What precautions should be taken to insure proper care of pro audio
equipment in storage?Ex:Should gear be safe if wrapped in
paper,boxed,blanketed then stored in an unheated garage during winter
months?Thanks in advance.Jeff

Jeff Shaner wrote:

What precautions should be taken to insure proper care of pro audio
equipment in storage?Ex:Should gear be safe if wrapped in
paper,boxed,blanketed then stored in an unheated garage during winter
months?Thanks in advance.Jeff

You need to keep the following things out of the gear. Water (
includes
high humidity. ), bugs and furry critters. ( Small children are a subset
of
furry critters. ) Package accordingly. One thing that is good for
keeping
things dry in storage is a device called a goldenrod. Sold in gun stores
for
use in safes to reduce the humidity. Needs to be left plugged in.
Some things may not like freezing temperatures, such as natural drum
heads or guitar strings, wooden instruments. Stringed instruments
should have the strings loosened somewhat to take off the strain. This
is also a good opportunity to send things out for repair that are
starting
to get marginal.

--Dale

"Jeff Shaner" wrote in message
om...
What precautions should be taken to insure proper care of pro audio
equipment in storage?Ex:Should gear be safe if wrapped in
paper,boxed,blanketed then stored in an unheated garage during winter
months?Thanks in advance.Jeff
--------------
Be sure - it is critical - to store in a place where the temp is *constant*.

If the temp varies, condensation is induced. Condensation is what you must
avoid.

I'd not put it in an unheated garage. Choose a dry area, not cold,
ventilated.

-bg-

www.thelittlecanadaheadphoneband.ca

"Jeff Shaner" wrote in message
. com...
What precautions should be taken to insure proper care of pro audio
equipment in storage?Ex:Should gear be safe if wrapped in
paper,boxed,blanketed then stored in an unheated garage during winter
months?Thanks in advance.Jeff

I've got some gear stored in a sealed basement. Lets see there is a Mac G4
(400) CPU, 17" Apple Studio display, MOTU 24i, two Tannoy 110b active subs, a
pair of Tannoy active Reveals, a pair of 4X Drawmer gates, Tascam CDR, Sony VHS
stereo VCR, a few Alesis mixers and a ton of cables and odds and ends.
Everything is in the boxes that they where shipped in and slipped into two vary
large plastic bags and then wrapped in drop tarps and placed on some oversized
bookcase's I made. They've been down there for the better part of a year and
the last time I used the computer was a month or two ago and it worked as it
did when I first got it.
This house is not that old so the basement is leak free and we also have a
de-humidifier down there. I have a few nice mics that I keep upstairs in a
controlled environment because they take up little room to store. I'm not sure
if the anti-moisture packets that came with the gear (there still in there to)
are still any good or not.

This brings us to another important point: Don't store anything for
longer than it will remain valuable. If you put a computer in storage
for more than a few months, it will be worthless when it comes out even
if it's still in good shape. If you're not going to be using your gear
for an extended period of time, there are some things you'd be better
off selling now. When you come back to your stuff, you'll be able to
buy those certain same things for way less, or buy a more advanced
version for the same amount. Computer hardware and software, digital
recording equipment, analog/digital converters, and media would all fit
this category. Good microphones, analog audio gear, and musical
instruments are another story.

ulysses

Raymond wrote:

I've got some gear stored in a sealed basement. Lets see there is a Mac G4
(400) CPU, 17" Apple Studio display, MOTU 24i, two Tannoy 110b active subs, a
pair of Tannoy active Reveals, a pair of 4X Drawmer gates, Tascam CDR, Sony
VHS
stereo VCR, a few Alesis mixers and a ton of cables and odds and ends.
Everything is in the boxes that they where shipped in and slipped into two
vary
large plastic bags and then wrapped in drop tarps and placed on some oversized
bookcase's I made. They've been down there for the better part of a year and
the last time I used the computer was a month or two ago and it worked as it
did when I first got it.
This house is not that old so the basement is leak free and we also have a
de-humidifier down there. I have a few nice mics that I keep upstairs in a
controlled environment because they take up little room to store. I'm not sure
if the anti-moisture packets that came with the gear (there still in there to)
are still any good or not.

ulysses wrote
This brings us to another important point: Don't store anything for
longer than it will remain valuable.

That depends, if it does what you need to do you ok with what you have. If your
going to upgrade every 6 months or so then sell if you want (if you can find a
buyer) and sweat it out. If you have limmited funds to spend each month and
must buy one thing at a time (like me) then store as best and safe as you can.
I can likely buy a used Mac with 4X the processing power as the one I have
stored. But I spent some time getting to know that little 400Mhz (and it is one
of the first run G4's) and all the other gear that goes with it. And who knows
what I'll get if I buy a used computer, somethings I will take a chance on
buying used but others I'd rather have new.