Can instrument get used to dry or humid environment?

[kkrell]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I've chatted with a luthier from southern Colorado who builds at 25-30% RH, since most of his market is word-of-mouth regional with similarly dry conditions (CO, AZ, UT, NM). Build at 30%, live at 30% - no problem. It saves him the considerable trouble of conditioning his shop to 45% RH, and he warns his customers thusly.

Those guitars would definitely NOT do well in Florida or Hawaii at 90% RH.

That luthier sounds a little like Don Musser. When he was in the Grass Valley, CA area in 1980, I think he was building at about 28% RH.

I have antique wood flutes built in England 150 years ago & while they may respond or sound best when kept humidified in their cases, they've been pretty structurally stable in Southern California conditions.

[Henning]

Originally Posted by dneal

Keep in mind that it is the change in humidity, not the particular humidity.

RH.

Thank you dneal for reminding about this important matter.

[DesertTwang]

Originally Posted by Henning

Hello, well a simple question; in what degree might a string instrument get used to a dry or humid environment?

I don't think instruments adjust at all. They either can tolerate the changes that they are being subjected to or not, but there is no magical transformation or "training effect" going on.

When I was 8 years old, I used to ride my bike through very rough terrain, in an attempt to make it tougher and more stable.

An older friend then explained to me the flawed ways of my thinking.

[Henning]

Originally Posted by SoCalSurf

Adaptation is reserved for living things.

So a solid top stringed instrument is "dead", is it?

[Steve DeRosa]

Absolutely - I've seen 200+ year-old orchestral strings that have maintained their structural/sonic integrity, bearing in mind that for most of their lives they would have been in a far less climate-controlled (and potentially far more variable) playing/storage environment than we enjoy today...

The secret : Properly. Sawn. Seasoned. And. Aged. Air. Dried. Woods. - something every luthier worth his/her salt has known for the last six centuries or so...

No reason whatsoever it can't be done today - unless of course brand-name market saturation (and enough discretionary cash to fund some very expensive hobbies) is one's primary goal...

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by dneal

Keep in mind that it is the change in humidity, not the particular humidity.

If you seasoned your lumber in a particular environment, whether rain forest or desert, then built your guitar and kept it in that same environment; you would see very little distortion (relatively speaking)

It's not practical to build guitars for the environment they'll be in, so they're built in a controlled environment with a "happy medium" RH.

I think dneal has something here, whilst I doubt that there are absolutes in this, I suspect that it is relatively fast RH changes that cause, let's say, more damage, than slow changes.

I have no empiric knowledge in this, and RH is less of an issue in the UK, but it is an issue which causes changes in action and set ups - I have this issue with two of my best guitars which are, I think, the lightest built.

I don't know of anyone who has experienced a crack in the UK in/on a guitar built anywhere in the world.

Anyway, that is my theory ... which is my own (cough).

[Henning]

Hello, I had some years ago a talk with a violin maker/luthier and he said that instruments agreeable are well at temp. and humidity where humans are comfortable too.
Now I find troubles with my nostrils. They get dry and I get some blood out, dry boogers etc.
I found that when I run the moisturizer, not only that it makes a noise and consumes electric current, I get a not that nice humidity in the room too. The sheets tend to stick to my body cold and uncomfy. Then there is 35% RH at 21C :-/

[printer2]

Wood is plastic to an extent, it can deform over time due to stress. That is why guitars need neck resets. Over time with many normal-dry humidity cycles I can see a guitar that might be able to tolerate dry environments better. But a lot has to do with the wood that the guitar is made of and the original amount of stress built into the guitar.

[Bruce Sexauer]

Originally Posted by musicwu

I've heard different reference point from different luthiers and they all seem to be pretty confident with their experience.

One says after 2 years of normal play (in a proper humidity range), you don't need to worry about humidity anymore.

one says after 20 years



Am I convinced that guitars will become inert to humidity? Well, they know more than I do, so to some extent.

But , does it mean I won't humidify my guitars after 2 or even 20 years? NO!!!!

From my own reasoning, given the 18 year discrepancy, I believe their reference points have more to do with individual guitars than guitars in general. So to be safe, I'll take care of my 'good' guitars in the proper humidity range.

But 20 years is just too much to worry about.

If you will just tell us which Luthiers said these ridiculous things, we will pull their licenses.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Henning

Hello, I had some years ago a talk with a violin maker/luthier and he said that instruments agreeable are well at temp. and humidity where humans are comfortable too.
Now I find troubles with my nostrils. They get dry and I get some blood out, dry boogers etc.
I found that when I run the moisturizer, not only that it makes a noise and consumes electric current, I get a not that nice humidity in the room too. The sheets tend to stick to my body cold and uncomfy. Then there is 35% RH at 21C :-/

Hi H…

Orchestral instruments (including violins) are made of thicker wood than guitars/lutes, and most 300-400 yr old violins have fared fare better than guitars/citrons/lutes from the same time periods. And most of the ones we do have which are playable are kept in carefully humidity/temperature controlled environments in museums.

[H165]

Over my 55 years of owning guitars I'd say consistency is more important that RH. Dramatic and swift changes seem to cause the most humidity damage.

[jseth]

It seems fairly obvious that an instrument that becomes accustomed to a particular climate/temp/humidity range would become more-or-less acclimatized to that spectrum...

That's been my experience. I live, currently, in Northwest-ish Oregon. it's WET here, a lot of the year... in my little home, humidity is generally between 50-60 %rh, but it can go much higher for periods, and sometimes even dip down into the high 20's for short periods in the winter.

Once I had been in the area (actually came from a similar climate) for a bit, I check my guitars to "see how they're doing"... if the neck set (bow) has increased or decreased, I tend to that... I check out the tops and bridges and just general overall stability.

When everything's set, then I just keep them around and play, maybe check them out once more to be sure nothing's shifted... and then, they'll pretty much stay right where they are, unless there's some radical shift in the weather...

So, yeah, they get used to where I live. I keep them out on stands in my one-room tiny home and they get played when I want.

Now, if you are asking if a guitar will ever be "okay" without any adjustment while living in 15%rh or 75#rh sort of numbers? Nope... wood is wood and it will react the way that wood does... gets overly dry and it cracks; gets overly wet and it swells...

I guess what I mean to say is that NO ONE gets a "free pass" as an acoustic guitarist, unless you just don't give a darn about your guitar...

[tadol]

Wood does not like extremes of RH no matter what - so avoid those. It also does not respond well to rapid changes in RH, which does not usually happen in a natural environment, but with heating and AC systems, they can occur too easily. But if the changes are gradual, and not extreme, most instruments should hold up pretty well. That said, this is one area where well chosen quartersawn wood can truly show its worth -

[MikeBmusic]

Your EARS get used to the sound....

[1Charlie]

Here in the mid-Atlantic states, we have a wide range of humidity conditions throughout the year. There is no way to "build to the climate" because the climate can be 90% RH on a summer day, and 20% on a cold, clear winter day.

Some guitars will sound like crap at 90%, others will sound OK. Some will crack at 20%, others won't.

Best to keep them in the AC whenever possible during the summer and in a humidified room in the winter to reduce the swings in humidity.

Having said that, I have guitars from the '30's and '40's that are somehow crack-free, from the days before AC and humidification.