Humidity questions

[rbrown]

Love reading stuff on this forum.  It's my fav.  I live a little north of San Diego, 1/4 mile from the beach.  I own an L-10, a Taylor 2006 Fall Limited Edition 714-ce and a Special Edition Larry Bearclaw Spruce and Walnut parlour.  They stay in their cases except when being played (as much as possible).  I have Planet Waves humidity sensors in all cases.  I have had the L-10 for almost a full year.  Over that time the sensor has read between 42% and 57%.

Question 1:  Is that a safe range assuming this year was essentially normal or do I need to keep the range tighter?

Question 2:  IF I need to take action I would most likely put a slightly damp sponge in a soap box with a few holes and put it under the headstock for a day or two.  Does that sound appropriate?

It's Friday night here. instead of donuts I will send you people  .  I think we need a pretzel or peanut guy to complete the "happy hour".

 

[jeremy3220]

Yeh that's a safe range. You haven't seen any adverse effects have you?
If it stayed around 55% or more for very long I would try to leave it out of the case. Moving air can dry a guitar, so if the humidity is high being out of the case may help.

[PortHueneme]

My guitar tech told me that guitars living at the beach are prone to drying out.
While our humidity ( I too am near the water) can be in the safe range, the salt may keep the humidity from being soaked in by the wood.
He told me to keep my cases humidified, I monitor them regularly.
My biggest and best indication everything is good is the way they stay in tune.
I am always amazed how I usually only need a minor tweek to one or two strings.
Even my 12 string stays in tune, there are lots of times I take it out of the case, check it on the tuner and start playing without touching a tuner.

The ukulele with new strings is flat everytime I touch it (I hate new stretchy strings).

[rbrown]

I certainly have not seen any adverse effects.  All of my guitars were made right here in So. California. Does that make a difference?  I rarely have to tune them when they come out of the case.  I am going to open all of the cases today and air them out.  I do have case covers on all.  Does that retain the moisture more than just the HSC?

I really appreciate the advice.

Russ

It's Saturday, mid-day now SO here's coffee and donuts.   

[imwjl]

Sounds about right for me. I've always aimed at keeping them (guitars) in the 40-50% range and have to fight for moisture in winter and keeping things dry in summer. I use commercial (Damp It, Planet Waves) units and to save $ make up units with sponge in a bag or soap dish. Our house has a whole house humidifier and the basement as de-humidifier that's on regardless of air conditioning.

Good luck!

[Steve]

We could use this subject in our Tech FAQ.  We need some posts with links, info, pictures, etc. concerning humidity issues.  Seems like there are about a thousand posts on this subject when I searched it.

[jeremy3220]

Here's what Larrivee has to say(now includes pics).
http://www.larrivee.com/flash/features/education/humidity/humidity.html

Taylor's
 "Symptoms of a Dry Guitar"
http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/dry_guitar.pdf

"Using a Guitar Humidifier"
http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/guitar_humidifier.pdf

Santa Cruz Guitar Company
http://www.santacruzguitar.com/care/index.html

[Steve]

Updated link to Larrivee's page on humidity.

The Importance of Humidity

 

[jeremy3220]

The previous Larrivee link has changed:
http://www.larrivee.com/5_features/educationEssays/humidityWood_essay.html

[Steve]

More good information on humidity issues.

http://www.bryankimsey.com/problems/index.htm

Homemade humidifiers.

http://www.bryankimsey.com/humdifier/index.htm

[Paresh]

not sure if anyone is followint this thread any more??

I live close enough to hear the surf. The weather said humidity was 75% yesterday. I'm concerned about mildew as I had a guitar ruined by mildew/mold. And I'm hearing to keep the guitar out of the case but what about inside the case with a device (I forget what they are called) to absorb moisture? Also what about when the heat goes on & off, even though it is humid outside - does that correct some of the excess? Thanks.

[jeremy3220]

not sure if anyone is followint this thread any more??

I live close enough to hear the surf. The weather said humidity was 75% yesterday. I'm concerned about mildew as I had a guitar ruined by mildew/mold. And I'm hearing to keep the guitar out of the case but what about inside the case with a device (I forget what they are called) to absorb moisture? Also what about when the heat goes on & off, even though it is humid outside - does that correct some of the excess? Thanks.

Yes you can use something inside the case to dehumidify it and the guitar if you want. This would probably be better than leaving it out of the case as long as you monitor the humidity in the case. I think they still make a product called Zorb-It that does this.

The main step in controlling humidity in your guitar's environment is buying a hygrometer.

There are lots of people who take steps to humidify or dehumidify their guitar but they don't know what the relative humidity is where they keep it. Both the heat and AC will remove moisture from the air and alter the relative humidity.

[Paresh]

Good advice - thanks Jeremy.

[Dale_I]

Someone a while back posted a sender gadget that you put in your case that transmitted a signal to a remote display. Definitely overkill, but... "there ain't no kill, like overkill"

[bluesman67]

Definitely sounds like a safe range, going outside the recommended range a few degrees won't damage the guitar, it may cause intonnation to be off or slighly lower or higher action, but we pretty much all deal with that through seasonal changes.  I lived on Cape Cod for 10 years and never needed to use a humidifier.  Between the central AC in the summer and the forced hot air heat in the winter, it always balanced the usually very high humidity of the area.  The filters in your home heat/ac system would trap any salt content in the air, but if your house is open a lot to the outside, I would think simply keeping the guitars in their cases will help with any "salt affect".

[Richard III]

FWIW:
I live in NYC and have steam heat in the winter--too dry  and lots of humidity in the summer.
 I follow Martin guitar guidlines on humidity: 45 to 55%.
Have a hygrometer in each case.
Use the soapbox/sponge trick plus fine tune with oais humidifiers for about 7--8 months of the year.
Don't do anything in the summer except leave the guitars out once in a while on a stand.

Two things always tipped me off about humiditybeing too low: 1) The guitar won't stay in tune in the case and 2) I can feel the ends of the frets when I slide my hand up the guitar neck.
I don't think I've ever had a problem with too much humidity so don't know what the test is for a guitar that has too much moisture in the wood.  What would that be?

[Mr_LV19E]

I don't think I've ever had a problem with too much humidity so don't know what the test is for a guitar that has too much moisture in the wood.  What would that be?

Besides the action being higher the sound is deader, it just sounds kind of muffed.