How do you store your parts?

[Eseffinga]

I am a completely unapologetic tinkerer, and have been for decades. Really as long as I have been playing.

My issue at the moment is I have so many guitar parts, just lots of screws and slugs and studs and washers, nuts, pots, jacks, etc. just a lot of stuff.

For ages I’ve just used little locking plastic storage container, with various ziplock type bags and mini boxes to hold bits and bobs, often together as sets from the various guitars they originated from. And a tacklebox for small guitar tools, that also houses misc bits as well.

Looking for a better, more organized storage solution, if anyone has a setup they are especially proud of or feels is super effective?

 

[Bogner]

I Store A Lot Of Stuff In Bags With Notes Because I Will Forget What They Are Over Time. I Also Do A Lot Of Glass Jar, Glass Storage Type Things Like You Would Put Flour, Snacks, Etc. In. They Are Clear And Sealed So Things Are Safe And It Is Obvious (Usually) To The Eye Of What Is There. For Common Things I Use Often I Screw The Lid Into A Board And Have The Baby Jar Type Thing Hanging Down. I Have Several Side By Side And It Keeps Things Organized, Visible And Out Of The Way. It Works For Me.

 

[bodia]

I’m have pretty much the same set up as you. A couple of tool boxes, one for parts and one for string changes. Plus a box with assorted stuff in little zip lock bags. If I were more serious about it I would probably look at a Snap On Tool type cart.

 

[archtop]

After decades of tinkering, repairing and building guitars, amps and pedals I'm finally in the process of organizing all the little parts, components, etc. Little zip lock bags and a HUGE spreadsheet with inventory # and box # so I can find what I'm looking for when I need something. The boxes are organized by component type: Guitar parts, resistors, capacitors, transformers, etc. inventory # is just sequential.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Subscribed, because I’m interested to see the answers.

Edit -

Ok so I’ve gone down a storage rabbit hole

 

[László]

Somewhere in the ridiculous junk cornucopia of my storage room I have drawers and cases of parts in little plastic bags. I stick a labelmaker label on the outside of each bag o' parts for identification.

Of course, it's a complete waste of time and effort.

I have never, and will never, use 'em again, let alone remember I have them. But I've always done it. Thousands of years from now, some archaeologist will dig up my studio and wonder WTF I saved this stuff for.

"Whoever owned this stuff must have saved it to repair some sort of equipment, but we can neither identify the purpose of the equipment we've found, nor can we even translate the labels affixed to these transparent bags that were apparently designed to last for eternity."

"Perhaps it was a high status person, like a royal craftsman; some of this material appears to be gold plated."

"Yes! That must be it! We have discovered the Royal Craftsman's Work Chamber!"

"Wow. This stuff belongs in our museum. Let's catalog it and take it back to Mars, the home planet we terraformed and moved to just before Earth destroyed itself in a nuclear war."

 

[archtop]

Somewhere in the ridiculous junk cornucopia of my storage room I have drawers and cases of parts in little plastic bags. I stick a labelmaker label on the outside of each bag o' parts for identification.

Of course, it's a complete waste of time and effort.

I have never, and will never, use 'em again, let alone remember I have them. But I've always done it. Thousands of years from now, some archaeologist will dig up my studio and wonder WTF I saved this stuff for.

"Whoever owned this stuff must have saved it to repair some sort of equipment, but we can neither identify the purpose of the equipment we've found, nor can we even translate the labels affixed to these transparent bags that were apparently designed to last for eternity."

"Perhaps it was a high status person, like a royal craftsman; some of this material appears to be gold plated."

"Yes! That must be it! We have discovered the Royal Craftsman's Work Chamber!"

"Wow. This stuff belongs in our museum. Let's catalog it and take it back to Mars, the home planet we terraformed and moved to just before Earth destroyed itself in a nuclear war."

Yep, that's how it starts. And for me, I bought some PC boards to build some pedals 20 years ago then bought the components and put them ... somewhere. So, when I had time again I ordered more components but life got busy so I put those components ... somewhere. Then there were the amp mod projects and those components got put ... somewhere. Then new jobs, travel, new homes, etc.

On my last move I found all the "somewheres" and put all those parts in a huge box and have been slowly cataloging all of it. The up side is while I've been cataloging I've also been using and built a few partscasters, pedals and an amp from all those parts that are now so easy to find.

 

[Greywolf]

I have several storage bin containers for the small stuff and boxes for the bigger stuff . Pickups and wood are in a VERY full 6' bookshelf

 

[Moondog Wily]

I package them, label them, put them in a place I can remember, forget where I put them, buy some more, rinse and repeat! When they surface, I laugh at self with maniacal abandon, then move on ;~)) If anyone would like to implement this method, feel free to pick and choose it's elements as you see fit for your situation, I am not the first nor the last to employ such a method!

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

How do you store your parts?​

Boxers, generally. Boxer briefs of playing sports or working out.

 

[garrettb]

Subscribed, because I’m interested to see the answers.

Edit -

Ok so I’ve gone down a storage rabbit hole

I have a similar unit for small stuff. A drawer with various screws in baggies, one full of pots, one with saddles, etc.

I also have a small, portable toolbox that holds my guitar specific tools and a few other things.

Then I have an Ikea under-bed storage box has piles of randomness hidden away. Strings, pickups, pickguards, straps, tubes, etc. And then another of those filled with pedals and cables.

Not the most organized, but I know where things are. Usually.

 

[theDeepender]

I am a completely unapologetic tinkerer, and have been for decades. Really as long as I have been playing.

My issue at the moment is I have so many guitar parts, just lots of screws and slugs and studs and washers, nuts, pots, jacks, etc. just a lot of stuff.

For ages I’ve just used little locking plastic storage container, with various ziplock type bags and mini boxes to hold bits and bobs, often together as sets from the various guitars they originated from. And a tacklebox for small guitar tools, that also houses misc bits as well.

Looking for a better, more organized storage solution, if anyone has a setup they are especially proud of or feels is super effective?

I got one of those inexpensive parts drawers setups from Amazon.

 

[RickP]

How do you store your parts?​

Boxers, generally. Boxer briefs of playing sports or working out.

So you store your parts in your drawers.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

So you store your parts in your drawers.

"generally"

 

[Alnus Rubra]

"generally"

Thats
What
Speedon’t
Said

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

Thats
What
Speedon’t
Said

See! I was TRYING to avoid mentioning that sometimes, they are in fact stored in a Speedo, but you just had to bring it up! (No pun intended, of course)

 

[deathworlder]

So you store your parts in your drawers.

The wife's purse...

 

[Eseffinga]

I package them, label them, put them in a place I can remember, forget where I put them, buy some more, rinse and repeat! When they surface, I laugh at self with maniacal abandon, then move on ;~)) If anyone would like to implement this method, feel free to pick and choose it's elements as you see fit for your situation, I am not the first nor the last to employ such a method!

Sadly, this is 100% me.

And too often I pull parts out of a bag, realize I am missing say, another associated part, so I set the parts I took out of the baggy on my bench, where something inevitably gets set on top. When the missing part arrives, I go to grab the other pieces off the bench, and now one of those is missing. Etc and so on.

My bigger issue is I hate digging through my big locking plastic bin full of lots of baggies, trying to find the one with the leftover nickel pickguard screws, (or tuner screws, or truss rod screws) and inevitably find the bag, but not quite enough for what I need. So I order more. That comes in. I take say, 3 out of that, and go to put the rest of the new bag into in my box of baggies. And then the next time I go digging I find out somehow I have 3 mostly full open bags of said screws.

Infuriating. My wife suffers my “have you seen the…” questions all the time. She is a saint.

I have had one of those little cheapo plastic slide drawer units before. I managed to knock it over and parts went everywhere. I gotta find something a little more me-proof.

 

[WEDGE]

I put small stuff in the paperboard egg containers. Free and works great.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Usually in something satin and tight.