Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I want to hang my Ric's in display cases for easy access and to show off their beauty. I can control humidity levels in the room with a humidifier or dehumidifier but will exposure to sunlight hurt the finish? Specifically, I would display a Monte Brown 360, Fireglo 4003, Blueburst 650C (soon), and a Taylor 814ce acoustic. Thanks for the help.

James, some things that I have learned the hard way.

Keep them out of the sunlight.

DO NOT hang the basses from the head stocks.

Keep the acoustics in the case, with a sound hole humidifier.
Unless you have some kick a$$ room humidifier system.

Why not hang them from their headstocks? Is there a structural issue? I'v never seen a thread discussing that yet.
I currently keep 2 hanging on locking hangers.

I don't display my 4001...it just comes out of the case for weekly rehearsals and gigs.

I do wear my heart on my sleeve, though...I'm sure the exposure has caused some damage, but waddya gonna do?

Kevin, my personal observation is with 10 4001's, hung via the head stocks, I'd say 4 times in a 2 year period, I'd have to do some tweaking on the truss rods. With no weight on the head stock "1" tweaking.

Perhaps it's just the climate in my music room, but it's pretty stable. I just insert a guitar strap behind the wall hanger, use the bottom strap holder to support the weight of the bass, and use a Velcro strip to hold it in place

I will probably only hang guitars in a display case on the wall. For an acoustic, I can keep a humidifier in the soundhole while the guitar hangs on the wall, in the case. I suppose I could further purchase glass that would prevent the UV sunlight rays from getting in. I am not comfortable hanging something on a wall unless its in a display case that supports the weight.

That is an interesting method of support. I've NEVER had to tweak my 4000, & only recently dared to try to adjust my 4001. I just live with the small changes I guess. And of course the 4080 stays in her case unless I'm actually playing it!
One fall is MORE than enough!
My hangers are the type that have the plastic bar that closes over the opposite horn of the "C" shape, & they're set so the bass body is about 8 inches off the floor.

You can also buy UV sleeves for glass cases that filter harmful UV rays-museums, archives and the like use these when displaying items. They're not 100% effective but they will mitigate light damage. Check out the website for Carr-MacLean if you're interested.

That's weird, my 4001 has been hanging on the wall by it's headstock for 15 years approx.
Never had any problem at all, in fact, when I don't play it for a month or longer it's still in tune when I take it off the wall.

I have three Rics and they have been hanging on the wall for several years now. No problems so far.

My 4001 does go up & down very slightly with weather changes, & is more sensitive to temp in regards to staying in tune, but my 4000 is rock solid all year long. I have to bump the tuners to put her out of tune. The 4080 does go out of tune fairly easily due to handling/transporting, but it has the old Grovers on both necks.

All my Rics are on stands in my music room. No direct sun & in the UK, we don't get the wild temperature swings that you seem to get in the US & Canada. I like to see them & I am sure that the damage caused by this exposure to the atmosphere is drasticaly less that the abuse they get when being gigged. Bear in mind though, that my gtrs are working gtrs & if I had a real collectable, I might look a little more carefully into it!

I guess I should invest in Dave Pascoe's guitar strap company.....he must have "quite a few" ... lol

I keep my guitars out on wall hangers most of the time I keep an inexpensive humidity and temperature indicator on the wall. I run a de-humidifier from april to Sept and a humidifier in the winter months. I have forced hot air heat and make sure I close the vents for most of the day. The Rics get cased more often than not. It has been so wet in SE PA lately, the room hangs around 60% humidity.

wim my 4003 seems to never go out of tune either.

i bought a guitar last week and i seem to sped more time tuning it thatn anything