Humidity..

[Nakatira]

Hi this is my first time posting is this section, allthough I`ve been reading some stuff here.

My question is do you guys know about anything killing off humidity.
my humidity levels are a bit high, and my guitar strings and such gets all sticky and such.
I think I also read somewhere, that Lcd`s wasent to keen on it either.

thanks

[freakkguitarist]

i have a dehumidifier in my studio that is running all the time that im not down there, keeps everything cool and dry. id invest in one.

[Nakatira]

Thanks for the response man, will check it out on ebay.

[VSpaceBoy]

Good idea..

You'd be surprised how much water it'll pull out of the air. It'll also keep your electronics and guitars lasting longer.

[Light]

Do not let the humidity get too low. There is nothing worse for guitars than low humidity. Guitars should NEVER be subjected to humidity levels below 35% relative humidity without being aggressively humidified in the case. There is nothing that will cause more damage to a guitar than low humidity, except for maybe large amounts of blunt force trauma.

The ideal conditions for a guitar are 70 degrees Fahrenheit at 45-55% humidity. Any lower than that, humidity wise, and you should seriously thing of using a soundhole humidifier such as the Kyser Lifeguard. If you don't, you can look forward to your acoustic guitar developing at best buzzes, or at worst cracks. Both acoustics and electrics will have their fingerboards shrink, which will cause the fret ends to stick out (wood shrinks, metal doesn't), which can be quite painful.

Unless you live in a swamp or start pouring buckets of water into your guitar, you will never over humidify your guitar. Low humidity is a serious problem (my shop does over 600 low humidity related repairs a year), so I would suggest that you at the very least keep your guitars in a high humidity location. If your strings are getting worn quickly, that is unlikely to have anything to do with humidity, but is more likely related to your body chemistry, and there is nothing you can do about that. Some people just have acidic sweat, and they kill guitar strings like you wouldn't believe.


Light

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

[Nakatira]

Thanks for the replies guys.
really apeciate it.
Well my studio is quite close to the ocean and I live in a very windy area, so its bound to be humidity in this area.
The most biggest problems have been guitarstrings and fretboards so far, but I`m fearing the worst for condenser and electrics.

So just to be on the safe side, I`ll get a dehumidifier.

[blazingstrings]

I concer with light as far as strings go.
I had a room mate that was a guitarist as well, Dude would always grab my strat when ever he saw it.
Now I put a set of strings on my guitars and they last like anywere up to 4-6 months of average play. He would put a set on a week and they would be nasty in just two or three days.
Back to my guitar he would rott the strings right off of them.

He had very swetty palms(Nerves I think, he was sort of nervous all the time).
And his swett was acidic, string killer.

And if you do use a De-humidifier atleast put any acoustic instruments in there cases with a charged humidifier and check it often(once or twice a week).........

Be carefull!

-Blaze

[Nakatira]

thanks, maybe I``ll keep on Eye on the guys borrowing my guitars from now on.
I find washing my hands before touching my guitar a big help in keeping the strings clean.

ps It never happened at home, so it must be humidity or some acid sweat.

[blazingstrings]

I also when done playing wipe the strings down with a dry rag or cloth.
-Blaze

[freakkguitarist]

my humidifier has a % setting, so i can go from 35 percent humidity, to 80 percent. i usually keep it at 40-35 but i dont run it all the time, like when someone is in the studio, so it never really is on non stop for more then a day or two.