Inexpensive cure for fret sprout.

[OKCtodd71]

Hello all,
Here in OKC we've had weather much colder than we normally experience. Due to colder temps my home heat has been running pretty much constantly (68*) in addition to a gas radiant heater in the living room fireplace. My Les Paul fret ends went from glassy smooth to broken glass as my hygrometer dropped from 45-50% humidity down to 35%. I always leave it on a stand ready for to be picked up many times a day. I looked for a Herco case humidifier locally and when I struck out I simply took a new Scotchbrite pad (no sponge) wet it, shaking off excess then poked multiple holes into one side of a plastic sandwich bag. I placed that behind the headstock in its case and set it down in a closet. A few days later humidity in the case is 48% and it feels like my guitar again.
I don't know if this would be enough to properly humidify an acoustic, tend to doubt it but it was a very easy fix for a solid body. I'll put up with keeping it its case during weather that keeps the heat on.
FWIW, when I lived in Florida, a guitar tech suggested keeping a guitar in a case with humidifier if needed (low humidity), and conversely NOT keeping it in a case if your home environment is high in humidity (like say, in Florida). Sort of makes sense.

[Dru Edwards]

That's what I do too, the "wet sponge in a perforated ziplock bag in the case" trick. Works great. Just check the sponge every day to see if it's dry and rewet. Once your room gets back to your standard humidity level then you can keep the Les Paul on the stand.

[rmp]

lack of humidity is not a friend to our instruments!

Good news that you were able to remedy that.

[Steve DeRosa]

I have a collection of sanding sponges (in progressive grit sizes) from the local Home Depot/Lowe's and sufficient woodworking skills to use them carefully, so as not to cause damage to any neck binding (or the finish where the fingerboard extends over the top of the instrument) - a couple applications over time not only eliminates the sharp edges, but provides a nice "broken-in" rolled edge that facilitates playing...