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Old 11-28-2012, 05:04 PM
epaul epaul is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XYRN View Post
Others have suggested putting it up near the headstock, but I just don't see that there is enough air circulation in a closed case to allow the humidified air to reach the body of the guitar - which is what matters.
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This is one of those "Yes, No, and Maybe" sort of things.

Water vapor will move to equilibrium within a guitar case. The case fabric, and the case itself, may slow, but can not stop, the water molecules from seeking equilibrium. (equalibrium is one of those 'always sought but seldom found' things)

If you need to get moisture to the guitar body quickly, then placing the moisture source inside the guitar body (rather than in a more remote location) is a good idea. But, if you have established a "guitar safe" humidity level within your guitar case, then the entire interior of your guitar case becomes, in effect, a sponge that will keep your guitar at a safe humidity level. The lining holds moisture, the wood of the case holds moisture, the guitar itself holds moisture; and, regardless of where it is located, that sponge in the soap case is an engine slowly releasing water vapor that will, slowly but steadily, diffuse throughout the entire interior of the case, keeping it at a safe humidity level.

(this is why it is recommended, in a dry environment, to keep your guitar case closed when it isn't in use, so that you don't overly dry the case itself out).

Three or four years ago, several of us from another guitar forum decided to do a little testing. We had guitars, cases, sponges, Oasis's, and all kinds of hygrometers (several with remote sensors). In a nutshell, we noted that placement of the moisture source can matter in the short term, but not in the long term.

(the following is a loose summation, as I no longer have all the numbers we wrote down)

In one test, I placed a placed a moist sponge and hygrometer in the peghead region of a cased guitar. Prior to the placement of the sponge, a second hygrometer I had placed in the interior of the guitar had recorded a reading of 36% RH (which was also the reading I got from the interior of the empty case itself).

When I popped the case open five hours later, the hygrometer I had placed in the peghead region next to the sponge read 54% RH while the hygrometer inside the guitar body had only gone up to 37% RH. When I checked the next day, the peghead hygrometer was at 52% RH and the hygrometer inside the guitar body was at 42% RH. When I checked again the following day, the peghead was at 49% and the guitar interior was at 45%.

I'm supplying these numbers from memory, and they are a synthesis of a couple different tests, but the long and short of it was, while it took awhile for the moisture in the peghead compartment to circulate, after a couple days it did, and once it did, the guitar case, and the guitar within it stayed in a good, stable, safe, humidity range.

I also tested a dry guitar and case with the Oasis. As you will likely guess, the Oasis did kick the humidity level in the guitar interior up right away (and, as you have also likely guessed, it took a while for it to get to the peghead region). But, again, after a couple days, the entire case was at a safe and stable RH.

If you need to get humidity to a dry guitar right away, then place the moisture source inside the guitar itself (or better yet, put the guitar and the case in the bathroom and turn on all the hot water spigots. Get that bathroom as steamed up as you can and let your guitar have a nice sauna).

But, if you are following a humidity maintenence regimin, a slow but steady approach of keeping the entire guitar case itself within a prescribed humidity range, one that is maintained with a moisture source equaliberating away inside the case itself, the particular location of that moisture source won't matter. Put it wherever it fits best.


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Last edited by epaul; 11-28-2012 at 11:31 PM.
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