How to care for a guitar in tropical climates?

[tlite]

Any advice and tips for caring for acoustic instruments in warm, high humidity, tropical climates?

I live in Florida and just want to make sure I'm doing what I can to keep my acoustic guitars from turning into mush.

All I'm aware of already is try to keep the guitars indoors, in the case, and use those little silica packs. Is there more to it than that?

[Rodger Knox]

High humidity may hurt the tone, but is unlikely to hurt the guitar, unless it's humid enough for mold to grow. You should be fine in Florida.
Low humidity can and will cause cracks, which is the big reason for humidity control.

[Dru Edwards]

Put a hygrometer in your case so you know the exact humidity when the guitar is in it. I'd also get another for the room just so you know.

Actually, high humidity can indeed harm your guitar. I don't live in FL, but it can still get pretty humid here in SC. I use a Frigidaire 70-pint dehumidifier and a Caliber III hygrometer to verify the humidity level in the room. I try to keep the humidity in the 45-50% range. I prefer to dehumidify the area the guitars are in, not just the case, so I can have them out of the case during use without worrying about it.

[Gmountain]

Are you running the a/c? I was told that if it's comfortable for you it's comfortable for your guitar.

[motojunky]

I have a friend in Orlando who has a Washburn acoustic. The action is ridiculously high - 1/4"+ at the 12th fret. When looking at the top, it looks swollen which has the bridge up higher than it should be. My guess is that it's due to prolonged high humidity.

It's unplayable to me, but he does just fine with it.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by GraceGuitars

Actually, high humidity can indeed harm your guitar. I don't live in FL, but it can still get pretty humid here in SC. I use a Frigidaire 70-pint dehumidifier and a Caliber III hygrometer to verify the humidity level in the room. I try to keep the humidity in the 45-50% range. I prefer to dehumidify the area the guitars are in, not just the case, so I can have them out of the case during use without worrying about it.

How does high humidity cause harm? The top & back will belly out in high RH, but they go back to normal when the guitar drys out. Is there something that causes permanent damage of which I'm not aware?

[tlite]

Originally Posted by Gmountain

Are you running the a/c? I was told that if it's comfortable for you it's comfortable for your guitar.

Pretty much always have the AC on. On nicer days, may have windows open, but those tend to be lower humidity days anyway.

45% humidity is tough for our house to get to just running the AC. Would require a dehumidifier probably. I think we're typically around 55 in the house?

Are there any warning signs to look for that show early stages of humidity impacting the guitar?

Definitely concerned about preserving tone, and structure of the guitar.

Thanks for the advice so far, everyone. Will need to pick up a hydrometer...

[evenkeel]

I live in Florida from Nov. to April, in Maryland (Chesapeake Bay area) the rest of the year. Both areas can be very hot and humid. Before we moved ashore we lived on a boat full time, splitting our years between the tropics and NE/Maritime Canada. We did this for 8 years. During our time aboard I had a Guild and later a Martin with us. Since we've moved ashore I've had many different acoustic guitars. I never did anything about excess humidity or the inverse. Damage from lack of humidity is well documented. My experience is even the very high humidity levels we had aboard had only a marginal effect on tone and no adverse structural effects on the guitar(s). The humidity levels you will see ashore even in hot, muggy Fla. summers should have no adverse affect on the guitar.

[Dave Abrahamson]

^^^^^^ Ditto from a fellow Floridian. Also as Gmountain said...if it's comfortable for you...it's comfortable for your guitar.

[noledog]

I was raised on the coast of Florida from south and now north (St. Aug/Jax)
...I gig/play outside 2 to 4 days a week, sometimes have my home windows open with guitars hanging/stands, sometimes not with AC on.

SO, all my guitars ('97 Lowden, '02 Goodall, '12 Tak, '14 D18) experience a bit of a rollercoaster of varying humidity levels usually from 40% to 65% inside with ac on to 100% outside...the worst thing I've experienced was some minimal swelling, and a bit of tone loss, then playin' on a cruise ship in the Carribean my fret edges were more noticable with some fret buzz.

So I try to do the best I can and I think the fact that at the worst or highest humidity times they have the least time exposed because gigs are 4 to 6 hours and the rest of the time at home they are back in better levels...it's a slow process and I think since these guitars have spent most of their life in Florida they have somewhat acclimated with common sense care.

Anyway, this has been my experience and again using common sense and avoiding rapid environment changes.

Best wishes and welcome to Florida!

eric

Originally Posted by Rodger Knox

How does high humidity cause harm? The top & back will belly out in high RH, but they go back to normal when the guitar drys out. Is there something that causes permanent damage of which I'm not aware?

https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/...aWetGuitar.pdf

Here's an excerpt:

While high humidity usually will not crack the wood the way low humidity can, the adverse effects can be just as damaging and sometimes can be more costly to repair. The wood in a guitar can swell tremendously, causing glue joints to fail, finish to lift, and neck angles to go bad. Distortions in the wood can remain even after other damage has been repaired, leaving the guitar cosmetically disfigured.

Also, as to those saying, "If it's comfortable for you, it's comfortable for your guitar." Well, I'm sorry, but I am comfortable in very low humidity. My guitar isn't. And I'm sure there are others who aren't bothered by high humidity. That's far too general and subjective of a guideline to go by. It's really not that hard to monitor and control humidity once you get a system down.

In any case, the point is you don't want prolonged exposure to either extreme.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by GraceGuitars

https://www.taylorguitars.com/sites/...aWetGuitar.pdf

Here's an excerpt:


Also, as to those saying, "If it's comfortable for you, it's comfortable for your guitar." Well, I'm sorry, but I am comfortable in very low humidity. My guitar isn't. And I'm sure there are others who aren't bothered by high humidity. That's far too general and subjective of a guideline to go by. It's really not that hard to monitor and control humidity once you get a system down.

In any case, the point is you don't want prolonged exposure to either extreme.

It is possible for humidity to cause damage as stated in the excerpt, but that level of humidity for a long enough period of time to cause that type of damage would also be pretty likely to grow mold.

[NEGuy]

I just relocated to Florida about six months ago, and I can tell you what I have done.

I have two hygrometers, and I soon realized that it was impossible (with only the AC) to get the humidity down to the mid 40s.

It was always in the upper 50s and 60s, and I was getting very definite bellying of the guitar top.

(It would be good if you knew what the measurement should be on the base and treble side of your guitar so you can know what kind of “convexity” you have now in relation to what it should be.)

Anyway, I did get a Frigidaire dehumidifier, but the principal way that I moderate the guitar’s humidity level is by using silica packs in the guitar case.

I have a hygrometer in there, and I keep the humidity level between 35 and 50%.

(My guitar was built at about 35% humidity.)

As the humidity level in the case progressively rises from 35 to 50%, I replace the silica packs with “fresh” ones.

I think this is the best place to purchase them:

http://www.silicagelpackets.com/sili...ets-dry-packs/

He sends them sealed in a larger plastic bag.

I remember spending about $40, so I think I got 10 of the 56 g silica gel packets (3.79 when you get 10 or more).

My wife picked up some nice small fabric bags at hobby lobby that pull nice and tight, and I have six of them in the guitar case at various places with the silica gel beads that I put in them.

So far, this has worked fine, and I think the amount of silica I purchased will last at least six months.

As you doubtless know, you can "reclaim" the beads by evaporating the absorbed water – if you're so inclined.

Also, be sure to store the extra desiccant in those Ball jars with the rubber seal on top!

Good luck.
.

[Gmountain]

I've lived in Florida for over 30 years. Lots of wood furniture around, but nothing has been damaged.

I'm not saying you guys are wrong, but it seems to me guitars have been around a lot longer than air conditioning and silica gel.

I don't imaging BB king had too much in the way of A/C when he was young, but he seemed to do alright. There were lots of guitars around 100 years ago.