Wall Mounts

[fishwatcher]

I recently installed a couple of wall hangers, for lighter than average instruments. One is a ukulele and one is a Taylor Baby. I figured, since these were pretty light, using drywall anchors, even though I could not find studs where I wanted them, would be okay.

My lesson learned, is NOT to use the supplied drywall anchors, assuming they are the kind you drill a hill into the dry wall, pound in a plastic sleeve, and then screw the hanger into the plastic sleeve.

While I was very careful, not to make the drywall hole too big, one slip.. and that anchor no longer grabs the dry wall. Of course, I didn't realize this until I turned the screw into the plastic sleeve and it spun, inside the dry-wall.

Worse, I can't figure out how to remove and replace that sleeve and screw. I guess I could just straight-up pull it out, yanking on the hanger with the screw in it?

What does better I think, are anchors that screw into the dry wall. These in my experience are much more robust, and I'm sad I didn't stick with that to start.

Obviously, stud, or a wood plank that you can screw into, would be much more secure.

[vintage40s]

Originally Posted by fishwatcher

... My lesson learned, is NOT to use the supplied drywall anchors, assuming they are the kind you drill a hill into the dry wall, pound in a plastic sleeve, and then screw the hanger into the plastic sleeve...

The drywall anchors supplied with the Sweetwater hanger were drilled into the dry wall. And they were plastic. And they were sleeves.
But they were not pounded in. They were threaded, and they screwed into a proper sized hole drilled in the dry wall. Then the threaded anchors received and were expanded by the same supplied screws used for studs.

[Dru Edwards]

My electric guitar wall hangers are all in studs on one wall. My acoustic wall I have a few 1" x 6" pine boards, 6 feet long each. Those are screwed into numerous studs and then I have the wall hangers on them.

The reason for both of those approaches is that the studs are 16" apart. No problem for electrics but some acoustics have 16" widths on the lower bout so I needed to use boards.

I don't have anything with wall anchors but if you use the right ones and installed correctly you should be fine. As long as you trust the drywall, i.e. it hasn't had numerous holes drilled and then covered up. If you're the original owner of the house you would know that.

[ctvolfan]

Here is what I used to hang three of mine on the drywall. Very very sturdy in my opinion. Huge threads that grab the drywall. These are great!

[FreDrummer]

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

Here is what I used to hang three of mine on the drywall. Very very sturdy in my opinion. Huge threads that grab the drywall. These are great!

👍👍👍

These ARE great!

I have used numerous of the “String Swing” hangers with these to hang much heavier electrics. A single one of these is rated to 50 lbs, and you will be using two them! The vast majority of the load vector is straight down due to gravity. There is VERY little force pulling away from the wall. Don’t overthink this. And, if this isn’t enough, buy the next larger size rated to 75 lbs.

[FreDrummer]

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

Here is what I used to hang three of mine on the drywall. Very very sturdy in my opinion. Huge threads that grab the drywall. These are great!

Originally Posted by fishwatcher

While I was very careful, not to make the drywall hole too big, one slip.. and that anchor no longer grabs the dry wall. Of course, I didn't realize this until I turned the screw into the plastic sleeve and it spun, inside the dry-wall.

Worse, I can't figure out how to remove and replace that sleeve and screw. I guess I could just straight-up pull it out, yanking on the hanger with the screw in it

Usually very simple, especially if it is that loose.

Can you unscrew the screw to remove the hanger?

If so, after removing the hanger, thread the screw in just enough to grab the threads of the insert. The idea is to not screw it in so far that the metal screw begins to expand the anchor. Then grab the screw with a pair of plyers and pull it STRAIGHT out from the wall. You’ll be left with the slightly large hole in the drywall to either patch up or use a different type of anchor (like those ctvolfan pictured).

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

Here is what I used to hang three of mine on the drywall. Very very sturdy in my opinion. Huge threads that grab the drywall. These are great!

I believe these things have a very high load rating. These were one of the types I was describing above. Not as good as the “winged” type I also described, but these would get it safely done in reality. A especially if your mounted used 2 of them. So easy to install too.

[Dave Abrahamson]

Not sure how important it is, probably depends on your geographic location, but I have my guitars hanging throughout my house, but none are hanging on exterior walls. Nor is my piano on an outside wall. Just wanted to throw that out there.

[ctvolfan]

Originally Posted by FreDrummer

👍👍👍

These ARE great!

I have used numerous of the “String Swing” hangers with these to hang much heavier electrics. A single one of these is rated to 50 lbs, and you will be using two them! The vast majority of the load vector is straight down due to gravity. There is VERY little force pulling away from the wall. Don’t overthink this. And, if this isn’t enough, buy the next larger size rated to 75 lbs.

Yes I'm using String Swings too. An earthquake wouldn't knock my guitars off of the wall unless the whole wall just fell. And you are exactly correct on how the load is handled . Two screws with two of the anchors per hanger on the String Swings. My guitars aren't going anywhere.

[ctvolfan]

Originally Posted by Dave Abrahamson

Not sure how important it is, probably depends on your geographic location, but I have my guitars hanging throughout my house, but none are hanging on exterior walls. Nor is my piano on an outside wall. Just wanted to throw that out there.

I'm in Tennessee. We get all of the seasons and none are too extreme. It's very humid here. Mine are on the outside wall and i don't see that it is an issue in any way.

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by Dave Abrahamson

Not sure how important it is, probably depends on your geographic location, but I have my guitars hanging throughout my house, but none are hanging on exterior walls. Nor is my piano on an outside wall. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Oh, not hanging on an outside wall is big time important...This would be especially true up here where I am...

[vintage40s]

Originally Posted by ctvolfan

Here is what I used to hang three of mine on the drywall. Very very sturdy in my opinion. Huge threads that grab the drywall. These are great!

That is what was included in my hanger from Sweetwater. The huge white screws would go through a hole you drilled in the drywall. Then the steel screws would go into those white screws.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by vintage40s

Similar to what I bought from Sweetwater:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...per-hanger-oak
It came with screws that either went into a stud, or into special threaded drywall anchors that were included.

I much prefer String Swing hangers, and particularly this type, which is shaped to help keep the instrument from being accidentally dislodged. I believe the hanger style is a type K if I remember correctly.

If you need multiple hangers on a wall it's best to use a single longer board which is fastened to studs behind the drywall. Wood or metal studs... doesn't matter. Studs are much safer than attaching to drywall.

You can pick up a nice solid hardwood board in Walnut, oak, cherry, etc. at your local big box store and apply a nice finish if desired.

Another advantage of using the longer board is you can purchase the hangers in bulk directly from String Swing, they are super-nice folks and make a great product. The last batch I bought were around 6 bucks each.

When you purchase the bulk hangers you get them without the small wood or metal wall plate and attach them directly to your long board by drilling a hole through the board at each hanger location and sinking a 1/4"-20 tee nut from the back side of the long board that will be attached to the wall.

By doing this you can adjust the centering to match the maximum distance you want between instruments, often less than stud spacing so you can hang more instruments in a given space.

Those large spiral anchors are better than many of the older types of insert anchors but do consider that the entire reason why they are made like that is because gypsum board is inherently weak and easily compromised. It does break up even when this type of anchor is inserted, and if the back side ever gets damp it takes very little force for the anchor to pull out. In a few years we'll probably see anchors with even wider fins to replace these after long-time failures occur. That's the bad part about trusting them. The good part about trusting them is it's nice to get a new guitar every so often.

I do use them for hanging photos... especially of relatives I don't particularly care for.

[Ed66]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

I much prefer String Swing hangers, and particularly this type, which is shaped to help keep the instrument from being accidentally dislodged. I believe the hanger style is a type K if I remember correctly.

If you need multiple hangers on a wall it's best to use a single longer board which is fastened to studs behind the drywall. Wood or metal studs... doesn't matter. Studs are much safer than attaching to drywall.

You can pick up a nice solid hardwood board in Walnut, oak, cherry, etc. at your local big box store and apply a nice finish if desired.

I can't agree more. I actually took a nice piece of 1 x 12 oak and cut out a long board shape (surfboard). Sanded & stained it and put it on the wall. This created a rock solid anchor to the wall and then each string swing holder was screwed into the oak board. Looks great and I'll never have to worry about a failure.

[PapaC]

Originally Posted by Ed66

I can't agree more. I actually took a nice piece of 1 x 12 oak and cut out a long board shape (surfboard). Sanded & stained it and put it on the wall. This created a rock solid anchor to the wall and then each string swing holder was screwed into the oak board. Looks great and I'll never have to worry about a failure.

Ditto, but I bought these 1x6 already pre-finished at Home Depot-