Storing keyboard in garage

[cedar]

Since I created a rehearsal room in my house, I've usually had my Yamaha CP4 set up (along with other keyboards). But over the past couple of years, I've never used the CP4 at home; it's become purely a gigging keyboard.

 

So, I'm thinking of giving it a permanent space in my garage, thereby saving me some effort when it comes to move it to the car for gigs.

 

I live in a safe suburb, and the garage door always remains closed. I'm really not concerned about the risk of theft. Only potential problem I foresee is the impact of temperature. In the dead of winter, the temp in the garage probably is in the 40s.

 

Could exposing the CP4 -- albeit in a soft case - cause some kind of damage over the long-run?

[Stokely]

Here in FL I'd worry about heat and maybe humidity more than cold for sure. 40 doesn't sound too rough for electronics but I'll defer to our cold-weather brethren

 

It's in a case so dust isn't a worry.

[o0Ampy0o]

One thing to consider is rodent access. The soft case could make good nesting material. They would chew pieces of it off and take it somewhere to build a nest as opposed to moving inside the soft case to nest (although even that cannot be ruled out).

[Delaware Dave]

I keep most of my gigging stuff in a garage as well; PPA, mixer, Gemini, Voce, Vent. Garage gets in high 80's in summer and low 40's in winter. Never had an issue. Keyboards I never store out there; couldn't tell you why but I've never done that; they stay in the basement which stays between mid 50's to 70, and my basement is dry. I guess if I could keep all the other electronic equipment in the garage, why not the keyboards?

[Reezekeys]

I once ruined a speaker by storing it in the garage in winter. There's not much clearance between a speaker's magnet and voice coil, and cold causes metals to contract. Brought it to a gig and immediately started using it â the sound was "fuzzy" - that was the voice coil rubbing against the magnet's channel. I had to get the speaker reconed.

 

I think you're probably safe with a keyboard. But yea, rodents eating through a soft case would be a concern. And â back to speakers â if I do a gig in winter and my K8s have been in the garage and it's been extra-cold, I will sometimes take them out of their Tuki covers and put them in the passenger compartment of my car while I drive to the gig. Once there, I set them up first and turn them on with volumes at 0, so I can get current flowing through the circuitry and maybe generate a little heat. And while I set up the rest of my gear, the speakers can warm up a little more inside the club. This might be total overkill - but it's not much trouble and costs me nothing but a few extra seconds of time.

[Mark Schmieder]

We don't have basements in California, so garages are our only option, or outside storage sheds (no climate control). I keep my keyboards inside, but mostly for easy access. Percussion goes in the garage, which maybe isn't wise due to the constant shrinking and expansion of membranes, but better that than my acoustic guitars! I always invest in super-high quality cases and bags for everything, and this seems to protect against most environmental change, but of course it can get up to 114 degrees or hotter here. No issues so far with stuff, and the washer/dryer are electronic and are fine. Only had rodent problem in a small attic storage area once.

[CEB]

It could but that is part of the deal. When you are a working player the gear lives in trucks and box trailers or the luggage bays on a silver eagle. The temperature swings are ridiculous but that is the way it is. My gear always work ⦠almost all the time. Guitars are the most troublesome due to expansion and contraction. Actions need adjustments and frets need dressed due to fret sprout on the edges as woods dry out. But that is the cost of business.

[Coker]

I"ve stored all my equipment in my garages for 20 years with no problems. Everything is in a soft case, so I assume the rodents don"t like the material for some reason. The CP4 was never affected, although I was always careful to give the keyboard some warm up time in its case when moving it from a cold garage to a warm venue; taking a 30 degrees hunk of plastic into a warm, moist room would concern me.

[CowboyNQ]

You should be fine. I"ve stored digital keyboards in a garage in below freezing temperatures and in 100-degree plus temperatures. They"re more robust than you might expect.

 

To reinforce Ed"s comment, There are very few places colder than the cargo bay of an aircraft cruising at 30,000 ft or the back of a truck in the dead of winter at 3am.

 

I"ve never had an issue with temperature-related reliability.

[Moonglow]

I keep everything in my gig truck parked in the garage, which is connected to the house and transfers some heat. Wide range of temperatures here in NW Indiana. It"s not uncommon to have temperatures in the 90"s during the summer and below zero during the winter, sometimes well below zero. Not sure what the actual temperatures are in the garage. I do take the keyboards out of their cases and let them warm up in a club/venue before turning them on. No history of keyboard problems I can uniquely attribute to temperature.

[Bobadohshe]

My stuff has always been in the garage and it gets into the 40s in Winter. Absolutely no problem. If you were talking -10 degrees it would be a different story.

[MathOfInsects]

Yeah, joining the chorus, they go through a lot worse just to get to you on the plane, ship, or truck. The garage is the traditional place for musical instruments from time immemorial.

[o0Ampy0o]

For the record, when performing with Jan Hammer during his Blow By Blow tour one blistering hot day Jeff Beck had a guitar synthesizer melt on stage in South America so gear does have a limit in the high temperatures at least. The shade of a garage and in a case should avoid this. Just don't stick it on a roof rack of your vehicle driving in the afternoon to a gig on a blistering hot day in South America.

[mcgoo]

When the temps fall below zero, I'll bring anything in with a battery (except my car!). Otherwise, I don't worry too much.

[bill bosco]

yea , i try to keep batteries away from freezing temps. i'm mostly concerned with humidity though . my digital organ stays parked in a decent sized auditorium all week where it can

get pretty humid when everything is shut down . i keep two silica gel packs inside the thing and one under the lid . maybe that's a little fussy , but i figure it must help

[Stokely]

There's one benefit of my wife's rental/property management business strewing the garage with "stuff"--I am compelled to bring my stuff inside, it makes my office studio a bit crowded but not too bad. And once it's inside, I go ahead and set it up This has led me to really start tweaking patches and dive into ipad control (and sound integration).

[Piktor]

I have an unheated garage. Because our vehicles always carry some snow and ice during the winter, no matter how much I try to brush snow off before driving into the garage, I usually get some kind of fuzzy snow mold growing on the concrete floor. Some bleach and a broom takes care of the problem. I would not want to risk having that problem with musical equipment.

[elsongs]

If you're going to store a keyboard in the garage for several months, I highly recommend storing it in a road case. It not only protects it from the aforementioned rodents, but bugs and dust.