Storing guitars in hard cases - do you slacken off the strings?

What's Hot
ellwoodellwood Frets: 1113
This might be a daft question - but if storing a guitar in its hard case for a period of time do you slacken off the string tension? I've got a couple that are sitting in cases and I just wondered if it was best practice to ease the strings off a bit.

Cheers!
0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom

Comments

  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Shipping internationally, yes.
    Storing, no.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 1reaction image Wisdom
  • richardhomerrichardhomer Frets: 24793
    octatonic said:
    Shipping internationally, yes.
    Storing, no.
    This. Guitars can easily stand string tension - they're built to take it - and the truss rod is set to counteract it.

    If you loosen the strings for any length of time, you should slacken the truss rod off to prevent the neck developing a back bow. There's really no need to do either for storage purposes.
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 2reaction image Wisdom
  • ellwoodellwood Frets: 1113
    Brilliant - thanks!
    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71956
    Loosening the strings but not the truss rod - which is almost never done by people who loosen the strings - then putting the guitar into storage, is the best way to potentially bow the neck as richardhomer said.

    Strings should be slackened for shipping so that if the guitar gets damaged, the string tension doesn't magnify it - or with a Gibson, just pull the headstock off if the case gets dropped hard onto its front.

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
Sign In or Register to comment.