Dry cabinet

[leongsw]

I am wondering if anyone uses dry cabinet or dehumidifying cabinet intended for cameras / lens to keep their guitars dry. These cabinets do not require any maintenance which is a big advantage - no need to keep emptying water collected from the air .

The place I stay in has RH of >70% all year. So, I has no problem with dry environment but has problem with wet.

[mmmaak]

hmmmm....is it just me, or has there been an unusually high number of Asians on the forum recently, asking about humidity and guitar care? Must be the monsoon!!

Anyway, this is my solution: A dehumidifier based on the Peltier effect and built from scrap computer parts:



Keeps my guitars at about 50%RH when not in play.

[leongsw]

This is a cool setup.

[Hendra]

Originally Posted by mmmaak

hmmmm....is it just me, or has there been an unusually high number of Asians on the forum recently, asking about humidity and guitar care? Must be the monsoon!!

Anyway, this is my solution: A dehumidifier based on the Peltier effect and built from scrap computer parts:



Keeps my guitars at about 50%RH when not in play.

Mmmaak, that's sound like a business opportunity for you. When you commercialized it, I'll be one of the first in line to get one of those.

[mmmaak]

Originally Posted by Hendra

Mmmaak, that's sound like a business opportunity for you. When you commercialized it, I'll be one of the first in line to get one of those.

Hi Hendra,

I have considered that before, but there are a few obstacles:

1. See that silver block? It is solid finned metal (aluminium in this case) and is relatively heavy. This would mean that potential customers from other countries may find the shipping charges too expensive.

2. In countries such as Singapore, they have the commercial version of what I built (click here for an example). Now, I'm not sure if it's as efficient/effective as my design, but it sure looks better and is locally available to them.

So that pretty much limits my potential market to *local* serious acoustic players, which we have very few of (many of them who own $$$ guitars can afford a larger room dehumidifier anyway).

If you have trouble finding a commercial device in Indonesia, I'd be happy to build you one at cost price

[Hendra]

Originally Posted by mmmaak

Hi Hendra,

I have considered that before, but there are a few obstacles:

1. See that silver block? It is solid finned metal (aluminium in this case) and is relatively heavy. This would mean that potential customers from other countries may find the shipping charges too expensive.

2. In countries such as Singapore, they have the commercial version of what I built (click here for an example). Now, I'm not sure if it's as efficient/effective as my design, but it sure looks better and is locally available to them.

So that pretty much limits my potential market to *local* serious acoustic players, which we have very few of (many of them who own $$$ guitars can afford a larger room dehumidifier anyway).

If you have trouble finding a commercial device in Indonesia, I'd be happy to build you one at cost price

Hi Mmmaak,
Thanks for the offer. As you said, the big hassle would be to sent it overseas including Indonesia. I am not sure whether that device posted in your link is available in Indonesia. But if ever I am building my dedicated cabiinet and can't find the commercial one, your built seems like a good alternative and I'll sure be in touch. In the mean time, I'll stick with Zorb-Iit + car heater until the dedicated cabinet is there.

[wgnorman]

Maybe it is not an option, but in a similar but reverse situation, during Dec - March, I humidify my entire room of the house where the guitars live (except my CA Cargo which doesn't care) and keep it at ~70F ~45RH

In your de-humidify situation, what happens every time you take a guitar out of a ~40-50 RH cabinet and play it in a 70RH humidity room, then put it back? That seems to me that it may even be more stress going back and forth on humidity levels. Of course, your climate may never allow for an optimal solution, and you may want to play in several different rooms.

Maybe Rainsong or CA guitars would be a better solution.

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by mmmaak

hmmmm....is it just me, or has there been an unusually high number of Asians on the forum recently, asking about humidity and guitar care? Must be the monsoon!!

Anyway, this is my solution: A dehumidifier based on the Peltier effect and built from scrap computer parts:



Keeps my guitars at about 50%RH when not in play.

I don't know, that appears to be very dangerous to me, maybe even a fire hazard......I STRONGLY reccommend you send me that Webber for it's own good

Seriously, you're a clever guy, my friend.

[mmmaak]

Originally Posted by wgnorman

In your de-humidify situation, what happens every time you take a guitar out of a ~40-50 RH cabinet and play it in a 70RH humidity room, then put it back? That seems to me that it may even be more stress going back and forth on humidity levels. Of course, your climate may never allow for an optimal solution, and you may want to play in several different rooms.

Hi Norman,

That is indeed a valid point and something that we have considered. However, my (limited) understanding is that it takes quite some time for a finished instrument to absorb moisture from the environment to the point that it is potentially damaging. Changes in geometry do become obvious in a couple of hours when going from low to high RH - my tuning goes sharp by a few cents when playing in non-air conditioned rooms. My compromise is to leave the aircon on for a while to get the RH down to around 50-60% when I intend to play continuously for long periods.

At the same time, I have designed my dehumidifying solution such that it fluctuates (slowly) in tandem with ambient conditions rather than keeping the humidity at a fixed value all the time. I'm not sure if it's an entirely sound concept, but my logic is that this reduces the amount of "shock" experienced when going in and out of the cabinet.

And you're probably right about that last point. The most effective "solution" is a carbon fibre guitar

[mmmaak]

Originally Posted by fitness1

I don't know, that appears to be very dangerous to me, maybe even a fire hazard......I STRONGLY reccommend you send me that Webber for it's own good

You'd play a non-1 13/16" Webber??

But seriously....speaking of fire hazard, I was moving the cabinet to a different location today and when I reattached the dehumidifier to its power source, I completely forgot about polarity!! So, instead of dehumidifying, it was heating up the enclosure for a couple of hours. Very close call

Originally Posted by fitness1

Seriously, you're a clever guy, my friend.

There's probably a distinction to be made between "clever" and "desperate". I'd never have to come up with all these crazy solutions if I could buy a small dehumidifier or could afford a larger one!

[fitness1]

Originally Posted by mmmaak

You'd play a non-1 13/16" Webber??

:

(in my best Curly voice) "Soitinly"