Following the advice proffered in Fiddlerman and Violaman Chat I have hung my fiddles so they can be ready to play when I am, and not discouragingly hidden away in their cases.

I have not used the elegant holders available from Fiddlershop.com because I wanted this done now and I am kind of frugal. The gripper I use may be seen at http://www.holditsystem.com/  and the particular holder is the Large Grip 11/8" – 11/2" size. A pair of them bought at Home Depot cost $10.00 and the pine board was $6.00 .

The holders may be mounted directly to the wall but different instruments require different space behind so I added the 1"x3"x4' pine board and all the instruments can be securely gripped by the holders. The website shows how the grippers operate. The neck of the violin is pushed back against the rubber webbing and the corners rotate, closing ever so gently against the fingerboard, just under the nut without touching the strings. The tuning pegs are not touched. Another benefit I expect from this arrangement is that the humidity of the room will be available to the instruments in a way they would not be closed in their cases. I keep our humidity at 55% for my benefit and apparently that seems to suit stringed instruments.

Ray   

Following the advice proffered in Fiddlerman and Violaman Chat I have hung my fiddles so they can be ready to play when I am, and not discouragingly hidden away in their cases.

I have not used the elegant holders available from Fiddlershop.com because I wanted this done now and I am kind of frugal. The gripper I use may be seen at http://www.holditsystem.com/  and the particular holder is the Large Grip 11/8" – 11/2" size. A pair of them bought at Home Depot cost $10.00 and the pine board was $6.00 .

The holders may be mounted directly to the wall but different instruments require different space behind so I added the 1"x3"x4' pine board and all the instruments can be securely gripped by the holders. The website shows how the grippers operate. The neck of the violin is pushed back against the rubber webbing and the corners rotate, closing ever so gently against the fingerboard, just under the nut without touching the strings. The tuning pegs are not touched. Another benefit I expect from this arrangement is that the humidity of the room will be available to the instruments in a way they would not be closed in their cases. I keep our humidity at 55% for my benefit and apparently that seems to suit stringed instruments.

Ray