A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

So I've gotta move, long story short my current landlord's a cunt, the apartment's a moldy dump. I've been threatened with eviction and have to move, and the options are pretty slim, so I'd like to free up a little space and put some gear in storage. I was wondering if it'd be alright to put my Bugera half stack, and a few electric guitars (in their cases) in a regular, non-climate controlled storage unit for a year or so without risking destroying anything or having to do a ton of repairs.




Short story long, when I moved in (about 2.5+ years ago) 4 of the 6 windows were busted or had bb holes through them, those JUST got replaced in early October, the coin-op washer and dryer located in the dank moldy basement quit working around the same time, my actual living area of my apartment is just slathered in black mold to the point it looks like fire damage, the electricity can barely handle a microwave running in another unit at the same time a unit on the same circuit has their fridge plugged in, two burners on the stove have never worked as long as I've been here, the oven stopped working, the faucet leaks constantly and you can't actually turn the knobs all the way off, one of them just spins infinitely. During summer 2019 during the big heatwave the a/c went out, I still owed $15 two weeks into the month due to not having change, so he said he'd have it looked at after he got paid rent in full, the ONE a/c is shared between FOUR units. His fix was don't run it under 80°F.
My neighbors below me had to reach inside the wall to shake the plumbing to get their toilet to flush or sink to drain, the LLs solution was to cut the dry wall loose and put a string on the pipe so it's easier to reach.

Well as several of you might know, I got covid-19 last month right on time to miss my training for a new job before they even opened, I've still got the job, but I'm finally starting on Friday. So I couldn't afford my rent that month and I still owe a couple hundo from November on top of that, I told my landlord this, he then continuously texted me "update" or "update please" basically every other day since then, despite having thoroughly updated and explained my situation to him. Fast forward to this Monday, and I get a text at 5pm saying if I'm not out of the apartment by Friday I'll be receiving an eviction notice. Again, for clarification, I've been extremely up front with my landlord about everything, at least I don't know how much more clearly I can state "I'm covid positive I can't start my new job I just got until I test negative" and then "the company is having an issue with their liquor license and a brewery without a liquor license doesn't have enough business to stay open their intended hours so I can't start until the beginning of the year when they get their license lined out". I've never outright not paid him, and I guess I could file the document for the tenant protections in ky... But fuuuuuck him.

Going to look at an apartment today. Hopefully I can get moved in ASAP and not have to deal with this shit again.

Yikes, good luck with landlord. I'm pretty sure there are still some federal protections in place regarding eviction/foreclosure as it relates to covid. You may want to check with a local housing authority on that, but having said that sound like it's not someplace you really want to stay anyway?

Regarding the gear, I'd be pretty hesitant to put any gear in non-climate controlled storage, especially guitars. Not sure of your location, but around here it ranges from deep-freeze to blast furnace. And those free-standing metal storage complexes basically turn into little ovens in the summer. Do you know anyone who works at a school or university? Maybe you could talk nice and give some lessons in exchange to keep your gear in a band/orchestra room locker?

I don't know if @dspellman is on here much, but I recall him having stuff in storage for quite a while. Maybe he's got useful advice. I always appreciate his input.

I'd say the amp should be no problem , especially with a sheet over it to keep dust out and off. The guitars not so sure of my 3100 was in the non climate controlled garage for 8 months with no problem. The rest ,dunno. If you can afford a small climate controlled storage room that's the best bet. Second best would be swapping out guits on rotating basis so none get super long time.

Please keep this in mind as you read my words. I have been homeless at one time in my life. It sounds better or worse depending on how much you have been drinking.

I would consider selling gear and replacing once you are in a better place.

If you do put stuff in regular storage, I'ld double garbage bag everything on a low humidity day to keep as much humidity change and effect out of the picture.

Well I've found a place, it's a studio, but it's actually pretty sizeable, and not too far away. I've been running around busy as hell trying to get everything in order and packed up. He's already not following basic kentucky state law regarding the pre-eviction notice, he gave me 5, he's legally required to give me 7. But I'm pretty tired of living here and dealing with the whole thing.

Sometimes a good thing is more of a kick in the pants than you were expecting, but ultimately it's still a good thing.

Gonna try and see if everything will fit in the one closet in the place or maybe I can at least use the amps as multi-purpose shelves, which the lady would definitely apprehensively support lol.

Going to look into buying privacy screens or some sort of partitions so I can kinda close off a "bedroom", we'll see if I really need to or not.
Giving the man some money and moving in tomorrow morning with a team of friends to help with all the labor, and a truck.

Good luck, and glad to hear you've got friends to help. I made a few moves with no help which increases the suckage of moving 10fold.