Do you use heavier strings in the Winter??

[Slothead56]

My CEO 7 has the perfect set up (for me). I like 'Em a little on the low side so I'm just catching an almost imperceivable fret buzz. Personal preference. Always strung with lights, currently Monels.

It's been in the case most of the past two months and it is one buzzy box right now. No fun. I'm guessing the dryness is pulling the neck back a bit. I humidify, but, frankly, it's hard to keep up with it here in the frozen Northeast.

I remember reading here that some guys keep two saddles, a Winter and a Summer. That makes some sense. But I was wondering- could I achieve a little higher Winter action by moving from lights to mediums without having to mess with the saddle or the neck?

Funny thing is all other guitars, some of which are kind of permanently out, are playing fine.

[rogthefrog]

If action is at issue, messing with the neck or truss rod is not the solution. A higher saddle is.

[Slothead56]

I understand that. My question was about strings.

[AHill]

I know you don't want to hear it more than once, but your problem is not strings, it's setup. That said, no, I don't change strings in winter. I keep my guitar properly humidified and don't have issues. Changing string gauge will change the tone, and that would bother me.

[nedley]

My solution was getting another saddle from Bob Colosi at http://www.guitarsaddles.com/
Now I have a winter one that is a few mm's taller than the summer one.
If you have a drop in saddle, it might be an option for you.

-ned

[Johan Madsen]

I also use different saddles , depending on the seasons. I love the action hyper low and just as you I don’t care if it buzzes a bit, but during the winter my guitar may just buzz too much, so I just change the saddle, heavier string gauge may help a bit I guess but not sure it would as effective as raising the saddle.

[stormin1155]

Heavier strings would/could give you more neck relief. If your relief changes, it makes more sense to me to adjust your truss rod than change strings. But if your neck relief is where it should be, any adjustment to the action should be with the saddle (and nut).

[ChrisE]

I'm using heavier strings now than I do in the summer. Not because of the weather or humidity or anything like that, but because in the summer I play a lot of gigs and switch to lighter strings to keep my fingers from getting so sore.

[martingitdave]

Most of the time the issue is resolved with better humidification or a new saddle.

[Swamp Yankee]

Of course, the easiest and safest course of action is to humidify the guitar properly. For me, in New England, where it's a struggle to keep my house at 20% RH, a simple 10 minute routine, twice a week, keeps my 6 guitars at a comfy 45% - 55% RH. I bought a gallon of distilled water for this purpose in November - it's not even half empty yet.

[redir]

It's quite possible that going to medium gauge strings will pull the neck straighter, so yes, maybe.

Originally Posted by Slothead56

It's been in the case most of the past two months and it is one buzzy box right now. No fun. I'm guessing the dryness is pulling the neck back a bit. I humidify, but, frankly, it's hard to keep up with it here in the frozen Northeast.

People often think things like that, but they seldom measure. It's unlikely that relief is changing much, perhaps not even a measurable amount. It is common and expected for the top to flatten out a bit in dryer conditions, which most likely accounts for your lower action and buzzing.

Originally Posted by Slothead56

I remember reading here that some guys keep two saddles, a Winter and a Summer. That makes some sense. But I was wondering- could I achieve a little higher Winter action by moving from lights to mediums without having to mess with the saddle or the neck?

You could put heavier strings on, but that might not make the action higher. Heavier strings tend to buzz less because they move less under the same force. So, if you don't change your playing style, the lower winter action will buzz less with heavier strings.

For me though, the feel of strings are so important to my playing style that I would not want to compromise that sake of buzzing. The winter/summer saddle is a common solution because it's a good one. It addresses the actual problem. Adjusting the truss rod or going to heavier strings is treating the symptom rather than the disease.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

If action is at issue, messing with the neck or truss rod is not the solution. A higher saddle is.

Hi rtf

Interesting, in that the only thing that changes on my guitars going into winter is the neck relief (and I have measured). So I DO tweak the truss rod a tiny bit and it fixes it till spring, and has for at least the last 25 years with all my acoustic guitars.

Perhaps it's not the solution for you, but it sure works for a whole lot of us out here who just tweak the truss rod a touch. And those of us who do just tweak the truss rod (my guitars take about ⅛ turn) often do not wade into these discussions because of the theorists and 'scientists' among-us who don't see adjusting the action for winter with a truss rod want to argue the "other view" into silence. Adding an ⅛" turn the truss rod doesn't injure the guitar nor throw my guitar's action out. It just restores it to where it is the rest of the year.

It's interesting how many people actually do take the extra minute and a half to tweak the truss rod going into winter.

[beninma]

Just fix the humidity!

Pennsylvania isn't that far north.. if we can manage it in Massachusetts/VT/Maine/Canada you can too.

Get a room/furnace humidifier + case humidifier and you should be fine.

No problems this winter for me back at the beginning of the month when we got down to temps as low as -8F. (And it was stupid cold like that for several weeks) As in my guitar didn't even move enough to go out of tune.

The humidity packs work well enough I was able to take my guitar out of my house into even drier environments without any stability issues too. E.x. when I have a guitar in my office the humidity is basically never > 15% if the temperature is below 40F, it's miserable, but the D'addario packets have no trouble with that if you keep the case shut.

[MikeD]

I keep all of my guitars out of their cases year round up here in NH, and I don't have issues with playability or buzzing because I'm very diligent about keeping the humidity in my music room in the proper range for my instruments. My target is 45%, +/- 5% year round. In the winter I keep the temp in the room about 62* and in the summer it's about 70*. My guitars range from prewar Martins to newly built instruments, which is quite a range of seasoned/aged wood and stability, yet I don't remember the last time I had to deal with a truss rod/relief issue, phantom tuning issues or an action/saddle issue. I simply just pick out a guitar and play it. Personally, I would NOT put mediums on the guitar since you risk having other issues pop up, and heavier strings is not a solution but rather a band-aid to the real problem... which is temp and humidity. Correct your humidity/temp problem and you will fix your guitar issues. A few things to consider about putting mediums on your guitar is that 1) your guitar may not be built/braced to handle mediums for a long period of time 2) your guitar will play/feel/sound different 3) you will likely have to do some setup work to the guitar in terms of action & relief every time you change string gauges in the summer and winter.