Light
New member
I should have done this a month ago, but here we go.
It is time once again. We had our first snow fall yesterday, and for the last few weeks we have been heating the house. All of this means it is time to start humidifying your guitars.
Guitars are very sensitive to humidity, particularly solid wood acoustic guitars. Around this time of year, you will start seeing your guitars change. The action will get lower and they will start to buzz. You might start getting a little sawing action from the ends of your frets sticking out. You may notice that the top of your guitars is looking a lot like a salad bowl. You may even, if you don't do something about it, start to see some cracks in the body of your guitar.
Now, all of these things can be taken care of, but preventative maintenance is cheap, so why not do it.
The first, and by far most important, thing you can do for your guitars is to do SOMETHING to humidify them. At all cost, do not ignore the problem. It is a serious issue, so do SOMETHING.
Step one in doing it right is to always keep the guitar in the case when you are not playing. I know this is kind of a hassle if you like to keep them on stands, but it is extremely difficult during heating season to keep your house humid enough for your guitars. The case offers a much smaller volume of air to concern yourself with. Keep the guitars in the case.
Step two is to use some kind of a guitar humidifier. Damp-it's suck for anything which does not have f-holes because the sponge is too small. I hate the Planet Waves humidifier with a passion, as it is such a hard plastic that it can (and does) damage the guitar and it is very difficult to fill. The one I recommend is the KYSER LIFEGUARD. The sponge is large enough to last a few days, it is a soft plastic that is not going to damage anything, it is easy to fill, and I really like the fact that is helps to lock the humidity into the sound hole where it is needed most.
Of course, the very nature of the Lifeguard means that, while it is great for the box of the guitar, it does not do much for the fingerboard or the rest of the neck. For this, you need a additional humidifier. You could buy another Lifeguard and just keep it in the case, but what I like is a soap dish humidifier. You make these yourself, and they are simple and cheap. You take a plastic travel soap dish, the kind with a cover, and you drill some holes in the top. Next, you cut a sponge to fit into the soap dish. Put the top on, and you are done. Put it in the case, usually up by the head stock. There are some good variations on this, of course. You could make it out of Tupperware. I have a customer who wraps his up in an old t-shirt to pad it a bit. Another guy uses Velcro to stick the soap dish to the case so it can't rattle around in there, which strikes me as a very good idea.
Whatever you do, make sure you take care of your guitars. Unless you live in a swamp, or you start pouring buckets of water into your guitar, you can NOT over-humidify. If you have a heater running in your house, do not worry about too much humidity. It can not happen. Just make sure you do SOMETHING, or you will be one of the many guys who come into a shop like mine, putting your guitar up on a counter, and saying, "I need you to take a look at my guitar."
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
It is time once again. We had our first snow fall yesterday, and for the last few weeks we have been heating the house. All of this means it is time to start humidifying your guitars.
Guitars are very sensitive to humidity, particularly solid wood acoustic guitars. Around this time of year, you will start seeing your guitars change. The action will get lower and they will start to buzz. You might start getting a little sawing action from the ends of your frets sticking out. You may notice that the top of your guitars is looking a lot like a salad bowl. You may even, if you don't do something about it, start to see some cracks in the body of your guitar.
Now, all of these things can be taken care of, but preventative maintenance is cheap, so why not do it.
The first, and by far most important, thing you can do for your guitars is to do SOMETHING to humidify them. At all cost, do not ignore the problem. It is a serious issue, so do SOMETHING.
Step one in doing it right is to always keep the guitar in the case when you are not playing. I know this is kind of a hassle if you like to keep them on stands, but it is extremely difficult during heating season to keep your house humid enough for your guitars. The case offers a much smaller volume of air to concern yourself with. Keep the guitars in the case.
Step two is to use some kind of a guitar humidifier. Damp-it's suck for anything which does not have f-holes because the sponge is too small. I hate the Planet Waves humidifier with a passion, as it is such a hard plastic that it can (and does) damage the guitar and it is very difficult to fill. The one I recommend is the KYSER LIFEGUARD. The sponge is large enough to last a few days, it is a soft plastic that is not going to damage anything, it is easy to fill, and I really like the fact that is helps to lock the humidity into the sound hole where it is needed most.
Of course, the very nature of the Lifeguard means that, while it is great for the box of the guitar, it does not do much for the fingerboard or the rest of the neck. For this, you need a additional humidifier. You could buy another Lifeguard and just keep it in the case, but what I like is a soap dish humidifier. You make these yourself, and they are simple and cheap. You take a plastic travel soap dish, the kind with a cover, and you drill some holes in the top. Next, you cut a sponge to fit into the soap dish. Put the top on, and you are done. Put it in the case, usually up by the head stock. There are some good variations on this, of course. You could make it out of Tupperware. I have a customer who wraps his up in an old t-shirt to pad it a bit. Another guy uses Velcro to stick the soap dish to the case so it can't rattle around in there, which strikes me as a very good idea.
Whatever you do, make sure you take care of your guitars. Unless you live in a swamp, or you start pouring buckets of water into your guitar, you can NOT over-humidify. If you have a heater running in your house, do not worry about too much humidity. It can not happen. Just make sure you do SOMETHING, or you will be one of the many guys who come into a shop like mine, putting your guitar up on a counter, and saying, "I need you to take a look at my guitar."
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
