes in weather, you could be putting them at risk. With a proper storage facility, you’ll benefit from climate control to keep your instruments safe year-round.
• Space: It might also be the case that you’re struggling to find the right space at home. The last thing you want is to put your instruments at risk of other items falling on them, restricting their space, and causing damage. With professional storage, you can choose all the space you need.
• Secure Protection: Your instruments are always going to be some of your most prized possessions. Because of this, you will always want to make sure that they are safe and not at risk of damage or theft. Utilising a secure facility can offer you this protection.
• Time: Maybe you won’t be using certain instruments for a while? Whether you’re a professional musician in your off-season or you have your first childhood instrument that you want to keep safe, it could be the case that you need to store items for long periods of time. This is a solution that reliable self-storage facilities provide, also covering each of the three points above.

 

What To Look For In Self Storage Facilities

When you know that you want to be able to find the best possible self-storage solutions for your musical instruments, it’s important to know exactly what to look for in the right facilities. So if you’re considering getting professional storage, here’s exactly what you need to look for in a provider:

• Strong Security Measures: When you store your valuables away, you want to be sure that they’re protected. Be sure to look out for 24/7 security and CCTV monitoring as a standard security feature.
• Flexible Access: You also want to make sure that you can access your musical instruments when you need them. You won’t want them to be locked up and only available at certain times.  Opting for 24/7 available access is always important to go with here.
• A Variety of Options: It’s key to make sure that you can choose storage units that are the size you need them to be. So here, you’ll want to choose a provider that offers a range of sizes that work with what you’re looking for.

It might be easy to think that every professional self-storage facility will be the same. But they may not offer the exact solutions you’re looking for – so it’s important to do your research.

If you’re looking for self-storage in Perth, Welshpool Self Storage is the go-to provider for instrument storage. We offer 24/7 CCTV monitoring, daily cleaning & sanitising, and 24/7 access should you need it. 

 

Why You Need to Regularly Maintain Your Instruments

Even when you’re putting your musical instruments away into storage, it’s still important to ensure that they are well maintained. You may have noticed in the individual instrument type sections that cleaning and maintenance are recommended on a regular basis. This is because cleaning, tuning, and oiling are essential for keeping your equipment in great condition and in good working order.

So here, be sure to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines on maintenance. It may mean that you need to get items out of storage every so often to ensure they are clean, tuned, oiled and working well.

 

The Key Mistakes to Avoid

It’s also essential to ensure that you’re not making any common mistakes when putting your musical equipment into self-storage. Here are three things that you must look to avoid:

• Temperature Fluctuation: As we know, this can lead to damage. So make sure that you’re seeking climate-controlled solutions.
• Incorrect Cases: Poor quality cases could put your equipment at risk. So for strong and sturdy options, ideally recommended by the manufacturers.
• Overpacking: Stacking your instruments improperly could lead to them being damaged. Make sure that you’re not overpacking your storage spaces to keep your items safe.

 

Short and Long-Term Musical Instrument Storage In Perth

Investing in a high-quality self-storage solution for your musical instruments is a must if you’re looking to keep them safe. This is where professional musical instrument storage comes in.

At Welshpool Self Storage, we offer extensive instrument storage in the Perth area. We have 24/7 security in place as well as providing access to your units around the clock. Our storage facilities are cleaned daily and we can also supply you with all the packing equipment you need to keep your instruments safe in storage.

So why not contact us today to discover more about our secure and convenient storage solutions for your musical instruments?