Recommendation for a "leave out on the stand" acoustic

[geewhiz]

Originally Posted by Dbone

In any case, good luck. You seem a bit perturbed. I hope I didn’t contribute ...Certainly was not my intention...

Oh no - absolutely not, and I'm sorry you took my remarks that way. Believe me, with everything that's going on in the world today there's a LOT more to be perturbed about than discussing guitars on an internet forum .

I truly meant my remarks in a lighthearted vein. No offense meant to anyone.

[Jim in TC]

So just to toss this in...before I knew anything about humidity and guitars, I hung a D-18 on the wall off and on for a couple decades in Michigan winters with wood heat (exclusively) so pretty dry at times. Very humid in the summer near Lake Michigan. Nothing went wrong that I could ever detect (except maybe that peeling up pick guard, which was replaced without adverse comment from the tech). So you might get away with even putting a really nice guitar on the wall though I wouldn't now that I know better. Those inexpensive Yamaha's that punch way above their weight? Hang it up and worry about it later.

[Birdbrain]

Living in a very dry climate, the commonest form of damage I've seen is a shrunken fingerboard that leaves fret ends rough, or worse. I've seen this with rosewood and with ebony. The ebony board responded to case humidification within a few months; I'm still hoping the rosewood board will do the same. Your laminated, low-end beater guitar will be just as prone to this effect as any other, and someday you'll start feeling it on the neck. Then what will you do? You'll have a dried-out beater guitar that's barely worth the cost of a fret dressing.

I can see the value of a beater for occasional camping trips or playing in punk rock gigs or chicken-wire bars, but not for a daily player at home. You might be able to buy a decent beater for $250, but that kind of coin will buy an excellent room humidifier. And you might find that you enjoy the added moisture yourself, for your skin and sinuses.