There must be some Internet meme or quote or proverb somewhere that says music makes a house a home. How could it not? Music is medicinal. It is that bridge to Tarebithia; a creation that takes each of us away from the sometimes harshness of reality to a perfect forest kingdom. It is essential for the soul in order to breathe. Yet in a tiny house it seems there is little room left for such pursuits. Beyond the bluetooth iPod speaker there are few corners that could resonate with melody. Where then does someone put a couple of guitars or a Djembe when there isn’t even enough room for two sinks?
String Swing. Perhaps the most affordable and most common method of using your stringed instrument for both music and a touch of visual art is the timeless String Swing. For more than 25 years, The folks at String Swing – a family run, Wisconsin based company – have been crafting musical-instrument hangers and display systems. While their bread-and-butter product is the Hardwood Home & Studio Guitar Hanger they also make hangers for dulcimers, mandolins, violins, banjos, and ukuleles. They also have a fine line of studio accessories and mic stand accessories.
The Guitar Hanger. While this product does look and is marketed as a sort of “made for TV” device it actually is pretty genius. The Guitar Hanger gives you quick and easy access to your instrument. Instead of storing in on a conventional guitar stand, The Guitar Hanger allows you to store your guitar anywhere with a closet rod or a nail. But why hang your guitar like an old Pearl Jam t-shirt? Hanging your “axe” in the closet allows for quick access while keeping it safe from the flow of traffic.
Get Trapped! The A400NC from Traps Drums is a portable, acoustic-driven, drum kit that feels and sounds like a regular drum kit. Constructed from high-quality, durable A.B.S., fitted with Remo heads and steel counter hoops, and mounted on a steel tubing rack system means that everything stays exactly where it’s put when the kit is set up and doesn’t move. But when not in use the set folds up into a neat, 60 lb., portable “shell-less” drum kit perfect for sliding under your couch, beside your composting toilet, or even mounted on the wall with a pulley system.
Keyboard Drawers. While this is more of a DIY project the notion of taking your piano with you is an attractive one. Several tiny housers (including myself) have full size digital keyboards and synthesizers that deserve a spot of their own. Using a simple computer keyboard drawer slide system or incorporating a drawer under a couch or even a kitchen base cabinet would allow for a very nice and extremely custom keyboard rack.
Let the trumpets sound. Maybe brass instruments are your forte; trump, coronet, trombone, bugle. Whatever the case, a very simple and affordable DIY can turn your unused wall space into an instrument mount with easy access. Using a piece of cabinet grade plywood and a few single stem robe hooks or even rubber tipped garage or storage hooks, you can create a very crude yet effective mount for your horns.
Whatever the case or whatever your space constraints are there is no reason to let the music die in your tiny house. So tell us, please. How do you store your tunes?
By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]
FYI, for wooden-box instruments (violins, guitars, mandolins, etc.) humidity and temperature are both important to their structural stability and their sound. So storing them outside of a closed case, especially in a small area with any kind of wood stove (the dryest heat there is!), is really bad for them. Rapid swings in temperature/humidity, and/or extremes of either, can cause cracks, separation of panels, twisting/bowing of necks, and changes in sound, depending on the instrument and the conditions. Solution? Buy a plastic banjo. It can double as a canoe paddle and still sound as good as it did to start with. 🙂
And who wouldn’t want an instrument that could also carry them downstream? Now we’re talking! Thank you so much for the tip on humidity.