Acoustic Without Strings...How Long Can it Sit?

After posting this question I did a Google search and found that many collectors remove the strings or detune them when they are for display. Since collectors have very high end guitars you would think if there was a problem with removing strings they'd be the first to leave them on...

Thanks everyone for your input!That's a point - isn't the recomended practice for shipping a guitar to remove the strings, or at least remove the tension from them? Is that recalled correctly? Is it necessary?

It's all starting to sound a bit like shaking polaroids while they're developing - that does nothing as it's not an air reaction that develops the picture, but you try telling that to Joe Public :)

musus,

Did you put lighter strings on?

Yea. Alot lighter come to think of it. Why?

chuckster: You said something about frets popping out. Well when I took my guitar to the store they told me that the frets had shifted outwards and that the entire guitar needed re-fretting. They said it was probably from the sudden drop in temperature when winter came in. But that doesn't explain why it happened right after I changed strings.

musus,

Did you put lighter strings on?

Yea. Alot lighter come to think of it. Why?

chuckster: You said something about frets popping out. Well when I took my guitar to the store they told me that the frets had shifted outwards and that the entire guitar needed re-fretting. They said it was probably from the sudden drop in temperature when winter came in. But that doesn't explain why it happened right after I changed strings.Changing to a lighter string gauge means there was much less tension on the neck from the strings, so it would be bowed outwards more than with the previous gauge strings. That means a lower action than previously in some places and that's far more likely to be the cause of your fret buzz. The good news is you should be able to get the balance right again between the truss rod and the strings by loosening the truss rod.

After posting this question I did a Google search and found that many collectors remove the strings or detune them when they are for display. Since collectors have very high end guitars you would think if there was a problem with removing strings they'd be the first to leave them on...

Thanks everyone for your input!

and for long term storage or disuse I always detune a bit.

dont be freaked out. take them off and put them on. what does that take/ a few minutes.
guitars will be fine..

chuckster: You said something about frets popping out. Well when I took my guitar to the store they told me that the frets had shifted outwards and that the entire guitar needed re-fretting. They said it was probably from the sudden drop in temperature when winter came in. But that doesn't explain why it happened right after I changed strings.

I was paraphrasing the magazine article I read about it in. The actual wordage is as follows:

...you're probably aware that the general 'straightness of a guitar neck is a question of balance between string tension pulling the neck forward on the one hand and the stiffness of the wood, aided by the truss rod, pulling it back on the other. On some guitars, especially those with thinner necks, this balance can be a little 'hair trigger' and so taking all of the strings off at once can cause problems and show up any minor defects in manufacture. I've known frets pop up from their bedding in the fretboard after an 'all off' string change...

As I said in my original post, and Greybeard confirmed in his informative reply, this did seem like an extreme case and may only be anecdotal anyway. As for what happened in your case may be someone here has had a similar experience or can shed some light on it. It does seem strange though.

I agree with gnease and greybeard. Removal of strings all at once should have no effect on the neck. I always remove all strings, because I find it easier to do, and it allows me to clean the guitar easier.
Older acoustic guitars are less likely to experience ill effects due to humidity than newer ones

I disagree with this statement. A guitar will, after a few days achieve a ballance with the humidity level. The age of the guitar should not make any difference. Solid vs laminate will make a difference however. Laminate is much more stable, it will not expand or contract as much, making cracks a lot less likely. Solid guitars are usually a lot more expensive, which is where "expensive guitars are more prone to humidity damage" comes from.

Max,
older wood becomes more stable, which is why people pay obscene amounts for good quality wood that has been naturally matured for 50 years or more.

I have to respectfully disagree greybeard. IMHO Older trees especially old growth, have more stable wood, but in a general sense I believe rapid changes in humidity effect old guitars as much as a new ones.

I am always searching on ebay for quality guitars, and if you do the same, you will notice that many of the older guitars have cracks. Basically I beleive many 50 year old guitars would have likely experienced rapid changes in humidity a couple of times in their lives, which resulted splitting of the wood.

Max,
we've been talking about necks, not tops. Thin slices are very much more prone to change than heavy lumps, like necks, even in mature wood. Kiln dry an old tree and the wood will be better than young kiln dried wood, but not as good as a properly matured old tree.
New wood or old, rapid change of humidity and temperature are still mistreating your guitar.

I have guitars that have been hanging or leaning against the walls for years. On the wall is one Ovation doesn't have any strings and one Gibson is missing two, a couple electric's leaned one only has 1 string on it and the other one has three.. I just took a look at them and they seem just fine. I would be a bit careful if I decided to completely restring them back at first, other than that they will probably be left just like they are for years to come. Now I'm not saying somethng may not happen, I'm only talking about the ones I have here.

joe

I expected my response to generate a bit of a reaction, but it wasn't meant as a troll. There are quite a number of persons on this site who are experience engineers or very experienced with guitars -- some both. Some of us even build guitars. A couple of those persons have guided this discussion in the correct direction, and hopefully helped some others understand that removing strings in itself does not harm a reasonable healthy acoustic guitar. There are cases where an "unhealthy" guitar or an inexperienced owner may have difficulties, but this is collateral to removing the strings. Examples: If the frets are loose and compression caused by relief in the neck is the only thing holding them in, then removing the strings may reveal this condition -- and this should be repaired, as string tension is not supposed to hold in frets. If one removes all the strings and the floating bridge falls off, the problem is user inexperience. The guitar is designed that way. If one replaces ones strings with a lower gauge -- one at a time or all together, chances are it will buzz. Unfortunately, it is easy for many to confuse cause and effect when experience is limited.

In answering the question, it's important to consider Mike's situation and what we know of Mike's experience with guitars. No mysteries here, as he explained the circumstances and from this question and other posts, we can assess his experience level. So the answer is an easily given: "No problem." Are there any guitars where I would hesistate to remove all the strings at once. Yes. If you hand me a 100 y.o. guitar whose strings have been on at tension an indeterminate amount of time, I will not pull all the strings. The reason is simple: I cannot assume this is a "healthy" guitar. It's woods may be damaged, glues questionable, and the strings might very well be holding the guitar in a consistently strained shape that allows its marginal glues to keep it together. Release the stress, the strain changes and "pop"goes something. But neither Mike nor any of the rest of us are really dealing with this are we?

As for believing that the tension of strings is important to balance the forces on the neck and keep it from warping: If this were true, playing would warp neck, especially if one doesn't balance one's playing and insists on doing a lot of loud bass runs or higher string double stops or pulling and percussive playing. The engineers or physicists can run this force analysis: Much does the tension of a string increase given X amount of lateral (sideways) force on that string (strumming or pulling). The answer is a "lot." And yet, necks and whole guitar hold up to this abuse.

Enough ...

Max,
we've been talking about necks, not tops. Thin slices are very much more prone to change than heavy lumps, like necks, even in mature wood.

True,

I got off topic a little.