What I needed to hear about humidity

[Ricky Nelson]

This topic is from another post but for me it was so significant I wanted to re-post it.

Taylor says here it takes weeks or months of high humidity to do any significant damage.
https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/...aWetGuitar.pdf

That addresses my concerns directly.

So my lake side stays, my campground playing, a gig at the beach are not going to make that expensive guitar I’m thinking about bloat and blow apart, nor is it critically bad for it short term. Whew.

Might be silly, but it puts my mind to ease, even though my old pal Gibson has survived decades of my treatment, and my Martin is fine. For me, I'm thinking about investing mo money in something, and I want to be able to play it and not be all freaked out about the environment I’m playing it in.

I know, take it all with a grain of salt, but if I own it I gotta play it, and that's really good to hear.

Thanks to Sage97 for the Taylor pdf, and thanks to Theleman for the original post.

RNF

[baimo]

The temperatures in the northeast have dropped quickly over the past 2 weeks. With the heat on at my house I have gone from 45-50% humidity that we enjoy all summer to 25-35% currently.
I do not play Taylor guitars but Bob recommended using humidipaks. They are a little pricey as I keep 3 packs in each of my 4 guitar cases but they work perfectly. One of my cases is the fancy Ameritage case that comes with new Goodall guitars. It has built in humidity compartment. I do not use the built in compartment as you need to moisten etc. But I do throw humidipaks in it. And the ameritage hygrometer always hovers around 45% and my guitar stays close to 70 degrees in the case. I have 4 nice guitars and sleep great knowing that the humidipaks are taking care of my guitars. Of course I need to keep my guitars in their cases while not playing them during the winter.
I tried the big noisy humidifier and it drove me crazy filling it with water all the time and the fan noise was unpleasant. The compartment is under the neck on this case with two airvents that go thropugh to the other size.

[Ricky Nelson]

Good tip.
I'll try them, thanks
RNF

[gregsguitars]

I subscribe to " If your comfortable then your guitar is too"...I also always leave my guitars in their case when not being played as well as never storing near a heat source ,doorway or window and never had any problems. I think "T" gives so much effort in humidity control due to most guitars not having long term properly dried wood but rather forced dried woods...(JMO).

[AZLiberty]

Originally Posted by gregsguitars

I subscribe to " If your comfortable then your guitar is too"...

That's not really a good metric. For temperature, probably, but certainly not for humidity.


I'm perfectly happy with our normal 5-7% humidity here in Phoenix. My wooden guitars are NOT.

[stormin1155]

Well, guitars aren't some ultra-fragile creation that need to be kept in a perfectly controlled bubble, but do not underestimate the damage that can be caused by drying out. Damage doesn't happen instantly, but I don't buy the notion that it takes weeks or months to cause damage. I am a tech with my own shop, and dried-out wood is the number one cause of damage from warping, bellying, loose braces and joints, and other structural damage.

Right now I have two guitars in my shop with damage from being dried out. One is a 12-string that came in with a loose brace.. The top was so severely warped that there was no way the brace could be reglued. After humidifying it, the top straightened out so that it is now possible to glue the brace into place.

The other is an old archtop Harmony that the top and back were separating from the body. About half the back was off, but the back was short nearly 1/4", and it was impossible to reglue onto the body. After humidifying, it "grew" so it could be reattached.

Anyone who plays out can attest to the fact that bringing a guitar in from a cold car, or from a hot car to an air-conditioned environment, will cause the guitar to go out of tune. Why does it go out of tune? Because the wood is expanding or contracting because of temperature and humidity changes. That happens quickly.

[Greg Ballantyne]

Prolonged drying can and will damage a guitar. The lower the humidity, the less prolonged perhaps, but guitars can easily take a few weeks at 30%. Excessive humidity is different - i guess high humidity could damage a guitar, but it would indeed have to be purty doggone high, like tropical levels, and for some time. Not what you would tolerate in your house.

[Howard Emerson]

[QUOTE=Ricky Nelson;5545468]This topic is from another post but for me it was so significant I wanted to re-post it.

Taylor says here it takes weeks or months of high humidity to do any significant damage.
https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/...aWetGuitar.pdf

That addresses my concerns directly.

Ricky,
For the most part they are correct.

That said......the effects can be seen/felt within days, and I know this first hand.

Just prior to 9/11 I was doing a west coast swing as a C.F.Martin touring clinician. I left Long Island in late August to meet up with Martin Rep Joe Mack, and we went on our way up and down the California coast.

In New York when I left it was a typical summer: Hot & humid, even though the guitar stayed in our air conditioned house. The action was at its typical summer level, which is to say high. I like high action anyway.....no big deal.

After about 4-5 days in California I was playing in my hotel room, and I'm noticing that the guitar was buzzing like crazy. I'm thinking it mustn't be dryness, as we're right next to the Bay, etc, and I had a clinic to give at Gryphon Music.

Lo & behold it was very dry. Much drier than back east, and to the point where I had to have the wonderful techs at Gryphon do a new saddle so that I could do the clinic properly.

This means that although my guitar wasn't buzzing back in NY prior to the summer, it was now even drier than the NY winter heating season levels.

Lesson learned, cheaply.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Howard Emerson]

A post I made that should be a sticky, but alas.....

Those who forget the past.....
.....are destined to repeat it.

Enough humidity to last a month, you say..........

Here's a posting I made 10 years ago.

01-24-2004, 10:46 AM
Hi Surf,
You definitely want the moisture to go throughout the case and the guitar. If you seal up the sound hole and all the moisture stays there, the fingerboard can shrink and the fret ends could possibly stick out past the edges.

A cautionary tale here: Years ago there was a humidifier manufactured by Dean Markley called the Humitar. It was designed by Grit Laskin if I remember correctly.

This unit held a couple of ounces of water and basically looked like a a small drinking flask. The sides were made of Gortex and it only allowed water vapor to come through, so there were no chances of leakage.......................

A customer of mine bought a nice Martin MC-28 from me during the winter and also bought the Humitar as well.

Some time around late August, he called the shop where I worked, and he was distraught about his guitar. I told him to bring it down to the store and I'd take a look at what the problem was.....................

Seems he'd gone to France for the month of August where, it just so happens, it's extremely dry during the summer. Now this was his first summer living in NYC where it is anything but dry..........

So he had filled his Humitar, put it in his beautiful Martin and hopped a flight to Paris.

When he came home and tried to take the guitar out of the case, it would not budge....................and when I opened the case and finally did get the guitar out, I was shocked at what had happened: The top and back of the guitar had expanded so much that it was just like on a violin where the top and back are made to protrude past the sides.........................Yikes!!!!

The customer meant well, but a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing sometimes. Dean Markley assumed that people take their guitars out of the cases on a fairly regular basis, but evidently that isn't always the case, so to speak.

Long story short: Dean Markley made good on 30+ guitars that were damaged in this way, and they discontinued the Humitar.

The moral of the story is that it's better to use a small unit that has a limited amount of capacity and just have to refill it more often.

Take care,
Howard Emerson

[EZK123]

Originally Posted by baimo

I do not play Taylor guitars but Bob recommended using humidipaks. They are a little pricey as I keep 3 packs in each of my 4 guitar cases but they work perfectly. One of my cases is the fancy Ameritage case that comes with new Goodall guitars. It has built in humidity compartment.

Little tip (if you weren't already aware) - You can buy the Boveda 49% packs from Amazon (which are, to my knowledge, identical) in 12 and 20 packs for afar cheaper than the relabeled D'Addario/Planet Waves pouches.

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by Ricky Nelson

This topic is from another post but for me it was so significant I wanted to re-post it.

Taylor says here it takes weeks or months of high humidity to do any significant damage.
https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/...aWetGuitar.pdf

That addresses my concerns directly.

Thank you for your thread informing us about the slow effects of high humidity on a guitar. I was not able to access the website quoted to read the article, but, i'm sure that was the gist of it. Most of the previous posts are informing us about the effects of low humidity on a guitar which is often the bigger problem.

[AllThumbsBruce]

Gregsguitars said:

Originally Posted by gregsguitars

I subscribe to " If your comfortable then your guitar is too"...

Presumably he meant "you're" not "your" for his first use of the word.

To which ZSLiberty replied:

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

That's not really a good metric. For temperature, probably, but certainly not for humidity.


I'm perfectly happy with our normal 5-7% humidity here in Phoenix. My wooden guitars are NOT.

I agree completely and wish that folks would abandon this silly lore. Even for temperature it is not valid. I can easily enjoy quickly warming up upon entering a warm house from a freezing outdoors, a treatment which is likely responsible for the many finish cracks in my old Gibson.

[baimo]

Originally Posted by EZK123

Little tip (if you weren't already aware) - You can buy the Boveda 49% packs from Amazon (which are, to my knowledge, identical) in 12 and 20 packs for afar cheaper than the relabeled D'Addario/Planet Waves pouches.

And they absorb and humidify. They are the Thermos of the Guitar world. lol

I have been using them since boveda made them available to the public. They even sell nicer pack holders for the soundhole and sell them through amazon. They are great. Much better deal

[gregsguitars]

I have owned many acoustics (all vintage) and never "humidified " or "dehumidified" any of them with much concern and never had any issues at all.

[Looburst]

+1 for the Boveda humidipaks! I've been using them for three years now and no issues.