Annual Humidity post - SUPER IMPORTANT - READ THIS!!!!!!! (long, but worth it)

If I rephrased the comment you just quoted I'd make that more clear. ;)

If you were to move your barometer outside to a cold wet climate from indoors in a dry heated environment, temperature would be the biggest factor in any change in the reading you get. Vapor pressure would be secound. Yes, that would indicate a need to recalibrate rather than a specific change in the atmospheric pressure.

Yep, I opened the front door and the danged vapor pressure of water blew me right out into the yard! ;^)

Peace.
 
Boyles law??? (sp) Rapid changes as referenced above are the enemy. I live in an area that has 90% to 40% variances/fluctuations. Should I worry? I guess I need to buy more cases as most of my electrics are "bare".

PS Thanks for the heads up to all. :):)
 
Bumping this `cause it's that important. We've already started to see some of our first humidity cases of the year.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
My house has a wood stove with a blower system that gets hot air to all rooms through vents in the floor. This kind of heat is mega-dry.

I just drilled some holes in an old prescription bottle, put some wet sponge in it, then put my guitar in a soft case and hung it back on the hanger. Hope it keeps it humidified.
 
I guess it also applies to microphones...
Has anyone tried this thing? It's suppused to do about the same, keeping an average humidity on a closed enviroment, which would be a mic cabinet in my case.
I'm about to buy those, unless someone gives me a reason not to :)
 
My house has built-in little oil-filled radiation heaters, 1 per room (so no hot air blowing here). I've watched the humidity inside the gigbag and it always fluctuates within 40-55% throughout the year. I've never seen an extreme. I guess I'll keep an eye on it, but I don't expect 3% humidity. My skin will tell me that way before a gauge.

a question regarding fretboards, though: I usually wipe them with lemon oil about every other string change or even every string change if I feel like it. That's supposed to keep them moist, no? :)
 
I made another post about leaving my nice Seagull out and the top splitting on another post. Since then I remembered something I forgot to mention.

Because I'm a total idiot, I didn't use Light's suggestion about adding additional humidity IN the case. So early last winter I noticed the top starting to bowl inward - What seemed to help was:

1. Keep the guitar in the bathroom while everyone takes a shower (and leave the exhaust fan off) and promptly return to the case afterwards.

2. Add the extra humidity IN the case in between.

The downside is that it could effect the finish with that high level of humidity in the bathroom. But after about 2 weeks, the bowl went away and I didn't have anymore problems (and I kept the humidor wick moist in the case).

This is probably not a recommended solution, but it did work. I'm paying more attention this year.
 
What seemed to help was:

1. Keep the guitar in the bathroom while everyone takes a shower (and leave the exhaust fan off) and promptly return to the case afterwards.

2. Add the extra humidity IN the case in between.

The downside is that it could effect the finish with that high level of humidity in the bathroom. But after about 2 weeks, the bowl went away and I didn't have anymore problems (and I kept the humidor wick moist in the case).

This is probably not a recommended solution, but it did work. I'm paying more attention this year.



Frankly, wood just doesn't soak up moisture fast enough for the shower thing to really work, as near as I can tell. What probably made the bigger difference is keeping it in the case and keeping the case well humidified. I don't think the shower thing hurt, but I doubt it helped much, and certainly not as much as the other.

That's the thing. While I will caution against rapid temperature changes, I don't get too worked up about rapid humidity changes. Yes, wood will lose moisture, but it doesn't happen very quickly. If you were to play your guitar for 8-10 hours a day, it's possible that you would notice a difference when you started playing and when you finished, but most of us don't play that much. As long as the guitar is spending most of it's time in a well humidified environment, it's gonna be happy. The first step in repairing any humidity crack in our shop is to humidify the crap out of the guitar (our shop is kept in the 45-50% range, and on top of that we will throw two or three additional humidifiers into the case) until it closes up, and it usually takes 2-3 weeks to do so. I don't think they lose moisture any faster than they gain it, not really, so you're going to be fine playing it, just make sure you store it properly.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Here's my logic about the shower room. If I have three to four family members taking a shower in a row - including the makeup, teeth brushing, etc. time, then the guitar gets a solid 1 to 1.5 hours of fairly high humidity (they have to keep the fan off though).

But I think what the real kicker is that when it goes back into the case after that, the air inside the body is already fairly moist so the humidifier/sponge doesn't have to work as hard... as if being a moist sponge in really that hard of work :p

But you do get a good head start on getting moisture inside the body of the instrument.
 
Just keeping this on the first page for a few more days.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Bump. I should have brought this up months ago, but I haven't thought of it. espskully's recent thread reminded me that everyone needs reminding.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Bump. I should have brought this up months ago, but I haven't thought of it. espskully's recent thread reminded me that everyone needs reminding.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

Thanks for bringing this back up. Let's make it a sticky!! At least through the winter.

Cheers,
Dave
(Moderator)
 
:eek:

Uhh, well...

This is probably something you don't want to hear. My electric guitar is in our spare room (or a mini-studio). It was poorly insulated when our house was built (my parents house, I'm 13) so it gets very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer.

I do have a space heater that I run every time I'm in their in the winter. It gets very hot and at night or when it's off it gets super cold. I'd say it's more than a 20 degree change at times. So... I can't imagine that to be good.

I did take my guitar to a shop once and he said my neck was bent so it needs to be adjusted. I never got around to have them fix it.

As you can see, my guitar doesn't really like me...:rolleyes: But, this thread has made me more aware.

So I think I will take my guitar out of the room every night to a more controlled area. Oh, and our furnace has a humidifier but the heat never gets to the room and so I don't think that the more humid air really gets in their (except in the summer).
 
I've got three of those humidifiers, but I bought them via fleabay years ago, and didn't realize they are smaller than the soundholes on my guitars (may fit the tenor, tho...) Do ya think that matters?
 
I've got three of those humidifiers, but I bought them via fleabay years ago, and didn't realize they are smaller than the soundholes on my guitars (may fit the tenor, tho...) Do ya think that matters?

As long as you keep them in the case when your not playing, no it doesn't matter.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
So what is the ideal way for electrics? I always had one for acoustics, but never electrics. I moved up north where its already been -20 or more a few times. I don't see anything for sale at zzounds or musiciansfriend.
 
So what is the ideal way for electrics? I always had one for acoustics, but never electrics. I moved up north where its already been -20 or more a few times. I don't see anything for sale at zzounds or musiciansfriend.



A soap dish humidifier in the case with the guitar.

The issue is less sever with electrics, but the fingerboard will still shrink, which leads to the fret ends sticking out. I've play some electrics in stores that should have known better which felt like playing a bread knife.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Back
Top