Humidity with an acoustic guitar

SantoP13 · #1 09-12-2013, 09:39 AM

I have a Taylor 114CE Acoustic/Electric guitar. I'm in western mass where it has been extremely humid. I'm a college student so I'm living in a dorm with no A/C and not able to have a dehumidifier. Any suggestions as to what I should do to keep my guitar in good condition? I can already notice the action rising a little.

charles Tauber · #2 09-12-2013, 09:44 AM

Your real challenge is going to come during winter as you struggle to keep the humidity high enough. That can be done with in-guitar/in-case humidifiers.

I wouldn't worry too much about the higher humidity levels now, as they won't last long, being September. No permanent damage will result from short-term exposure to higher humidity: permanent damage can result from low humidity.

#3 09-12-2013, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SantoP13

I have a Taylor 114CE Acoustic/Electric guitar. I'm in western mass where it has been extremely humid. I'm a college student so I'm living in a dorm with no A/C and not able to have a dehumidifier. Any suggestions as to what I should do to keep my guitar in good condition? I can already notice the action rising a little.

Right now where I live we're going through a monster rain/thunderstorm thing where rh is 85+. I use Planet Waves Humidipaks in the Hummingbird case and rh is running 49% in the case. Some people don't care for them, but they're designed to regulate rh correctly in both low and high humidity areas. In my experience (about 4 months in the Hummingbird case) they are working very well.

RustyAxe · #4 09-12-2013, 12:36 PM

I played a gig last night in southern CT ... and thought my D-18GE sounded dead. It's just a brief seasonal thing ... I don't worry about such temporary changes in humidity (it was 80' and 92% RH at show time!). You will have to humidify as soon as the weather cools, and I DO take steps to keep my guitars humidified during the cold, dry New England heating season.

MikeBmusic · #5 09-12-2013, 12:43 PM

I took the humidifiers out of my Taylor case the other day when I finally got a decent hygrometer and saw 70% RH in there! Yeah, its been real humid here in Mass. Today I looked and it was 76% in the case.

But its supposed to start drying out over the weekend, I'll just leave the case cracked open and monitor it.