How are you humidifying?

[bluemoon]

So here's the story.

We just moved to Colorado and our new house is larger and dryer than our previous ones. I've been keeping a humidifyer going, but it isn't keeping up with the low humidity and I'm worry about mold growth.

So my question is, what's the best way in your opinion to humidify your instruments in long-term dry climates?

Cheers

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by bluemoon

So here's the story.

We just moved to Colorado and our new house is larger and dryer than our previous ones. I've been keeping a humidifyer going, but it isn't keeping up with the low humidity and I'm worry about mold growth.

So my question is, what's the best way in your opinion to humidify your instruments in long-term dry climates?

Cheers

Hi bluemoon...
We live just north of you (Wyoming) and I use room humidification in my teaching area, and in my cases I have 2 sponges in a ziplock which is full of slits to let the humidity into the case. Here's a 2 minute how-to video I made for students and friends on building your own.

Build your own humidifier - CLiCK

And for each of my guitars I also have a Kyser Lifeguard soundhole humidifier for when they are out in the room for extended periods.

We don't worry about mold except at the base of windows for those days when the water condenses and freezes on the outside windows. We wipe them down as soon as it thaws and goes a way (usually a day or two later). Otherwise mold can grow at the base of the window sill.

I've never had mold in a case or in a case humidifier or in a sponge. And I've been using home made humidifiers for over a decade. I used to make them with plastic soap dishes with holes drilled in the lid - till I found one rolling around under the headstock of my best guitar. Switched to Ziplocks in a heartbeat.

With 4 acoustics, a semi-hollow body, two electrics and two ukuleles I am not going to fork out $15 each for store bought 'systems' which don't do any better than home-made humidifiers.

[ChunkyB]

I think the best option is keeping them in the case and use case humidifiers. It's much easier to control the humidity in a smaller space.

I'm curious as to why you're worried about mold growth when you can't keep the humidity up at an acceptable level. If the humidity is low, unless you have standing water on your guitars, I can't imagine how you'd get mold growth.

[Neal Pert]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/acces...tar-humidifier

I use one of these in the sound hole of the guitar.

Damp (thoroughly rung out) cellulose sponge in a baggie with holes in it. I drop one each into the soundhole of my guitars and keep it filled regularly (I take it out to play). I keep the guitars in their cases when not playing. Never had a problem with this system and it's cheap.

[XYRN]

Plastic soapbox with holes and a damp sponge.

[pitner]

Whole house when the hot air furnace comes on and soundhole humidifiers in the acoustic guitars also.

[DaveKell]

I stumbled upon this humidification totally by accident. When my daughter got married five months ago she and my wife went to a Hobby Lobby and bought several packages of inexpensive "water beads" to put in vases with a blue LED light at the bottom for table decoration. They are clear hard beads the size of a pea that swell to a large marble size when soaked in water. We dumper all of them into a new 5 gallon plastic bucket after the wedding to let them dry back out to reuse at our next child's wedding in June. The bucket was sitting in the way in a hallway my guitar room is off of. I picked it up and put it in a corner of the guitar room. After all this time, the beads haven't even lost half their size yet and it feels wet when you run your hand through them but no water gets on you. The hygrometer hasn't dipped below 55% since a few days after I placed the bucket in there.

[TwoMartinMan]

I installed a whole house humidifier. I can keep all my guitars hanging on wall hangers, which means they get played more than if they were packed away in cases. And the whole envorinment of the house is healthier. Good investment.

[ecwannabe]

I have a simple but not very elegant way to humidify my two acoustics. I leave them on their stands, back to back, place a small open container of water on the floor between them then put a large plastic bag that goes all the way to the floor over them. As I said, not very elegant but it's easier than putting them in and out of the case all the time. It works great for me , keeps the humidity between 40 and 50%. Of course my music area is in the far back corner of my basement, this might not look so cool if you have a nice music room.

[bluemoon]

Larry thanks for the video. I've been toying with the idea of a sponge for a while and think I will finally take the plunge.

ChunkyB,

I agree worrying about mold at this point is probably getting ahead of myself, especially with this low humidity, but I was worried about areas in the house, not the guitars themselves, that are damp near the humidifer. Again like you say probably worrying for nothing.

[kfbrady]

I have a whole house humidifier, but in the coldest/driest months here in NJ, I also use a room humidifier in my office/music room and I keep the better acoustics in their cases with Dampits in them.

Overkill maybe, but I got a crack in the back of a Guild 12 a few years ago during a particularly harsh cold spell and I'd like to try to prevent it happening again.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by bluemoon

Larry thanks for the video.

Hi Blue...

You are welcome. I put up a newer one done in High Def (the old one is a little long in the tooth).

Build our own - New - CLiCK

It's better quality and shorter

[lkblock]

When the new furnace was installed a couple of years ago, we had a whole house humidifier added. I checked it a few days ago, and even with the cold dry weather in Minnesota right now, the humidity was 45%.

[DesertTwang]

Arizona here. I have had a hard time keeping up with the dryness using in-case humidification alone. Plus, I've found that humidity in the case goes up and down a lot with that method alone. I now keep all my instruments in a small backroom, inside their cases, with sponges in ziploc bags, plus a room humidifier going 24/7. The two combined appear to be able to maintain a constant humidity anywhere between 40 and 55%.

What's mold? I should google that sometime...