Humidifiers Can Be Dangerous!

Grinning Boy · #1 01-02-2018, 01:04 PM

Hello All,

Like a lot of places it's been brutally cold in the Chicago area. I have several guitars hanging in my small office at home.

I've been really proud of myself monitoring the humidity and refilling my room humidifier every day as needed, often 3 times per day. I set the humidity level at 40%.

Well today I discovered my old Gibson Custom Heritage guitar had met its match. I bought it in high school 45 years and have had it in every kind of environment possible. It was really in decent condition despite its long history. At some point over the past few days it suffered severe finish checking on the right side of the bout below the sound hole. See the pictures below. The top 1/2 was okay and the bottom was damaged as shown. All those checking lines are new!

I have the room humidifier on the same wall as the guitars. Apparently it must have been blowing up and at the Gibson. None of the other guitars were damaged.

I thought putting the humidifier in the room in a space near the guitars was a good idea. Stupid stupid me! I feel sick about it.

The only good thing is I would never think of trying to sell it as it's been part
of my life so long. However now I get to remember how dumb I am every time I look at it.

If anyone has their humidifier near their guitars, please move it today!!!

vindibona1 · #2 01-02-2018, 01:28 PM

Sorry for your predicament. You're right. Humidifiers throw a lot of water near where they sit. You have to rely on the room to distribute the moisture. You are lucky you didn't cause the belly to bulge which is another sign of over-humidification.

Yeah, Chicago is doing its Tundra immitation now. I've got two humidifiers running in my studio and I've barely cracked 31% with a space heater running. My other bedroom also has two humdifiers and is at 22%. All guitars but one Telecaster are cased with soundhole humidifiers and in a warm closet that has no air exchange vents. I'll take a few out of hibernation once I can maintain a RIH of more than 40%.

jazzguy · #3 01-02-2018, 01:35 PM

Can you share a bit more of exactly how and where you placed your guitar relative to the humidifier? For example, if you set your guitar on stand in front of the humidifier (with the humidity raining down on the guitar), the temperature humidity coming off of some humidifiers can be significantly lower - which can introduce checking. I suspect the checking is not humidity related per se, but temperature related. That is how checking typically happens, extreme changes in temperature changes.

Kip Carter · #4 01-02-2018, 01:44 PM

You know... with the history this guitar has for you and it’s age/value. I might well consider getting the top at least (don’t know if the sides and back are affected) stripped and refinished professionally.

You’re kicking yourself plenty hard but we are human and prone to error now and again.

This looks to me like something that is clearly correctable, and likely worth the expense given it’s sentimental value to you.

fazool · #5 01-02-2018, 01:45 PM

An evaporative humidifier will not directly cause that effect (I don't think). The humidity in the air will equalize in the air throughout the room and there is no water molecules to speak of - it's all water vapor (gas) so it's not going to "wet" the guitar.

This has been a bad spell of weather recently.

I suspect it's just coincidence and it was stressed and brittle and "snapped" finally.

I had a similar finish checking happen.

The good news is that it is totally fixable with a top refinishing. For a sentimentally important guitar you can totally get that done by any competent finisher.

Grinning Boy · #6 01-02-2018, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzguy

Can you share a bit more of exactly how and where you placed your guitar relative to the humidifier? For example, if you set your guitar on stand in front of the humidifier (with the humidity raining down on the guitar), the temperature humidity coming off of some humidifiers can be significantly lower - which can introduce checking. I suspect the checking is not humidity related per se, but temperature related. That is how checking typically happens, extreme changes in temperature changes.

You know Jazzguy you may be absolutely right. The guitar was hanging on the wall about 3 feet directly above the humidifier output. The room's temperature has been constant but the humidity is a fight. I've been refilling the humidifier with water filtered by a system we have in the house. The water vapor does feel quite chilled when you put your hand in it by the output. I was thinking the humidity in the water output did the damage but perhaps it was the temperature being a lot cooler in the outflow. None of the other guitars seem have the issue and I have now moved the humidifier across the room.

I have one new special guitar kept in a case in the room that I never take out of the case unless the temperature and humidity in the room are in the safe range. I've been so careful to keep them all safe. This little danger never occurred to me.

Grinning Boy · #7 01-02-2018, 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kip Carter

You know... with the history this guitar has for you and it’s age/value. I might well consider getting the top at least (don’t know if the sides and back are affected) stripped and refinished professionally.

You’re kicking yourself plenty hard but we are human and prone to error now and again.

This looks to me like something that is clearly correctable, and likely worth the expense given it’s sentimental value to you.

Thanks for these nice thoughts Kip. I think I my have to do just that. It only appears to be on the top.

I must confess about a year after I got the guitar (when I was maybe 17), I was playing it and the phone rang upstairs and I sprinted up the stairs holding the guitar and I fell on the stairs with the guitar. Much more stupid than today's error, but in the same ballpark! Nine months later it got the guitar back from Gibson with a new top!! I hadn't thought about that for a very long time until today.

Then maybe 10 years ago it had to have a neck reset which turned out wonderfully!

Perhaps I need to have it tuned up and topped out. I was thinking about putting a pick up in it anyway. It's never had one. It may be a good time to do so!

Grinning Boy · #8 01-02-2018, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazool

An evaporative humidifier will not directly cause that effect (I don't think). The humidity in the air will equalize in the air throughout the room and there is no water molecules to speak of - it's all water vapor (gas) so it's not going to "wet" the guitar.

This has been a bad spell of weather recently.

I suspect it's just coincidence and it was stressed and brittle and "snapped" finally.

I had a similar finish checking happen.

The good news is that it is totally fixable with a top refinishing. For a sentimentally important guitar you can totally get that done by any competent finisher.

Thanks Fazool. As jazzguy mentioned I'm now thinking the vapor temperature difference may have caused it. Like you say it may have been stressed and brittle already as it is 45 years old so the shock may have done it in.

I agree with you and Kip I should look into having it refinished.

Kh1967 · #9 01-02-2018, 02:14 PM

If you do decide to have it refinished, perhaps have a conversation with Marc Babin at Babin Guitars. He does excellent work, located in Hampshire, IL.

Sorry this happened to you. But, as has been stated, go easy on yourself. Here in Chicago, we are just lucky to still be alive!

Orfeas · #10 01-02-2018, 02:28 PM

Sorry about what happen. I can barely keep the house humidified with that -13F - -20F wind chill here in Chicago. Although, I have a central humidifier, after 27% indoor humidity the windows start to develop condensation. So, I dialed the setting way back at 26%. Way to cold outside to keep a guitar friendly environment without damaging the window frames. So I keep my OM in its case when done playing the last 10 days. I shut off the humidifier last night to see what will happen and went to 8% RH around midnight! Was really bad.

dnf777 · #11 01-02-2018, 02:38 PM

We're not as pristine as we used to be either--don't worry about it! We get wrinles and guitars get checking. With respect to those who feel differently, I would NEVER consider refinishing an old companion like that. Your sweat and tears are a part of that finish.

WiseAxe · #12 01-02-2018, 03:18 PM

... and I, too, would NEVER consider refinishing an old companion such as that one.

Embrace the finish checking... it might actually sound better.

Was the guitar hanging on an exterior wall?

Btw- is the model simply called a "Heritage"? I know that term is applied to the unique bridge design.

Wayben · #13 01-02-2018, 03:29 PM

Sorry to hear about your issues. I live in Iowa straight west of Chicago. I gave up on trying to keep the whole house at guitar friendly temps and humidity a while back. It is much easier to keep them in their cases and control humidity there. It is kind of inconvenient for use, but much easier to control.

Guildman · #14 01-02-2018, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayben

Sorry to hear about your issues. I live in Iowa straight west of Chicago. I gave up on trying to keep the whole house at guitar friendly temps and humidity a while back. It is much easier to keep them in their cases and control humidity there. It is kind of inconvenient for use, but much easier to control.

You beat me to the punch line. The one I want to play often stays in its case on the daybed with at least two latches secured. The others are nearby in cases as well.....year round. Sorry if this sounds a bit annul.

guitar george · #15 01-02-2018, 04:00 PM

I think that the finish cracks would be caused by under-humidification rather than over-humidification.

With your humidifier set at 40% RH and your guitar 3 feet from the outlet, it's very unlikely that over-humidification would cause this problem. I use a mist humidifier that is less than 3 feet from my guitars and have had no problems using it for many years. Sometimes, if I forget to set the timer, the humidity accidentally gets up to around 80% for a short period of time.

If your humidifier was continuously running, and it was set to shut off at 40%, that proves that the humidity in the room was less than 40% during that time. Do you have a hygrometer in the room to measure the humidity level? The indoor humidity is probably closer to 20%, or less, in a "brutally cold Chicago winter" and it might be difficult for one little humidifier to bring the level up to a safe level.