Humidity question?

if you are suffering as you said from dryness just imagine what your guitar is going through.

if you get nose bleed then your house is too dry in the winter.
get a room humidifier and your guitar and you will be in better shape.

too dry too wet isnt good for instruments. I leave mine in cases when not being played;it holds off the extreme and abrupt changes that can wreak the finish.

I had used an incase humidifier, but was nervous of moisture too close to my Martin.
I settled for a room humidifier; Im happy, my plants are happy, and my instruments look and sound happy.

Get a fish tank and store your guitars in the same room with it!!

Greetings from up the hill (prescott)-
As you know Mani, it gets pretty dry here and untill the rains come in mid summer I always put the guitars and fiddles in their own case with a humidifier. I have seen a fair share of damage to otherwise fine instruments from this desert we call home. Its just too cheap and easy not to. Truth is I just use a houehold sponge and a ziplock baggie with holes in it for the guitars and for the fiddles I use a small tin with a few holes. No problems in over 25 years.

where i come from there is a lot of trees and it is humid a h***.....i havent had any problems yet

Optimum humidity is 50% I believe. I would get a humidity gauge and a Texas humidifier (Aquarium). House plants of the tropical variety are nice to, especially spider plants. :)

The guitar is made of different kinds of wood: spruce or cedar for the sound board Indian or Brazilian rosewood , cypress or mahogany for the back and sides, ebony for the fret board, and Spanish cedar or mahogany for the neck. These woods are sensitive to changes in humidity and will expand or contract according to how much humidity is in the air around them.

The ideal humidity for wood instruments is between 40 and 70 percent. Above 70 percent the instrument usually begins to lose its brilliance of tone. Below 35 percent a guitar runs the risk of the body cracking and the neck warping. This is the more serious menace and occurs mostly during the cold winter months in temperate climates and in arid regions.A good indicator of whether or not your guitar is in need of additional humidity is the fret board. If the ends of the frets stick out it means the ebony has become too dry and has contracted You can assume that the other woods have also shrunk and could crack under the stress.

There are a number of effective humidifying devices available to counteract this danger: The Dampit, the Kyser system, and the D'Addario system all provide a humid atmosphere inside the guitar body When using them it is important that you leave them inside the closed case when you take out the guitar to play it otherwise the case will become too dry.

A method of providing humidity to the neck and fret board is with a plastic traveling soap dish with a damp spong inside and holes punched in the lid. If humidity is properly maintained your guitar should never suffer cracking or warping.

Is that acoustic or electric?

If I leave mine out here in VA during the winter over time they will develop fret buzz. Re humidify and they are fine. However that kind of dry then wet then dry again cycle is bad for the guitar.

I guess I havnt had any ill effects yet because the one old guitar I have is so heavily finished i dont think humidity even matters for it hehe. What kind of humidifier would you recomend for an electric? Since I cant really put anything In it like an accoustic.

Hello,

A customer of mine referred me to this thread. He apparently has been using my invention (The Puck) for his acoustic guitar storage to regulate the relative humidity while in the case.

The Puck was originally invented to PRECISELY regulate relative humidity by both absorbing and releasing water vapor without chemicals or solutions. It's simple to use (simply add a tiny amount of distilled water) and most importantly, will precisely regulate relative humidity within in a closed container and lasts a LIFETIME.

I checked out the Larrivee link that another member here provided in another thread, great info!
http://www.larrivee.com/flash/features/education/humidity/humidity.html

Hope this helps

--
Mark Neff
Proprietor - Cigarmony LLC
Cigar Accessories & Apparel
http://www.Cigarmony.com
[email protected]

Inventor - The Puckâ„¢
Precision Humidity Control Made Simple
http://www.GetThePuck.com
[email protected]

good post finale.
Ive seen sopmethingvery similar in very high end (500$) guitar cases.

as for electric guitar humidication a room humidifer would suffice. especially if the guitar is stored in a case.

The only problem with existing devices is that they only humidify, they don't do anything to regulate RH (which is why I invented The Puck to begin with). The media engineered for the The Puck both absorbs and releases water vapor to precisely maintain an predetermined RH level (60%, 65% or 70% whichever you choose).

Hope this helps
~Mark

I lived in Syracuse for a couple years. During a dry winter three years ago my Taylor 410CE shrunk at 20% RH enought to crack all the way down the backside. With exotic woods like the one my guitar was made out, you need to watch the humidity very carefully. At that time i also noticed that my electric guitars were getting out of wack.

Sure you can get a fish tank or put plants in your room. You could get a fancy smancy guitar humidifing system, but I found it was just easier to get a digital room humidifier/dehumidifier that regulates an entire room within +- 2% of your set RH. That way all your instruments and equipment benefit (and no dry skin!). For travel you might want something cheap for your case. But i would avoid leaving sponge-type humidifiers in a closed case too long if its not needed, usless you like mold of course.