Diagnose: Tube amp crackly sound

[Greg_L]

I would say yes...more humid is much better than more drier.
Not talking about dripping wet humidity...but like, if you had constant 60% humidity...it would be better for the wood than constant 20% humidity.

I think the wood will absorb what it can up to a point...and that's it...it's not just going to keep getting wetter and wetter...but when it goes dry and stays dry too long, the moisture in the wood keeps getting sucked out more and more, and you'll get to a point where it will start to crack from the dryness.

So I think the Brian's problem may actually have been too little humidity....which could add to do that dry/crackly tone he was getting.

My studio tends to stay pretty stable, or if it changes, it does so very slowly. In the dead of winter, the humidity doesn't get below 30%...and in the hottest summer months when it's rainy...I may see it get into the high 50's.
Since moved here...I've never had to keep resetting my guitars from season to season.

My first real taste of very low humidity was a few years ago in Arizona, and honest to god, I felt like I was shriveling up from the inside. Lol. I've traveled a fair bit, but I've spent my entire life living about an hour from the gulf of mexico. New Orleans to Houston is about a whopping 50 foot swing in elevation from seal level. Go going to the mountains or extremely cold and/or dry climates is pretty sucky for a warm weather, high pressure, high humidity guy like me. So I can see why a guitar would hate it too. My house has central A/C and heating so it stays around 72-75 all year long and I have no idea what the humidity is, but it's comfortable and I have no guitar problems.

When I was racing, we loved being at sea level when a cold front would come through. I'm talking gulf coast coldfronts where it'll drop to the 40s or 50s. No snow or ice. That's a joke for you northern guys, but for us it's cold. High atmospheric pressure with cold, dry air is instant free horsepower.

 

[Armistice]

Happy to send you a few buckets... never a problem here.

Might be more expensive to get all your guitars re-set than fixing an amp. Good you got it sorted.

 

[miroslav]

I'm talking gulf coast coldfronts where it'll drop to the 40s or 50s. No snow or ice. That's a joke for you northern guys, but for us it's cold. High atmospheric pressure with cold, dry air is instant free horsepower.

My mother living in Florida during the winter (right on the Gulf Coast -- Gulfport/St. Pete's) will occasionally complain about it getting cold.
I ask her how cold is it...?...and she'll say 50s...and I just start to laugh, 'cuz that's almost T-shirt weather up here when it happens in the winter months.
But then...older people in Florida are cold when it drops below 70.

This year has been very mild up here...but it's been pretty dry, is it often is with cold temps...and Brian is in Connecticut, right next door, so I really do think his guitar problem may be due to dryness not humidity.
My advice...get a decent quality hygrometer, they're not expensive...and keep it in the room where the guitars are located. That way even if you run a humidifier, you can check the humidity...since the one humidifier may not be enough to keep the guitars happy, and you may need a second one in that room.
If you can keep the humidity from falling below 30% or going above 60% for longer periods... the guitars should not need too much readjustment in the future.

 

[pikingrin]

This year has been very mild up here...but it's been pretty dry, is it often is with cold temps...and Brian is in Connecticut, right next door, so I really do think his guitar problem may be due to dryness not humidity.
My advice...get a decent quality hygrometer, they're not expensive...and keep it in the room where the guitars are located. That way even if you run a humidifier, you can check the humidity...since the one humidifier may not be enough to keep the guitars happy, and you may need a second one in that room.
If you can keep the humidity from falling below 30% or going above 60% for longer periods... the guitars should not need too much readjustment in the future.

After moving from Houston to Indiana (we still get a fair bit of humidity from the gulf stream) this is my +1 to Miro's post. Living in hot-n-humid Houston, no issues. As soon as the winter of 2013 hit up here, a few of my guitars started shredding my hands. The fret ends crept out as the rosewood boards shrunk up a little with the lack of humidity and it sucked big time. Got my first hygrometer, a cheapo Lowe's special, and got it sorted. A humidifier (with distilled water, you DON'T want that white film everywhere) and a coat of lemon oil on the rosewood boards as soon as the relative humidity in the room got to around 35% for the season seemed to help. As far as a setup or trussrod adjustment, never had to do it but that one year without the humidifier in '13. There are 3 hygrometers in my music room permanently now, they always read differently but they always give an idea of the average humidity in the room.

 

[miroslav]

A humidifier (with distilled water, you DON'T want that white film everywhere) ...

Yeah...if you use those ultrasonic humidifiers.
I go with the ones that heat the water with a hot coil element. They can get crusty with tap water, since all that lime clings to the heat element and the sides of the container....but none of the white powder in the air. I run two of them, and they each steam out a gallon of water per 24/hrs.

 

[Armistice]

What a strange country you all live in....

 

[JDOD]

What a strange country you all live in....

I've never felt the need for humidifiers or anything either (although I did run a dehumidifier once 'cos I was living in a shitty damp flat) but then I tend to have wet mild winters and warm but not hot summers.

 

[Greg_L]

What a strange country you all live in....

You ass-backwards roo-riders have christmas in the summer time, so STFU.

 

[Treeline]

You ass-backwards roo-riders have christmas in the summer time, so STFU.

Pfffftttt! Had to put my coffee down after that.

In Vermont the low humidity in the winter months is a real problem. I've seen it drop to 10% relative humidity. Not only do we feel it, but my skin will crack and bleed from the dryness. It can literally destroy a guitar top by causing it to shrink so much a stress crack develops. So humidifiers are necessary if there are instruments in the house.

When you buy a new acoustic piano, more than likely you'll be steered towards a humidifier/dehumindifier unit to install on the soundboard. We have a Kawai grand piano. Underneath is a pan, a bit like two or three bread baking pans in a row. That has to be kept 2/3 full of water. It has some large wicks, a bit like cold water humidifiers do. The wicks pull up water vapor to the underside of the soundboard constantly. So the soundboard is always bathed in a relatively high moisture water vapor.

Three heating elements inside tubes about the size of a mic stand are mounted to the frame under the soundboard. These are wired to a small box containing a humistat, which will sense the relative humidity by the soundboard and if it hits a high limit, the box will turn on the heating elements which dry out and disperse the water vapor. Once you plug the system in, you watch for a low water indicator light and feed it when needed. Otherwise it just stays on. Ours has been working nonstop for about 15 years. The piano has been without any quirks at all since we bought it.

I keep a dampit humidifier in my guitar case. Even a moist sponge in a plastic soap box - 99 cents worth of effort - will make a big difference.

 

[JDOD]

I hadn't even considered humidity affecting my guitars when I was trying to get rid of the damp in my old flat. In hindsight its probably why my cheap old bass ended up like a banana. Didn't affect my Ibanez at all though.

 

[pikingrin]

Yeah...if you use those ultrasonic humidifiers.
I go with the ones that heat the water with a hot coil element. They can get crusty with tap water, since all that lime clings to the heat element and the sides of the container....but none of the white powder in the air. I run two of them, and they each steam out a gallon of water per 24/hrs.

Maybe it's just the hard water I have here; I got the white film from tap water and I'm running the kind with the heating elements, too. After about 2 days I had to clean off all the tops of my amps, my monitors, etc, and there was a ton of mineral buildup on the element. Distilled water eliminated both of those issues; maybe I just need to service my water softener...

 

[mjbphotos]

I run the whole house humidifier (evaporative style - low speed fans pushing air past saturated filters) at 40%, and put homemade humidifiers in all guitar cases - plastic soap carriers with a bunch of small holes drilled in them, with a cellulose sponge - soaked and then rung out so its not dripping - up in the neck/headstock area. My acoustics also have Planet Waves soundhole sponge holders in them. Have to check the soundhole sponges and refill them every few days. The soapdish ones will last a week or more. I keep a hydrometer in the room with the guitars for reference, and another one in my Taylor case (only acoustic that really needs to be babied).
A lot of people don't think of humidifying electrics, but if you feel the fret ends popping out of the neck all of a sudden, its a good sign the neck/fingerboard has dried out.

 

[JDOD]

A lot of people don't think of humidifying electrics, but if you feel the fret ends popping out of the neck all of a sudden, its a good sign the neck/fingerboard has dried out.

I've noticed this on one of my electrics - not much - just a slight roughness. Dunno if its anything to do with humidity though, might just be that my guitars are shit.

 

[mjbphotos]

I've noticed this on one of my electrics - not much - just a slight roughness. Dunno if its anything to do with humidity though, might just be that my guitars are shit.

If its a change from how they feel normally, then most likely its humidity causing it.

 

[JDOD]

Is it reversible? I've not noticed it on my ibanez, but I have noticed it on my Washburn.

 

[Mickster]

Welp, all I can tell you is I had setups done on these guitars in early December as the weather turned colder for the winter, so they were perfect. Then by February I was having major issues, and last night after adjusting the truss rod (adding relief to the neck) the problem was significantly resolved. It had to be either too much humidity or not enough. Who knows. In any regard, I'm feeling much better playing.

Not to be pointed here.........but recognizing fret buzz should not have been so perplexing. IMO only.

 

[Brian Miller]

Not to be pointed here.........but recognizing fret buzz should not have been so perplexing. IMO only.

Did you hear the clips? All the members here and nobody even suggested it might be fret buzz. It was way beyond what fret buzz typically sounds like. The neck was practically bent backwards. Much more drastic than we usually encounter. I've been playing guitar for 15 years. I'm familiar with fret buzz. If you heard the sound in those clips, and plugged in three more guitars and heard the exact same sound, your first assumption probably wouldn't be that every one of your guitars has the exact same drastic truss rod problem (on guitars that were set up months earlier).

Out of curiosity, what do you get out of making that comment? Do you feel better about yourself or superior to me, or others, by claiming that it "should not have been so perplexing?" That comment doesn't contribute to the conversation in any meaningful way.

 

[miroslav]

Did you hear the clips? All the members here and nobody even suggested it might be fret buzz.

Not trying to stir anything up...but after you said it was the guitars, I did say on the previous page that fret buzz would be pretty noticeable even without plunging in the guitars, if that's what it was, and now you say the necks were practically bent backwards....mmmm...I guess I too am kinda surprised you didn't feel that as soon as you hit the first string.

It's got nothing to do with making you feel inferior...it's just commenting that necks bent that much are usually pretty obvious.
Don't get upset about it. At least you solved the problem.

 

[Greg_L]

Did you hear the clips? All the members here and nobody even suggested it might be fret buzz. It was way beyond what fret buzz typically sounds like. The neck was practically bent backwards. Much more drastic than we usually encounter. I've been playing guitar for 15 years. I'm familiar with fret buzz. If you heard the sound in those clips, and plugged in three more guitars and heard the exact same sound, your first assumption probably wouldn't be that every one of your guitars has the exact same drastic truss rod problem (on guitars that were set up months earlier).

Out of curiosity, what do you get out of making that comment? Do you feel better about yourself or superior to me, or others, by claiming that it "should not have been so perplexing?" That comment doesn't contribute to the conversation in any meaningful way.

Relax dude. My first thought was "this guy has no idea how to dial in or record an amp", so not noticing fret buzz maybe doesn't seem so bad?

 

[Chili]

I listened to the clips and I didn't hear any fret buzz. I think it would have been difficult to figure out the problem. Just out of curiosity, does the guitar have a plastic pickguard? I find my Chinese-tele will pick up static on the pickguard as I'm playing when it's dry. (I'm only a couple of hours away from Greg, but we're a lot drier here, most times). I heard fenders will have the same static problem.