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Old 02-18-2019, 06:26 PM
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ljguitar ljguitar is offline
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Location: wyoming
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernieman View Post
What should I consider as ideal for guitars ? I was reading the other day that people at Santa Cruz Guitars would keep a 49% rate in the plant all the time I think...I was thinking 45 % to 55% would be okay, but as you say 35-45%, it makes me wonder if it isn't a bit too much humidity after all ?
I wonder what is the danger zone : I got an hygrometer I bought several years ago working recently, and it has been between 42 and 58% since I checked it out regularly...The clock works fine, the alarm-clock rings, the temperature seems to be okay, but i've read in the thread that hygrometers need to be calibrated regularly, so I woory a bit, in case it could be wrong...
Hi B-man

There has been good advice here in the thread - Charles Tauber's is very good advice. Unless you buy a really expensive hygrometer, you cannot calibrate it. Most are not adjustable.

But that kind of precision, while good for protecting museum quality relics, is certainly NOT necessary for our day-to-day-playing instruments. And it's worth noting cracks in guitars happen for other reasons than being dry.

I live in a dry climate (often single digit humidity in the winter) and I maintain 40% in the room the guitars are hanging on the wall in. Not because it is the absolute safest number, but because it's perfectly safe for my guitars (has been for over 40 years) and they sound a whole lot better at 40% than at 55%.

I imagine (on paper) 55% would be a notch or two safer than 40%, but I've never experienced issues at 40% and we've lived here for 42 years without a crack. But I've also not allowed my guitars to dry out.

And they sound SO MUCH BETTER it's a risk I've lived with. My guitar never sound so BAD as they do when we travel back East (USA) during humid weather. I suffer (they don't).

At home, my guitars hang in the living room (my playing area) and it stays at between 40-45%, though in really dry weather the humidity has dipped to 30% at which point they go into cases and I raise it back up to 40% till the dry spell passes.

For me it's not as big a deal as it seems to be for many people. I guess when you are 70 years old and have played for more than 55 years, either you are willing to be a risk taker, or you realize some things are not as big of a deal as some people make them out to be.

I have a friend who knows and works on his cars, and he changes the oil in ALL his vehicles (and filters) every 1500 miles. His engines are likely technically than mine (which are changed when the manufacturer says they should be). But it's a risk I'm willing to take. I use good quality synthetic oil and go 7,500 miles between changes.



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