Guitar humidifiers - another thing I didn't know I needed

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by JBCROTTY

Unless you live in the desert or in a northern latitude cold climate during winters where you heat your house to stay warm (which dries out the air), you are likely ok. The UK is likely fairly temperate with higher humidity due to its geography. You will likely not need to humidify.

JB - I live in the UK, about 150 miles north of the OP. Our outside winter temperatures range from freezing to 12C (mid-50s F) and we most certainly do need to heat our homes from around the end of October through to March/April. My experience is that, if the OP has CH in his home, he will almost certainly need to humidify during the heating season.

Whilst our climate in general is pretty temperate, the hot-water radiator CH systems we predominantly have here dry out the air in the home, and home-humidification systems are not common here.

In the winter of 2004/5, before I educated myself about the effects of low RH on solid-wood instruments, I kept my Martin J-40 out on a stand throughout the winter and, by February/March, it had become unplayable - the top had sunk, and the action became so low that the the strings buzzed all over the neck - it was unplayable. Fortunately, there were no cracks. My local luthier advised keeping the guitar cased with an in-case humidifier - it took three to four weeks for the top to return to normal and the action to get back to where it had been originally.

Since then, I have room-hygrometers in the rooms where I keep my guitars, and case-hygrometers in the cases. As soon as room-RH drops below 45%, the guitars are cased, and as soon as the RH in the cases gets in to the low 40s, the humidifiers go in. While the RH in the cases stays in range without humidification, of course, I don’t humidify but, once it drops out of range, I get the humidifiers in.

It’s each to his own, of course, but since my bad experience fifteen years ago, I’ve taken no chances and I’ve never had any further problems. I’d recommend the OP to at least put hygrometer(s) where his guitars are stored, and if and when RH drops to 40-ish, to seriously consider humidifying.

I know some owners of very expensive, high-end guitars over here who don’t bother taking precautions during the winter, and they’ve never had a problem. But my philosophy for the past fifteen years has been, “in-case hygrometers and humidifiers are cheap, why risk an expensive instrument?” - it’s worked for me.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[nikpearson]

And my advice is you can do without humidifiers/dehumidifiers unless you insist on keeping guitars out of their cases throughout the year.

Typical Relative Humidity (RH) inside a U.K. home is in the Goldilocks zone of 40-60%. Whilst changes across this range may change the setup slightly they won’t cause any damage to your guitar. In summer the RH inside homes can get above 60%; on cold winter days, when heating is on, it can also get below 40%. That’s where keeping your instruments in their cases proves useful. The case acts as a buffer, significantly reducing these variations.

I say all of the above from experience. Having used in case humidifiers I found they became mouldy and my guitars a little over-humidified. Whilst this is potentially less damaging than the guitar being too dry, it’s far from ideal.

Over the years I’ve owned a wider variety of steel-string and classical guitars including some very lightly built instruments. None have ever had humidity issues. More recently I began building guitars: my workshop is between 45-50% RH with a dehumidifier - it doesn’t have to work very hard at all to maintain this level. My rationale here being that if the guitar is built at this close humidity tolerance it will be ‘comfortable’ in the typical 40-60% RH range.

The only other advice I’d offer is to buy a couple of inexpensive hygrometers. That way you can confirm what’s been said above.

[DownUpDave]

First step is to buy one or two accurate hygrometers. Find out what the real humidity level is inside your house then you will know if you need to take any kind of action or not.

[The Bard Rocks]

Many times a player does not ever need to watch humidity. There are plenty of folks who have never done so and never had a difficulty. Just as there are those who have suffered from reduced playability and tone to immense cracks. The problem is that none of us know which it will be. It is better to spend a couple of bucks and have peace of mind.

In general, the more expensive your instrument is, the more care that it needs. The cost and effort of proper humidification begins to pale when compared to the cost and likelihood of what might happen.

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by Goodallboy

...I simply use a sponge in a baggie with a few holes as needed....

Same here - in every case under the headstock. In time it humidifies throughout the case.

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

....So you are humidifying the case as well as the guitar....

Right. The interior of a case will hold a lot of that humidity. Keep the case closed then you're got the guitar out for a strum.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks

Many times a player does not ever need to watch humidity. There are plenty of folks who have never done so and never had a difficulty. Just as there are those who have suffered from reduced playability and tone to immense cracks. The problem is that none of us know which it will be. It is better to spend a couple of bucks and have peace of mind.

In general, the more expensive your instrument is, the more care that it needs. The cost and effort of proper humidification begins to pale when compared to the cost and likelihood of what might happen.

Bingo! Right on the button!

In the summer, when room RH ranges mid-40% to high 50s, I’m happy to leave guitars out on stands.

Since my bad experience with a drying-out Martin during the winter, I no longer leave things to chance over the heating-season. I have hygrometers in the rooms I keep my guitars in and also in the cases, and I monitor the RH. When the room RH falls to low 40s, the guitars go in the cases, and when the RH in the cases falls to low 40s, the humidifiers go in.

The RH in my house since the middle of November has been between 34% - 39%, due to having the CH running, and my guitars have been cased since then. The in-case RH began to dip to 40%-ish at the beginning of January, and the humidifiers went in to the cases. In-case RH has ranged 45-48% since that point. 45% - 48% RH is the ‘golden-zone’ for a guitar, and there’s no ‘over-humidification’ going on.

I have no problem if others are happy to ‘chance it’ - their guitars, their choice, and I wish them good luck. But I prefer to monitor, and take action when necessary, in order to be confident that my guitars are healthy over the heating season. My guitars, my choice.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[Lakewood_Lad]

Thanks to all for your replies.

As a starter I'm going to get one of those weather station things that includes a humidity sensor and keep it in the room where I keep my guitars. The readings from that will determine what further action (if any) I need to take.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by Lakewood_Lad

Thanks to all for your replies.

As a starter I'm going to get one of those weather station things that includes a humidity sensor and keep it in the room where I keep my guitars. The readings from that will determine what further action (if any) I need to take.

Yep, that’s the way to start things. If the room-RH is in range (say low-40s to high-50s) you’re good to go - don’t humidify. That’s my spring/summer/autumn fallback position. If or when the room-RH starts to run below the low-40s, it’s time to act.

Remember also that the effects of low RH don’t happen in a few hours or even a few days - it could be weeks or months before a guitar begins to display any ill-effects, or it may never do so, so don’t sweat it if it drops for a day or two and then swings back into range - your guitar(s) won’t crumble to a pile of sawdust!

I ‘get’ where the “I’ve never bothered with humidification and my guitars are fine” brigade are coming from - that was my philosophy too...until my guitar wasn’t ‘fine’. Now, I prefer to remove doubt and take precautions. There’s a reason why builders advise monitoring RH and maintaining it within a certain range for the well-being of their instruments. They’re clever guys who know stuff...

Hope all goes well for you...

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[wguitar]

Do the D'addario Humidipak's work good ?

[cap217]

Humidipacks work fine. In the bad winter months when it gets really dry I see my guitars get to 43%. I have a hydrometer in every case and watch them. Remember that the case itself holds moisture and helps keep the guitar over 40%. I have never had a guitar drop below 40%.

What is interesting is that the humidipacks get hard quicker in the dry months (obviously) yet the meter in the case doesnt seem effected that much if at all. I started using the oasis in case humidifer with humidipacks and still, I stick in the low 40% range. Its not like doing both makes these jump to 50%.

I do have a couple questions for experienced users that track the readings...

- Do the oasis and humidipack systems work the same for you?
- Anyone else double up like I do? I wonder if that just extends the life vs raise humidity?

[The Watchman]

In the US, forced air gas or electric furnaces are the common ways to heat homes, which is a very dry heat. So it may be a different situation in the UK.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by JayBee1404

I ‘get’ where the “I’ve never bothered with humidification and my guitars are fine” brigade are coming from - that was my philosophy too...until my guitar wasn’t ‘fine’. Now, I prefer to remove doubt and take precautions.

Maintaining the environment - specifically relative humidity - where your instruments live is, in short, an insurance policy. It has to do with one's relative comfort with risk.

The lower you allow the relative humidity to drop, the greater the risk that the instrument will suffer undesirable consequences - cracks, changes in playability, exposed fret ends, etc. Some instruments might not be damaged/altered by lower humidity, others will. Which one(s) do you have?

One way to find out is to expose them to lower humidities: if they crack, you have one or more that will. If you are okay with that risk, don't bother maintaining their humidity levels. (No, I'm not advocating not maintaining humidity levels on expensive instruments.)

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by The Watchman

In the US, forced air gas or electric furnaces are the common ways to heat homes, which is a very dry heat.

"Heat" is neither "wet" nor "dry". Take any enclosed volume of air, add heat, do not add moisture, and the relative humidity will decrease.

If one adds moisture while heating the air, the relative humidity can be maintained or increased.

Many home heating systems heat the air but do not add moisture. It does not matter what the heating source is - gas, electric, wood fire, solar, nuclear... - if you don't add moisture to the air while heating, the relative humidity will decrease.

While outdoor winter humidity levels might be 65% or more, as that air is heated from its outdoor temperature to indoor comfort levels, the relative humidity drops, often to 30% or less. We add moisture to the heated air to increase its relative humidity to more comfortable/safe levels. There are numerous ways to add moisture to the heated indoor air.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by charles Tauber

Maintaining the environment - specifically relative humidity - where your instruments live is, in short, an insurance policy. It has to do with one's relative comfort with risk.

The lower you allow the relative humidity to drop, the greater the risk that the instrument will suffer undesirable consequences - cracks, changes in playability, exposed fret ends, etc. Some instruments might not be damaged/altered by lower humidity, others will. Which one(s) do you have?

One way to find out is to expose them to lower humidities: if they crack, you have one or more that will. If you are okay with that risk, don't bother maintaining their humidity levels. (No, I'm not advocating not maintaining humidity levels on expensive instruments.)

Thanks for that Charles - I’m in absolute agreement.

[cap217]

Another thing that happens is the setup goes out of whack. The humidity effects this by shrinking the wood or expanding the wood. Action height changes and is noticeable.