When do you start worrying about high humidity?

[phcorrigan]

I was restoring a house in central NY, and I bought a cheap Fender accoustic guitar to play while I was there. Since it was a cheap guitar (about $120) I really didn't worry about temperature and humidity. The guitar was there for three years. Last June, after I sold the house, I was going to give the guitar to my son, so I decided to restring it. In the process, the bridge lifted off the body! Cheapest repair cost I could find was about $150. If I had time, and my tools and shop, I would have fixed it properly myself. I did the next best thing--I bought some screws, nuts and washers, drilled two holes in each end of the bridge, and bolted that sucker down! It's not a great guitar, but at least it's playable!

[Methos1979]

New Hampshire here - humid in the summers from time-to-time, and dry in the winters all the time. Freezing cold in the car or burning hot. This is the first year where I don't care. All my wood guitars are gone. I'm so happy to be off that bandwagon!

Carbon Fiber, baby!

[j.blay]

Originally Posted by pscheel

What are the dimensions. Amazon lists it at 9 x 8.2 x 2.9 inches which seems a little large to fit in my headstock.

This is just the first example i found of several brands and sizes available. i bought a similar one a bit smaller at Menards.

[j.blay]

Originally Posted by DowntownJamieB

This is a partial solution because it only dehumidifies the headstock. You really need to dehumidify the air inside the guitar body. I use silica bead packs in pouches (old humidipac pouches) that hang in the soundhole. The silica packs are a pain to recharge, but the only solution to dehumidify the air inside the guitar body and therefore soundboard.

Not true. I moved the hygrometer around to be sure this was not happening. My Hygrometer is between the body and the storage compartment and reads the same as when I place it on top of the storage compartment lid. It only reads 1 or 2 points lower when it's right next to the dehumidifier. And yes, I put it inside the guitar also, just to check.

[Blueser100]

Originally Posted by DowntownJamieB

This is a partial solution because it only dehumidifies the headstock. You really need to dehumidify the air inside the guitar body. I use silica bead packs in pouches (old humidipac pouches) that hang in the soundhole. The silica packs are a pain to recharge, but the only solution to dehumidify the air inside the guitar body and therefore soundboard.

I just got one like this today from Amazon. Called Pro Breeze mini. About $14. Plugs into a/c to recharge silica. So far it does absolutely nothing in small closed closet. Humidity actually going up.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by Blueser100

I just got one like this today from Amazon. Called Pro Breeze mini. About $14. Plugs into a/c to recharge silica. So far it does absolutely nothing in small closed closet. Humidity actually going up.

I ordered one too from Amazon. It’s not doing anything. The silica gel packs are more effective.

[jrb715]

A note that just as guitars vary in sound, they vary in their sensitivity to low and high humidity. After seven days in SoCal's unusual 62-65% humidity of the last couple of weeks, a Collings stored in a guitar cabinet more or less out of the blue started buzzing and developed a wolf tone on the low E string. Three other acoustics stored the same way are fine. I just didn't think about the humidity, especially since it didn't seem extremely high to me. (Low, not high, humidity has always been the concern.) All the guitars are now back in the guitar cabinet practically lined with silica dry packs and the humidity back to 50%. Holding my breath that the Collings will return to normal.

[Bridgepin]

I don't like to see my music room over 45% RH and on the flip side under 35%

I have found the sweet spot for my guitars is right at 40%

[BrunoBlack]

If I wasn’t able to control my indoor RH, I’d be concerned about high RH June - September in Massachusetts. Fortunately I have a mini split with a “dry” function and easily keep my indoor RH between 50% - 60% during the summer months. Otherwise, my indoor RH would be as high as 75%.

[noledog]

* Living and performing on the Florida coast for decades, my guitars get subjected to high humidity from 55% to 100% and salt air on a regular basis. If it's been a soggy week I try to air and dry out my guitars a bit in the ac... But I think my guitars have somewhat acclimated. In addition, two of them are top end MIJ Takamines and they are desighned and built well to handle these conditions to a certain extent.

** So I start paying attention when the tone and/or action start talkin' to me regardless of the RH% number and have learned when my guitars start to get soaked, so I'd say extensive periods of a few days over 75%.... so I don't worry too much.

[j.blay]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

I ordered one too from Amazon. It’s not doing anything. The silica gel packs are more effective.

I bought the Stack-On brand from Menards. It was designed for a safe. I remember the Cost was under $30. Works well for me in my guitar case, even in 90% humidity.

[budglo]

I live in Ohio where it gets dry in the winter and humid in the summer. My guitars are kept in the basement level of my house where there isnt AC . Its my finished family room , so I run a dehumidifier in the summer months and humidifiers in the winter. Its usually about 47-52 percent in the summer and never drops below 42 percent when the heat is on. So far I have never had a problem.

[silvereagle48]

Originally Posted by boneuphtoner

Fellow Marylander here, and my dealer told me the same thing. In the summer, with moderate air conditioning, I usually have no trouble keeping the humidity under 60%. When it gets really humid I do run the dehumidifier to bring it closer to 55%. Doing this, plus humidifying in the winter with a sponge in a perforated baggie, I've never had an issue.

Live in Tidewater Virginia and do this as well with no problems.

[jseth]

When I'm living in sustained levels of rh% of 65 or higher for weeks on end... then I'll do something about it... I will also keep a close eye on the neck set and action, as well as the bridge area and top; high humidity causes my guitars to develop more neck set and the action can start getting higher than I'd like. Doesn't take much of tweak to keep them within bounds, though.

I bought a tiny little "mini-dehumidifer" that I keep running unless the rh% falls below 40 %rh... it won't get my small room/home down to 45%rh, but it will keep my guitar area (about 3'x9') in acceptable levels. I only empty it once a week, if that... $35!!!

When I first got my Mark Angus F-40 in 1979, nearly immediately I went to live on the island of Kauai for 10 months... I didn't know squat about truss rods or adjusting and I did nothing to correct the eventual bow in the neck...

When I returned to the mainland, the neck looked like a ski-jump ramp! I took it back to Mark... who looked at it, sighed (heavily), and then did the work to fix it - which involved steaming the fretboard off the guitar, putting a new board on and refretting after planing to get the correct angles... and he did this all UNDER WARRANTY!!!

When he handed me my guitar to play, he held it for a moment and said, "That lifetime Warranty? It is a CONTINENTAL USA warranty"!!!

[terken]

Just an observation. If you are an overzealous humidifier and your guitar balloons up it may not go back to baseline in a normal environment.

Sometimes a minor neck reset can be needed to regain optimal action and saddle height.

New guitars seem to move more than well seasoned instruments.