Do any of you guys "Not" worry about humidity on your guitars?

[jaymarsch]

I live in Northern California which is a pretty guitar-friendly environment most of the year. I have hygrometers and monitor the humidity but really do not have to worry about it. I know what measures to take if I should travel to extreme dry or humid conditions with my guitars.

Best,
Jayne

[Rev Roy]

I don’t really “worry” about it because I monitor RH during heating season and do the little things necessary so my guitars stay safely in the 40% RH range. Just run a room humidifier occasionally and keep Humidipaks in the cases. Problem solved. Nothing to worry about.

[printer2]

No, if they crack they crack. Some are cracked and they will get repaired in spring.

[redir]

I don't worry about humidity at all. It's the lack of it hat concerns me most.

[Rogee]

Living in Belgium (same climat as UK) I store my 4 Martins in guitar cases and humidity varies from 38% to 60%. No humidifiers and in my 35 years of playing never had any problem.

[rmgjsps]

Originally Posted by bsman

I'm fortunate, in that where I live (Silicon Valley) has a climate in which relative humidity does not swing wildly. Plus, since during the winter we generally only have the heat on for a few hours a day, the inside humidity isn't an issue. I've gotten pretty lazy about this and never humidify, but if we move, it's definitely something I will have to take into consideration!

I'm in San Francisco. Use my heat (forced air) a lot. Humidity has never dropped below 35% and rarely goes above 65%. I don't worry very much, but then, I don't own very expensive guitars. OK, a new Lakewood of the same model I have is pretty high-end at about $2200. But, as that great sage, Alfred E. Newman, said: "What? Me Worry!"

[jed1894]

Ive got about 15 out of cases around house in stands right now. Humidity has been from 15 to 75 or so last few months.

Im in the crowd who doesn't care about humidity. I wish one would crack so I would become a believer.

[jaybones]

Don't have to, since the HVAC system here had a whole house humidifier.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by jed1894

Ive got about 15 out of cases around house in stands right now. Humidity has been from 15 to 75 or so last few months.

Im in the crowd who doesn't care about humidity. I wish one would crack so I would become a believer.

I could send one over.

[menhir]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Worry? No.
Monitor and regulate? Yup.

This pretty much sums it up for me, too.

I learned the hard way after I nearly lost a favorite guitar.
I've been careful ever since.


It's not just for the guitars. My fine old wooden furniture benefits, too.

[Don Lampson]

Originally Posted by jseth

Generally, I don't have a lot of concern for the humidity levels... I can hear when my guitars are either wetter or drier...

I live in central/western Oregon, so low humidity rarely kicks in... and the normal humidity is between 50% and 70%.

Now, I have lived in areas where I had to humidify my guitar - Vermont, in the winter, with only wood heat...

A great litmus test is, if YOU feel dry, then your guitar does too... so if my skin starts drying out and cracking, I pull out the soundhole humidifier and moisten the little plastic dishes w/ sponge up at the headstock.

Most of the time, my guitars are all out in the room of my little home, where I can get my hands on them at any time.

My guitars are all hand-made, from 1979, 1983 and 2011, respectively. I am a professional guitarist/singer/songwriter. I am NOT a wealthy person, so keeping my equipment, tools (and the objects of my extreme affection!) in great working order is paramount.

Until I came to this site, nearly 10 years ago, I NEVER knew nor cared what the %rh was. Many folks on this site are "overly concerned" with all the minutia of their guitars, and humidity levels are right up there at the top of the list.

If you truly don't wish to "deal" with any sort of humidity concerns, then it seems your options are, a) get cheap guitars that are "expendable", or b) get a carbon-fiber guitar...

You don't have to be obsessed with the humidity levels to actually take good care of a fine instrument... a modicum of sense and diligence will do the trick.

Mega dittoes from Santa Margarita! Until I got around guitar dweebs, I'd never considered humidity as a factor in the well being of guitars... My 1975 Taylor traveled everywhere with me for 30 years. It stayed in my trunk from 30 to 90 degrees, and went from below sea level @ 80 in Palm Springs, to 25, @ around 7K in Idylwild, CA, the same afternoon. I've hung my boxes on the wall in a room with wood heat, and never had a problem... (knock on wood!)

The only thing I noticed, was the sound doing outside gigs when the fog rolled in... My guitar sounded dead as a beaver hat within an hour! However, it's always dried good as ever soon afterwards... Maybe I'm just that lucky, and shouldn't be bragging about my good fortune?

I'm sure there must be something to "correct humidity", but am skeptical of it's importance - If the guitar was built correctly to begin with? It seems mostly used here as a subject of questionable authority, or as perhaps a self shaming mechanism for non-believers who don't take proper care of their guitars - But, ought to!

Don

[jrb715]

I never worried at all in Southern California until a Collings OM started buzzing (not fret buzz) and was quickly diagnosed as being under humidified. Four to six weeks with sound hole humidifier (simple sponge in plastic) and it restored to normal. But lesson learned. Now I am less cavalier, but never obsessive. The guitars go back in cases at night with sound hole humidifiers. I fill them sort of every other night--though forget often enough. I check periodically with, probably, a fairly inaccurate--but probably accurate enough--in case hygrometer. If I go out of town I just fill the humidifiers the night before I leave and throw the guitars in cases in closets.

I'm not going to try to control either the house or room humidity. The sound hole humidifiers seem to work well enough.

Were I you, I'd put a sound hole humidifier in that Collings and put the baby to bed at night in its case.

[Shuksan]

Where you live is a big part of it. No worries here in western Washington as long as you don't do something stupid like habitually leave a guitar in direct sun coming through a window (not that we see that a lot around here), right next to a furnace vent, or in a hot car. One of my acoustic guitars hasn't seen the inside of a case over the past 17 years and has had no problems. Several others have been sitting out for years at a time for easy access with no problems.

The classical guitar I've had since 1968 has never been kept in a case. Most of its life has been in the Northwest, but it was in Tucson for six years with extremely low humidity all year and extreme swings to high humidity and back again on a daily basis during the monsoon season, and for another seven years in Michigan with very low humidity for much of each of the winters. No issues at all.

That said, if I lived in a place like AZ or MI again and had a nice expensive guitar, I would take reasonable precautions.