Guitar Cases and Cold Climates: Comparison

[jspe]

Recently I took two guitars in their cases out on a fairly cold day. Both had oasis humidifiers. They were mostly cold in the vehicle about two hours, and I then brought them in to the studio.
I waited 1/2 an hour to let them acclimatize.
The guitar in the wood-shell case came out and was a bit cool but reasonably ready.
The one in the plastic molded case...was still ice cold, so I had to quickly close it back into the case where it needed about 30 more minutes to get decently un-chilled...!

Just wondering if this might be something anyone else has noticed?

[Racerbob]

Would seem the fiberglass was more of a self sealing environment. If outside is low humidity it will hold its inner protection better. As for passing the outside temp slower than wood., Could be good and bad depending on the circumstances. But the main material of the case isn't all that matters. What the inner lining does is just as important.

[Nama Ensou]

The first thing we would do when arriving at a club in the cold (-50 a few times) was to set the guitars on the floor and open the case, fanning the lid a few times, then close it while continuing to set up the rest of the equipment, going over to fan the lid every minute or so. Doing this kept us at a minimum for any checking, as it warmed up the guitar more quickly than ideal, but allowed it be as gentle as possible by the gradual introduction of warm air into the case.

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by jspe

Recently I took two guitars in their cases out on a fairly cold day. Both had oasis humidifiers. They were mostly cold in the vehicle about two hours, and I then brought them in to the studio.
I waited 1/2 an hour to let them acclimatize.
The guitar in the wood-shell case came out and was a bit cool but reasonably ready.
The one in the plastic molded case...was still ice cold, so I had to quickly close it back into the case where it needed about 30 more minutes to get decently un-chilled...!

Just wondering if this might be something anyone else has noticed?

They make Ice Chests out of plastic. Not wood.

[PassingThru]

What brand was the plastic molded case?

[The Bard Rocks]

I'd think holding in the cold is, in general, a good thing, especially if you have nitro finish. A nitro finish likes temperature changes to be as gradual as possible; otherwise it can craze. Good in that it is safer, bad in that it may be inconvenient.

[rllink]

I know that the SKB case has a thick styrofoam liner inside it that is molded to the guitar. I know first hand as I got to get a good look at it back in January. Styrofoam is an insulator so I would imagine that it insulates.

[FrankHudson]

I should do an experiment. I prefer to use Godin TRIC cases, made of thick rigid Styrofoam like material covered with gig-bag style Nylon. And I have Govee humidity recording and sending devices in my acoustic guitar cases that also record temperature.

Part of the reason I like these cases is that I assume they are insulating better than a conventional case and would hold the temperature more steady from where the guitars are normally stored while they are on the move in Minnesota climate. In most cases (pun intended?) I'm either exposing them for a half hour or less while walking, or for a similar period of time before a car's heater works up to temperature on a very cold day and the walk to and from parking.

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by PassingThru

What brand was the plastic molded case?

Igloo? Or maybe YETI

[FrankHudson]

OK, I did the quick and dirty experiment yesterday that I threatened to do. One "problem" it's finally warmed up a bit in Minnesota, it was 34 degrees F. when I did the test. I used three cases and measured with the Govee wifi units I use to keep an eye on humidity.

Case 1, an inexpensive wooden vinyl cloth covered case with the typical thin padding and velvet interior. Since it's a cheap case it might not seal as good a Martin standard or the like, but it's what I had handy.

Case 2, a classic molded plastic with the aluminum gasket rim Ovation case with whatever they used to line them in the old days.

Case 3, a Godin TRIC case made with thick rigid Styrofoam like stuff and covered with a gig bag like nylon cloth.

First I opened all three cases for 15 minutes indoors, thinking I'd get them equalized Oddly, I couldn't get the three Govee units to measure the exact same temp.

For some reason the TRIC case started off a couple of degrees colder even after the 15 minutes open. It may be because I had it on the floor and maybe just a bit cooler in the interior room? If I repeat the test I'll need to make sure they all start out even, but then no one in my house want the living room covered with open guitar cases. Other than that, things were around 68 degrees F before the test.

Next, closed them up and outside into an unheated porch on a cloudy day and shaded from the sun with a mild wind that the porch walls would likely bock, and 34 degrees F. air temp. This was to simulate a reasonably long transport time in an enclosed unheated trailer or public transport. Recorded inside temp after 90 minutes for each of the cases.

Wood: dropped 17.3 degrees
Molded plastic: dropped 23 degrees
TRIC: dropped 13.5 degrees

I honestly thought they'd drop more. I thought the wood would do worse.I thought the TRIC might do better. But except for the molded plastic case things still stayed in the 50's after 90 min

Next, since the thread had mentioned letting them warm up by waiting 15 or 30 mins still closed once inside, I measured what the Govee sensors were saying after I brought them back to the 68 degree house.

after 15 minutes inside again

Wood: 1.1 degrees warmer
Molded plastic: .6 degrees COOLER (can't account for that, but that was the reading)
TRIC: .7 degrees warmer


After 30 minutes

Wood: 3.2 degrees warmer
Molded Plastic: 1.8 degrees warmer
TRIC: 2.2 degrees warmer


After 60 minutes

Wood: 7.5 degrees warmer
Molded Plastic: 7 degrees warmer
TRIC: 4.9 degrees warmer

This indicates to me that it takes longer than I'd thought to return to something like room temp, even after a modestly cold interval.

Maybe next winter, when it's really Minnesota cold I'll try to repeat this test, with more extream winter cold going on outside -- but for a lot of AGF just about freezing is winter weather to them, and so this may tell them something.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

They make Ice Chests out of plastic. Not wood.

They make ice chests out of plastic because of its durability, not because of it's insulating properties. The question is what sort of insulation is sandwiched between the inner and outer layers of plastic.

[jspe]

So sorry I was offline for a couple days.
The molded case was a Takamine and the woodshell was a logo Gibson archtop.
I am also assuming that the Gibson case kept the guitar warmer longer, and thus needed less time to warm up, and that the Takamine case had the guitar much colder quicker, and thus needed a longer warm up.

I may, however, be totally on the wrong track in assuming the woodshell case is better,, and the opposite might have happened, where the Gibson case just reacts to the ambient temperature much quicker...

[jspe]

Frank thanks for chiming in...I also wonder if those Tric cases might be the best cold-climate bet...