Thank you so much Howard for coming back to me on this and for your valuable advice !
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Originally Posted by Howard Klepper
The first thing to do is know what the humidty is where you keep the guitar. There are many cheap digital hygrometers.[...]
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I bought a digital hygrometer a few weeks ago (will buy a second one as suggested) and the indoors RH fluctuates between 30% and 50%, depending on the outside conditions (I am in Northern VA and it's winter at the moment). If it's rainy and not too cold outside, the indoor RH would be in the upper 40%. If the cold kicks in though, the indoor humidity drops in the low 30% as the house heating system drives most of the moisture out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Klepper
If your room is below 40% humidity, that is not healthy for the guitar, and should be brought up to the ideal range of 45-50% with a humidifier. Or you can humidify it in its case.
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In this neck of the woods we need dry conditions (RH ~ 30%) during winter time because the springs and summers are extremely humid (RH 100% night by night) so a dry winter gives our respiratory system time to recover and helps us fight the mold.
I know some have dedicated rooms to humidify their guitars but I cannot afford that luxury especially since having a constant RH of 50% is, at least around here, a recipe for growing mold.
Since this is my "every day" guitar, I don't intend to keep it in a case - it will sit on a stand all the time so I can grab it quickly every time I can (or happen to wonder through that room). The way I see it the guitar will have to adapt to what I can provide and to my environment (it is what it is, dry winters, humid summers). If it develops a crack because of that, I'll glue/cleat it to the best of my abilities. If at some point the guitar breaks, so be it, I'll buy another one (curing my GAS as part of the process
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I've always wondered how others are keeping their guitars ... There should be millions of guitar owners out there - do all of them have hygrometers, which they check every day, do they have rooms dedicated to keeping instruments humidified ? What did people do 20-30 years ago ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Howard Klepper
So in that case the crack needs a cleat, which will stabilize it even though it's not tightly closed. If it closes at about 50-60%, just gluing the crack should be enough, but a cleat can't hurt after you have the crack closed.
Don't use CA glue--it can mess up the finish. The ideal glue is hot freshly mixed hide glue. But if you don't have experience with that, just use Original Titebond. You can work it into a closed crack by saturating the surface and flexing the crack slightly several times. Then wipe off the excess with a damp (not wet) rag. Wait a day before putting any stress on it.
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Many thanks for all the advice above. I'll go buy cleats and soundhole clamps. Already have and used Titebond. But I've watched Dan Erlewine's video about using hide glue and it looks straightforward to me so I intend to use it. Will check the Frets.com as suggested !
