I inherited my father's guitars recently and have been storing them in their cases standing up in a spare bedroom.  I know my dad always kept small vials of distilled water inside to control the humidity but when I picked them up they were dry.  The luthier I had appraise them said to store them with desiccant in their cases.  Anyone have any non-conflicting tips?  Thanks to all.

The best way is to bring them over to my house and store them there.  

Store them in your house, away from areas that have drastic temperature swings.  If your house has proper modern HVAC, then they should be fine.

Edit:  you can't mention vintage guitars without posting pics!!!

Strung or unstrung?

Get a case hygrometer and let it be your guide.  50 percent relative humidity is what you want.  Neither too dry nor too damp.

Anyone who says to just get a dessicator for sticking inside the case without knowing the situation is someone whom you should take NO advice from.

Generally speaking, just keeping the instruments in the same air conditioned environment YOU want to live in is exactly what you should do.

You had one job.  Post pics.  But noooooo.  

BTW it depends a lot on if they are acoustics or electrics as to their tolerance for environment.  A little more info goes a long way.

I need a good photo hosting site.  I have  1967 Gretcsh Monkees rock and roll edition, a 1969 Gibson ES335, a Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman custom shop edition and a Gibson Chet Atkins Tennessean.  I also have a 50s Sears Silvertone 3/4 acoustic with the original box and strings.  

I don't play, I just don't know if I can ever part with them.  These are dad, it was his passion.  

Box

Silvertone

Let's see if this works, if it does I'll post more.  Thanks for the replies guys 

Tennessean

Country Gentleman

Monkees

335

It worked for me, hopefully it works for everyone else.  I also got my dad's Fender SKX 100 amp. 

I was hoping to see a solid body Danelectro-built electric.

Very nice collection your Dad had.  And you now have.  I'm not sure they are actually "vintage" but the term isn't exactly definitive.  I would take care to store them properly as beside the sentimental value they do have resale value if you ever decide to move them.  Putting them in a room in the middle of the house that gets the least amount of air-conditioning or heating but stays pretty stable temperature wise is a good idea.  As is buying a room hygrometer to track that.  If it drops below 30% put in a humidifier.  If above 70 a dehumidifier.  They aren't the most sensitive guitars in the world although the Gretch can be temperamental with the necks I've been told.

In case hygrometers is also a great idea.  I have many guitars in Arizona.  I don't do that.   keep in case humidifiers for the Acoustics year round and humidify the room 6 months a year when I am home.  My electrics are mostly sold body and they aren't as sensitive as hollow or semi-hollow body guitars.

Actually best advice is join "thegearpage.com" and everything you ever need to know about guitars is there.  Sort of the AR15.com of the guitar world.'

there's 3 of those Gretsch Monkee's guitars on Reverb right now,
3k, 3.5k and 5k
https://reverb.com/p/gretsch-6123-monkees-red-1967

Man, nice haul. Those are beauties.

Like someone else said. Away from windows/temperature changes. If you have radiators/steam heat keep them far from that. When I was 9 I kept a strat on a guitar stand next to a radiator and window. Needless to say that neck didn't last long..

Absolutely beautiful. the Country Gentleman,.. Id take it on a date and buy it steak and lobster.

But seriously, Keep them in good shape, and honor him by playing them.  I'll take an object that has a few love scrapes over a perfect one in the box.

Thanks for the compliments and advice guys.  I know you all would love to see me start playing but I'm too old to start and honestly cars is more my thing.  They're not eating anything so I prefer to just hang on to them for now and preserve their condition.

String them up and tune them up to one step below standard. Keep them as close to 40 percent humidity as you can. No wild temperature swings. All mine get humidity in the winter to at least 40 percent and I try and keep them below 60 percent in the summer. I can only say that this has worked well for me many many years on guitars I don't play much.

I have nothing to add to what has already been posted. But I wanted to say congrats on some very nice gear, especially those Chet Atkins models. I've heard that they play well and sound very good.

I don't know how old you are.  I started (well restarted ) guitar after not playing between 21 and 50.  Unless your hands are distorted from arthritis or the like you can learn.  I won't lie though.  Unless you have some musical background it sucks at first.  Even then it sucks at first.  It's like golf.  The first year is really frustrating.

desiccant  You Luther is an idiot.  Controlled humility about 45% and temperature about 70*.

Im gonna say it...

Unload them.  You don't play.  While they are vintage, they aren't 59' bursts either but they do have some value and they are desirable to working musicians.  My reason is simple, there are real artists that will play them or real collectors that will ensure they live on.  They are fine guitars for sure but you'll end up doing more harm than good just hanging them on a wall to look at.  What will you do once you are too old to keep them in paying condition?  Do you have kids that play?  Does anyone in your immediate family play or collect guitars seriously?  The truth is that eventually they will end up in someones dumpster, I've seen it happen many times.  Hell, I know of a pre-war D28 that went up in flames in house fire because some bumpkin that barely could pick happy birthday was too stubborn to move it for it's own good.  I know of a pre-64 ES-175 sitting in an attic in CA right because some girl inhereted it from her dead grandfather.  She doesn't play and never heard of Gibson guitars and asked how to put strings on it and paint it so she can use it as decor in her apartment. It breaks my heart to see this happen to functional art.  

Bottom line put them in the hands of someone who can use them for what they are made to do.