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I have been getting a little grief over the proliferation of musical instruments in my household. Confined to only one little room, and with yet a little floor space to spare, but I have to admit it's a little crowded, and liable to get worse.

There would be more room in there, if everything didn't have to sit on the floor. Have any of you resourceful tubenet denizens managed to find or build shelves that work for large, somewhat heavy instruments?

Something like this might work: http://www.centralrestaurant.com/Super- ... 10649.html

Otherwise, the old bandroom cubbyhole setup might be good.

Eric

You might check with Skip Gray at the University of Kentucky. He has a few custom made tuba shelfs in his studio and a few years ago had the tuba-euphonium storage room outfitted with the same type of shelfs. They were pretty efective in keeping a large amount of horns safely stored in a small room. Hope this helps.

J.

Would not some suitable robust hooks on the wall be the answer? Strong enough for tubas, but cushioned to avoid causing any damage.

I hang my old Haag Eb on the wall when not in use. Works fine for me.

Try some hooks for bikes or for general garage storage. I bought mine at Sears, but they're also at Hechinger on line. You may need to nail or screw a backup support across the wall studs.

http://www.hechinger.com/web/catalog/pr ... 87873C3321

I use the String Swing guitar hanger. I have everything from alto horn to Allora 186 and Miraphone 191 hanging from them.
http://tinyurl.com/23muzf

It's funny how the long haired sheriff doesn't seem to feel the same way about needing 6 or 7 horns. She thinks that I have enough, but I am not so sure....I have used a bicycle hanger that I wrapped in pipe insulation and use to hang one of my sousaphones. I like the cubicle idea if you are handy with wood.
Steve

SplatterTone wrote:I use the String Swing guitar hanger.

I second this hanger, I've used it for a euph, guitars, violin, ... I suppose if you use the right screws and make sure you hit a stud it would handle a tuba.

if you can hang them from the wall, you have instant decorations. Just like TGI Fridays!

I use a garage wall bicycle rack, which I bought at Sears to hang my helicon on.

ken k

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I hang my gig bags on hooks, and if I owned a sousaphone I'd probably hang it up too, but not a tuba or a euphonium. Lacking any real skills in carpentry (or photography), for less than $100 I built a cozy for my tubas and euphonia, pictures below. Euphs are on top shelf, in bags and on their sides, along with my mutes.


http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... e005-1.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... e001-1.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... age004.jpg

That is quite a nice collection you have jeopardymaster....

Not to change the subject, but I will anyway, what all do you have there?

ken k

(PS I added pix of my helicon rack to my post above)

jeopardymaster wrote:I hang my gig bags on hooks, and if I owned a sousaphone I'd probably hang it up too, but not a tuba or a euphonium. Lacking any real skills in carpentry (or photography), for less than $100 I built a cozy for my tubas and euphonia, pictures below. Euphs are on top shelf, in bags and on their sides, along with my mutes.


http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... e005-1.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... e001-1.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u168 ... age004.jpg

ken k wrote:what all do you have there?

I second that, looks intriguing...**drool**

Eric

Reading left to right,

Top shelf:

Conn 18I short action euphonium (detachable bell-up)
King marching baritone
Boosey & Hawkes "Imperial" euphonium

Middle shelf:

Besson 983 Eb
Kruspe F
Gnagey "YorKing" CC

Bottom shelf:

Mirafone 186 BBb
Mirafone 184 CC
VMI Neptune CC

Wife tells me "that's it." But I still hope to find room for a cimbasso someday.

jeopardymaster wrote: Wife tells me "that's it." But I still hope to find room for a cimbasso someday.

Yeah, I'm under similar constraints, which is awkward because there's more on the way as I write this. I'm not a skilled cabinet maker myself, and I'm not sure the shelves I started some time back are even going to be structurally sound, but the main problem is just that there's a lot of work left on them, due to some decisions that sounded fun at the time like mortise and tenon joinery. They'll be big, though - plenty wide to lay a sousaphone on, without anything hanging over. I guess in the interest of domestic harmony, I better get down to the basement and get back to chopping mortises, but the institutional rack shelving idea is kind of interesting.

I like the idea of transparent shelves, to better appreciate the beauty of the contents.

I'm the long-haired sheriff in my house, and let's just say that there aren't any restrictions on the number or type of instruments, but I do object to spending money on worthless junk that doesn't work and never will. That's my only point of debate with the short-haired deputy.

MA

I'd agree on this one with Dean and Ken K. You could use something like a hook/ hanging system and that would also be FAR less cumbersome and space-consuming than even a tidy set of shelves. Now also bear in mind that if they're "TOO tidy", they probably won't stand up to all that tuba weight you might be throwing at them. Solution: bicycle hooks -- screw 'em into the studs.

Bear with me a minute -- I'm assuming that you have non-existent carpentry skills. The types of hooks mentioned above should be available at Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. All you have to do is to screw them into WOODEN studs -- if you have metal studs, you should use some type of mounting board [1/2" plywood, OSB ...] the weight of the instrument[s] might be enough to pull that part of the wall away if all that's there is thin-gauge metal studding.

Get some coarse grade 2 1/2" min [3" would be better ...] sheet rock screws and BE SURE you hit the studs. The type of bike hook Dean shows may also need a plywood mounting board behind it [too close screw holes for normal 16" O.C. wall studs], but it's basically a good idea. The rear vertical tubing in this particular type may also need some padding over the metal so you do NOT scratch the horn. Same should be the case with ANY surface touching the horn with ANY hook -- LOTS of padding.

As to selection of hook type, the general idea of bicycle hooks makes most sense. They're the least expensive, and they're designed to hold up the round tubing of bicycles. Your tuba is also "ROUND TUBING" ... the battle's half-way won!

To find the studs, try it the Tom Silva way. He's the GC from This Old House fame. Use your knuckles, tap down the wall/ ceiling till you reach the highest, "non-hollow" sounds -- there are the studs. That's if you have no indication visually on the wall where the studs are by way of indicator screw-heads visible in an untaped/ unfinished wall. Voila! Test-screw to be sure it's solid. Don't forget where the joint compound is to cover any boo-boos that you leave.

Good padded hooks will probably be your cheapest/ easiest solution if you haven't yet committed to the more expensive, more space-consuming shelves. Best of luck ....