Humidity Problem Please Help

[RussellHawaii]

Originally Posted by zach156

I would love to keep the guitar outside its case, but my RH rises at night–up to 75% recently! Maybe I'll just get a dehumidifier for my bedroom. Is there one that will kick on anytime the RH rises to a specific percentage?

I keep the whole music room in the desired range, with some weather stripping, and closed door most of the time. It then doesn’t change much day to night. And I keep the guitars on stands in that room, no case monitoring. I use a dehumidifier as needed or the ‘dry’ setting on my AC unit.
If the windows are closed at night and most of the day, and some sun gets in during the day, that’s pretty good by itself. Dry it out during the day and keep things closed at night. It stays 50-55% on average.
I live in an incredibly wet environment…50-80% RH outside all year. Good luck!

[Robin, Wales]

Come and live in wet West Wales

I have to stop my guitars trying to put down roots in the winter and bursting into leaf in the Spring! De-humidifying an 1830s stone house is not an option - I may as well be trying to de-humidify the Parish.

I have a Hiscox case for my D-18. Most of the time 4 packs of the Boveda HIGH ABSORBENCY pouches (yes, you can get them) are enough to keep the case at 50% to 55%. My storage room is normally 60%+ but recently it has been 70%+ - it is really wet outside but still warmish. So I have chucked 4 x 50g rechargeable silica gel packs into the case as well. They are having a little fight with the Boveda packs, and hopefully drying those out a bit so they work better when I take out the silica. The case is back to under 55%.

I'm away for a month or so soon. So I'll take out the silica gel packs and leave in the 4 x Boveda HA packs. As the temperature falls so will the room RH to around 60%. Those packs and a semitone de-tune should keep the case/guitar sweet while I'm away.

[rllink]

Originally Posted by zach156

I had no idea care would be this much of a headache. It really takes away from enjoying the instrument.

It doesn't have to be unless you let it.

[Scoobtay]

Originally Posted by rllink

It doesn't have to be unless you let it.

This. The best way to resolve this issue at hand is to take all the right paths to resolve it, and then STOP thinking about it.

Throw some silica packs in the case when it's wet season. Throw some humidity packs in the case when its dry season. Two that hang in the sound hole, one that sits below the headstock, and one in the "accessory receptacle" if you really want to go the extra mile.

I think about humidity every quarter, to see if packs need replaced. This above technique worked for 15 years in the dry Southwest, and is working equally well after a few years in the very wet Northwest!

[slooky]

Originally Posted by zach156

I am at my wit's end with humidity control. I've tried so many things and none of them work. Whenever I put my guitar in my case, regardless of whether I air the case out first and despite the presence of either silica packs or Boevda packs, the RH goes up by about 10% inside the case. I am at a loss. All I want to do is bring down the RH inside the case by about 10-15%. My last trial used 2, 50-gram silica packs inside the case, but about 20 hours later, my in-case hygrometer read about 10% increase in RH. HELP! I don't want to ruin my new all-wood guitar. I know some humidity exposure isn't the worst thing in the world, but I don't like the effect on tone that it has and I don't want any long-term exposure that would create bigger issues down the line. Most of all, I want the peace of mind of knowing that, when not in use, I have a safe storage space for my guitar. I had no idea care would be this much of a headache. It really takes away from enjoying the instrument.

Curious where you live? Is it a high humidity area?

[bcgroove]

If the case is too humid try this.
Give the case a 15 minute blow dry with a hair dryer. Let cool before casing the guitar. Repeat every day until the desired effects are achieved.

I keep my guitars hanging on the wall next to a hygrometer. I have a humidifier so can control when it gets too dry. I don't have a de-humidifer so the guitars go in the case with Boveda packs when too humid. The Boveda packs are always in the case. My issue with Boveda is, it's easy to tell when they are drying out but how do you know when they have absorbed their max.

Bob

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by zach156

At the time, I believe inside the case it read 69 RH and about 50 outside.

Hi zach
Unless you live by an ocean or desert, and your doors are open 24/7, the humidity outside your residence is going to be different than inside all the time.

Unless you have air-conditioning, a humidifier system built into your heating system, or free-standing humidifiers…the humidity inside will vary up/down constantly. Your artificial atmosphere inside the case will even out the day-to-day changing levels inside your residence.

The 50%-69% you mentioned is beyond safe (and on the high side). Actually if the house (outside your case) is 45% or above constantly, you don't actually need in-case humidification…cases without internal humidification acclimate themselves to the room/residence levels. When we used to travel for 6-8 weeks at a time in our RV, there were areas where the climate would produce 40-50% humidity inside the RV so I'd discontinue humidifying cases. Any higher levels and the guitars began to sound like they were stuffed full of socks.

In areas where people are in oceanic and seasonal monsoon conditions, the high humidity threatens to produce mold inside cases. So does over-humidifying inside cases. Moderation is in order.

Humidity change effects are slow to impact guitars. Changes occur over weeks/months, not hours/days. Guitars absorb humidity slowly (and release it slowly).

When emergency humidification of instruments is done on a daily basis (to close up cracks before repairing them for instance), it takes a couple weeks for the effects of intense over-humidifying to be measurable/seen.

[guitarsforlife]

Very helpful to know! Thanks.