Help me make sense of these 2 hygrometers

[Bluenose]

Originally Posted by Bowie

No thanks. I live in one of the largest cities in the US and if I took your advice I'd risk damage. The humidity is dipping below 30% in rooms with no humidification (and the AC has not run in more than a month). It will get much worse in the summer and would certainly cause damage if I didn't humidify.

Ok I get it, you live in a different climate. My hygrometers are usually within 2 or 3% but hardly ever in sync. As longs its clearly more than 30% is all I care about.

[edward993]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Nickster
...The goal is to keep the guitar around 40%. Mine sound and play better at 35% and have lived that way happily for about 47 years in our current home…without cracks, deformation or anything other than a tweak of the truss rod going into and out of winter....

I will concur wholly with this.

Long ago, say over 15 years back, I used to be fastidious about keeping the RH around 47% (and under 55%) since that's what the Taylor factory is held to; ok, made sense to me to keep the guits in the same env't as their mothership. But after some reading, I ended up "relaxing" my requirements, down to the low 30s as my minimum. And this for many years now, maybe a decade. Well that has proven to me to be the best solution for my acoustics (and electrics) all hanging on the wall, and gigged with regularity. Rock stable: playability and tone all solid.

Too much hand-wringing over RH imo, and anything within a very wide swath of low 30s to 50% is all you need to do. The specific number really is irrelevant.

Edward

[rllink]

Originally Posted by gfspencer

I used to know exactly what time it was until I bought a second watch. Now I'm not sure. Same with hygrometers.

Exactly, same with tuners. I have two tuners, they don't ever agree. He who has one tuner is always in tune, he who has two never knows for sure. Just pick one and either move the other to a different room or throw it away.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by LAPlayer

Only if there is humidity to hold. A lot of people live in very-dry climates - no matter the temperature. At 100 degrees in Phoenix, the RH may be +/- 10%. To me, the best thing to do is have a nice, proper hygrometer in your home, then you can compare your small inexpensive hygrometers to that known level.

I was responding to the OP and his not understanding why the lower temperature reading had a higher humidity reading. I spent 10+ years in commercial/industrial/medical HVAC. Twenty years ago in heat treating metals where the air has to be so dry it is in the -80 F dew point (relative humidity being left behind as you get above boiling up to 2200 F.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by rllink

Exactly, same with tuners. I have two tuners, they don't ever agree. He who has one tuner is always in tune, he who has two never knows for sure. Just pick one and either move the other to a different room or throw it away.

But do you throw out the good one or the bad one?