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

**ggunn** · 11-01-2007

Originally Posted by muttley600

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.

**Thurgood** · 11-01-2007

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.

**ggunn** · 11-01-2007

Originally Posted by Thurgood

Boyles law??? (sp)

Boyle's and Charles' Laws (the ideal gas laws) are valid for closed systems only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyle's_law

**Light** · 11-03-2007

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

**capnkid** · 11-04-2007

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.

**Vagodeoz** · 11-04-2007

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

**jcmm** · 11-04-2007

Nice info Light

**Gear_Junky** · 11-04-2007

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?

**Fusioninspace** · 11-04-2007

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.

**Light** · 11-05-2007

Originally Posted by Fusioninspace

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