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#1
08-26-2020, 09:26 AM
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Guitar Construction RH%
Hey to all. I apologize in advance as I am sure this has been covered to great extent but my useless search skills can't seem to help me find a definitive answer.
What would an acceptable RH% range during construction and storage of tonewood stock (if different). Cheers, Nahil. 
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#3
08-26-2020, 01:08 PM
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As mentioned 45% is commonly accepted. I store most of my wood in the shop at 45% but some of it is in an unconditioned shed too. If I use from that then it comes into my controlled shop for a month before using. Two weeks is probably enough if stacked and stickered but I give it a month.
I have built guitars for people in desert climates and in that case I lower the RH to 35% for two weeks before bracing the top and closing the box.
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#4
08-26-2020, 01:46 PM
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I am NOT a luthier - but I would think it'd be advantageous to acclimatize your wood, and keep your workshop at the same RH as where your guitar will live its life.
If you live in Arizona and your typical in-home RH is 10%, why not acclimatize your wood at 10%, keep your workshop at 10%, and never have to worry about RH again for the life of the guitar? Same idea as when installing hardwood flooring! Except most folks prolly don't care about the "tone" of their hardwood flooring...
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#5
08-26-2020, 01:51 PM
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I do not really have a humidity controlled room, however, the normal range here is pretty much between 30% - 40% with the occasional increase to around 45%. Typically it does not deviate much from the range of 30%-40%.
Thanks for the advice.
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#7
08-27-2020, 06:02 AM
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Interesting discussion. I doubt that many Far East workshops are RH controlled (the Eastman videos on YouTube don't seem to be). And I don't know if shipping containers are RH controlled. Guitar shops over here are not RH controlled. And I don't personally have any guitar playing friend who keep their guitars in RH controlled environments at home (or in guitar cases).
For my home, a guitar used to 65% would be more like the norm.
__________________
I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band.
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#8
08-27-2020, 08:25 AM
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If you build a guitar in Vietnam and ship it to someone who lives in Arizona you most likely will have problems with it. If you build one in Arizona and ship it to Vietnam you probably won't.
It's one of those better safe then sorry best practices to always build in an average or lower then average RH. Gibson moved their acoustic production line to Bozeman MT for that reason.
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#9
08-27-2020, 11:10 AM
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thats great news for me with an RH% that rarely exceed 45% in my workshop
 I guess being on the lower side of RH% is the safer approach to accommodate changes in RH.I did have a problem previously where I had ordered a top from LMI and there must have been a period of high humidity when I decided to brace the top (I was not keeping a tab on RH% then). Long story short, after bracing I left the top for an extended period of time (almost a year) and now in my relatively stable 35-45% room the top has a constant back bow.
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