Unusual heat/humidity question

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
My house has two small (by USA standards) living rooms. One of which is my guitar/music room.

They both have hideous old fire places, neither of which has a fire anymore. But I'm thinking of sticking log burning stoves in them both. Should keep the whole house pretty warm, be carbon neutral and I'm thinking of trying to use them as generators too.

Anyway, what inherent risks are there having a guitars in rooms where there are real fires like that as opposed to normal radiators that work off gas fired central heating? Does it tend to make the air exceptionally warm and dry?

If it's a shit idea I'll just get the other living room done.
 
Room is a bloody mess at the moment and I rode my bike in there after checking the surf... but you get the idea

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Keep a pot of water on the stove you should be fine. Lack of humidity will split wood. This usually is only a threat to finer acoustics with thin solid wood construction although hollow-body electrics could have issues. I've also had maple necks move and frets sticking out a bit, tuner nuts getting loose, etc. Only extreme dry will do that. Less than 20% for an extended period. Keep the humidity as near to 40% as you can you'll be okay. Solid body electrics or plywood construction instruments are essentially immune.
 
I might take some measurements of humidity it that room and see what it actually is.
 
Greg_L said:
Score one for living in the heat and humidity of the US Gulf Coast.
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I don't think my Celtic skin would cope down there very well. I'm off to the Carribean this December, I'll have to take a few litres of sun-cream.
 
Lol. Well that won't do anything for humidity. I watch these types of discussions with a clueless fascination because protecting guitars from humidity fluctuations is not something that anyone down here thinks about as far as I can tell. Our weather is hot and humid 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months are just mild. We might get two weeks of legit near freezing cold, and even then it's still usually humid!
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. Well that won't do anything for humidity. I watch these types of discussions with a clueless fascination because protecting guitars from humidity fluctuations is not something that anyone down here thinks about as far as I can tell. Our weather is hot and humid 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months are just mild. We might get two weeks of legit near freezing cold, and even then it's still usually humid!
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Out summers are just kind of warm/mild. We don't get a baking hot dry heat and our winters on usually cold, damp and mild.. but we do get it frequently dropping below freezing at night and usually a 1 or 2 small snows every year.. snow on the beach is always weird.
 
A pot of water on or near by a fireplace is a standard practice for keeping things from getting too dry.

I have freinds that live in the mountains and they just go outside and get a pot of snow. No need to even waste water.
:D
 
Greg_L said:
Lol. Well that won't do anything for humidity. I watch these types of discussions with a clueless fascination because protecting guitars from humidity fluctuations is not something that anyone down here thinks about as far as I can tell. Our weather is hot and humid 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months are just mild. We might get two weeks of legit near freezing cold, and even then it's still usually humid!
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But you're guitars are usually in an air conditioned space. You're not actually seeing much humidity variation, are you? Maybe only when you transport them to a gig and back. Austin has much less humidity than you guys get, so I don't see much change in the house.

As for the fireplace, I would worry about temperature fluctuation as much as humidity. The room cools off while you're at work, then you get home and fire up the stove, then it cools down again when you go to sleep. I think there is a lot of temp changes going and that would make the wood move. What are you doing now for heat?
 
Burning wood is hardly carbon neutral! That smoke you see coming out of the chimney? The ashes you have to scoop out and throw away?

Get a hygrometer, or even 2 - keep one in the guitar case with your best solid wood guitar.
 
Chili said:
But you're guitars are usually in an air conditioned space. You're not actually seeing much humidity variation, are you? Maybe only when you transport them to a gig and back. Austin has much less humidity than you guys get, so I don't see much change in the house.

As for the fireplace, I would worry about temperature fluctuation as much as humidity. The room cools off while you're at work, then you get home and fire up the stove, then it cools down again when you go to sleep. I think there is a lot of temp changes going and that would make the wood move. What are you doing now for heat?
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You're right, my guitars stay in the AC unless I'm at practice or a gig. My band mates though keep their guitars on stands in a garage. They get hot, cool off, some humidity fluctuations in the winter, etc. Nothing happens to them. Maybe we just don't get quite cold or dry enough. Les Pauls don't seem to mind heat and humidity though.
 
Chili said:
But you're guitars are usually in an air conditioned space. You're not actually seeing much humidity variation, are you? Maybe only when you transport them to a gig and back. Austin has much less humidity than you guys get, so I don't see much change in the house.

As for the fireplace, I would worry about temperature fluctuation as much as humidity. The room cools off while you're at work, then you get home and fire up the stove, then it cools down again when you go to sleep. I think there is a lot of temp changes going and that would make the wood move. What are you doing now for heat?
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I do get a lot of temperature variation in my house, particularly in winter. It's bloody freezing in the morning and stuff. So if I'm gonna play and record I'll tune up, play a while as the guitar warms up, then tune again as it comes into equilibrium with the room.

Suppose it's just something you have to live with when you're somewhere cold.

Does this look like a reasonable enough piece of kit?

https://www.tester.co.uk/eti-810-13...capKMbpqpguFkNHFLAaGFBTBaFXFfCN5xkaAneB8P8HAQ
 
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JDOD said:
Why don't you think about that a little more. ;)
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Ok, burning is just returning the Carbon where it came from, I guess. Per the Forestry Commission: 'wood fuel is carbon lean, rather than carbon neutral as some carbon dioxide emissions are produced during transport and processing' - that guy splitting wood with an old gas engine splitter, the chain saws, the old tractors hauling the cut logs ...
 
Oh shit.
We need to pass a law banning forest and brush fires because it isn't carbon nuetral.

While we're at it, let's (in a humane manner) dispose of all the cows on the planet because of the methane.
 
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