Just another humidity issue

[Mike4mus6]

So I have some questions on humidity.
Have a 6 month old J-45 which lives inside case when not playing.
Recently took it to a tech who, when he opened the case, the Planet Waves dealy showed 70% humidity…..he said that’s not good…
Do I need a dehumidifier? Should I take my Humidipaks out of the case along with the hydrometer with the sponge in? Can the case be the issue, if so what can be done with it?
Live in coastal Ventura area. Today humidity is 63 outside.
I really do not want my J-45 to start doing crazy stuff if I could prevent it.
The hydrometer showed 70% when I took it out of the case this morning…the humidity showed 63% setting outside the case an hour after guitar came out.

I’ve seen some of the humidity questions, and seems it usually focuses on lower rather than high humidity.

Thank you for suggestions.

[fpuhan]

High humidity isn't really any better (or worse) than low humidity on guitars. There's an old line that says something like, "Your guitar still thinks it's a tree."

The wood in guitars is typically dried and aged before being shaped into the instrument we know today. That wood is usually kept in temperature and humidity controlled rooms.

Thus, when you take it out of its case, it's been "conditioned" to the degree that the wood has "settled" into its playable state. Thus, when it gets too dry, warping and fret sprout can occur. If it gets too damp, the guitar begins to sound dull and mushy.

It's a good idea to keep our guitars in as stable an environment as we can.

[pagedr]

You're in coastal CA, from my experience out there you really don't need anything. I lived by the coast in the LA area and my guitars hung on the wall year round with zero issues. There would be a week here or there where I'd run a small dehumidifier, but generally could just let them be with no worries.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by pagedr

You're in coastal CA, from my experience out there you really don't need anything. I lived by the coast in the LA area and my guitars hung on the wall year round with zero issues. There would be a week here or there where I'd run a small dehumidifier, but generally could just let them be with no worries.

That certainly is not the case here in Belmont Shore/Long Beach. Admittedly we're virtually on the beach but I haven't seen humidity levels below 70% all year and at times as high as 80%. We are nothing short of soaked I will say my old haunt up in the Valley was always delightfully even keel humidity and I never worried. But here on the beach, we're a universe away from neutral. Where did you live??

[pagedr]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

That certainly is not the case here in Belmont Shore/Long Beach. Admittedly we're virtually on the beach but I haven't seen humidity levels below 70% all year and at times as high as 80%. We are nothing short of soaked I will say my old haunt up in the Valley was always delightfully even keel humidity and I never worried. But here on the beach, we're a universe away from neutral. Where did you live??

I was in Hermosa/Manhattan Beach. It's been two years since I lived in CA but my apartment three blocks off the ocean was basically always right around 50-55% humidity.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by Mike4mus6

So I have some questions on humidity.
Have a 6 month old J-45 which lives inside case when not playing.
Recently took it to a tech who, when he opened the case, the Planet Waves dealy showed 70% humidity…..he said that’s not good…
Do I need a dehumidifier? Should I take my Humidipaks out of the case along with the hydrometer with the sponge in? Can the case be the issue, if so what can be done with it?
Live in coastal Ventura area. Today humidity is 63 outside.
I really do not want my J-45 to start doing crazy stuff if I could prevent it.
The hydrometer showed 70% when I took it out of the case this morning…the humidity showed 63% setting outside the case an hour after guitar came out.

I’ve seen some of the humidity questions, and seems it usually focuses on lower rather than high humidity.

Thank you for suggestions.

As mentioned above, I have a terrible high-humidity problem down here in Long Beach. Despite humidipaks and keeping them always in their cases, my guitars sounded like wet socks.

It was a tad costly, but I finally solved the problem with an Ikea Havsta Glass Door Cabinet. I found some info online on how to set up the cabinet for dehumidifying properly, and it's not only a pretty good-looking cabinet (as Ikea goes) that shows off my guitars well, but with a tiny dehumidifier I got from Amazon, it locks humidity levels at 50% on the nose.

As I mentioned, it was a bit costly. If memory serves, it totaled about $280.00. The other issue is it only holds one guitar at a time, so I'm forced to rotate. Rotating does work, however, that and the guitars that suffer the biggest soaking get more attention and more rotations.

Works for me

[Robin, Wales]

I live in a part of the world where the RH in my house is over 60% year round. I use the Boveda High Absorbancy packs (4 inside my guitar case - two under the headstock and two hanging off the strings in the sound hole). This system keeps my case between 50% and 55% RH. I'm pretty pleased with how well it works considering the high RH in my house.

PS. I only use this system for my D-18. I let my other two guitars (plywood b/s) just live with the high humidity year round in gig bags and neither is showing any signs of over humidification.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by pagedr

I was in Hermosa/Manhattan Beach. It's been two years since I lived in CA but my apartment three blocks off the ocean was basically always right around 50-55% humidity.

Who'd a thunk?

[Mike4mus6]

Thank you all for the suggestions and practical advice on what works for you.

I love the idea of the glass case with little dehumidifier hooked up.

I heard boveda paks supposedly work better than the Dadarrio’s ??

I do not want to be a nervous Nellie but definitely want to do everything that I can to protect my guitars.

Thanks again

[jseth]

You live in one of the most "acoustic guitar friendly" climates on the planet... if you leave your guitar out on a stand, it will be just fine... there are a couple weeks of the year that might get a little dry and a couple weeks where it might get a little wetter than the norm, but really, you do NOT have to "worry" about humidity.

When I've had high humidity for weeks on end, my hand-built acoustics can sound a little bit like someone stuffed rags inside them; kind of dampens the normal chime and ring of the instrument... but it's not really dangerous to your guitar.

Keep an eye on the neck relief; for me, when the guitars get in high humidity, the set of the necks tend to increase (higher action at the 12th fret). When that happens, a slight tweak of the truss rod is all it takes to get everything back in order. When the climate dries out a bit, you may want to be sure there's enough relief in the neck set.

The truss rod is not really for adjusting the action of the guitar, BUT having the proper relief in the neck is the first step in setting up the action properly. If the only issue is bit too much relief, then the truss rod is where to go for the first step.

I will add that, for the past 40+ years, I have owned, played and gigged with nothing but hand-built instruments. I would not take a chance with any of them if there were a danger from the humidity on the West Coast - and I've lived up and down the West Coast primarily, for most of my life... I like it here!

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by Mike4mus6

I heard boveda paks supposedly work better than the Dadarrio’s ??


Thanks again

I don't think that D'Addario sell the 49% High Absorbancy (HA) marked packs? These are different from the standard 49% packs, which are meant for generally adding moisture to your instrument. The HA packs look almost exactly the same apart from the small print, but are designed to generally remove moisture from your instrument. I have found that, in the UK, the HA packs are a little more difficult to find, as most guitar shops only stock the standard packs.

Tubby sound.... I do wonder if this is more to do with sound travelling through damp air than the moisture content of the wood in the guitar. From my experience, if you take a properly humidified guitar into a humid environment it immediately sounds a bit "tubby". This sound change is far too quick for the moisture content in the woods to have moved, as that is a fairly slow process.

[RodB]

For a few years I have used Silica Gel to keep the RH in my guitar cases around 45%. Most of the year there is high humidify here - over 70% at the moment. The case(s) makes a lot of difference -I have Hiscox cases. It’s very easy to manage and cheap.

BTW, it is true that RH affects the transmission of sound in air, but the effect is very slight over short distances and counter-intuitive in that high frequency attenuation increases with falling RH.

[Sadie-f]

You said sponge? Are you using that along with humidipaks? The sponge can probably release water vapor faster than the packs can take it in.

Are you maybe using the humidipak "restore" version? Those will source 75% RH if memory serves.

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by Mike4mus6

Thank you all for the suggestions and practical advice on what works for you.

I love the idea of the glass case with little dehumidifier hooked up.

I heard boveda paks supposedly work better than the Dadarrio’s ??

I do not want to be a nervous Nellie but definitely want to do everything that I can to protect my guitars.

Thanks again

Boveda makes the D’Addario packs, so the Humidipaks themselves are exactly the same. As Robin notes, Boveda makes different versions in addition the standard 49% packs, which is what the D’Addario packs are. They also make a version for low humidity to condition a case (the “restore” version Sadie mentioned), and a version for high humidity to provide extra absorption.

I had a pack that started to seep through the outer lining so I cut it open to see what the material inside is made of. It’s a slurry of salt and water and probably some other stuff to hold it together. My understanding is that the standard pack is biased to more “full” than 50%, which is why it doesn’t work so well in overly humid environments.

What I’m puzzled by in your first post is why the relative humidity in the case is higher than it is in the room. You mention that you have a “hydrometer with the sponge in” in the case—are you adding moisture to the sponge? If anything, the relative humidity in a sealed case with just a guitar and standard 49% Humidipaks in it should be slightly lower than the outside, because the Humidipaks should be absorbing something. The only other explanation that I can think of—if you aren’t adding moisture with the sponge—is that the humidity was even higher for a spell, and the case retained some of that moisture. Otherwise, it sounds like you are adding moisture unnecessarily, and the Humidipaks are overwhelmed.

You could get the high humidity Humidipaks that Robin suggested, or silica gel packets. A room dehumidifier (often solved by air conditioning) is another option, but if your windows are open that won’t work. A dehumidifier in a display case also works, but if the relative humidity is in the low 60s, you probably don’t need to go to that length. While 64% RH is on the high side from “optimal,” if the room is stable at that level, the guitar will eventually acclimate

[abn556]

I run a dehumidifier in my music room set at 45%. The AC is also running all day as well as its 100+ here every day with high humidity in the overnight and early AM hours. I was having fret sprout trouble on my guitars a few years ago due to winter dry out and summer swell up. The 35 pint/day Midea cube/bucket dehumidifiers for less than $150 on Amazon work perfect for a music room. Its a small investment to make to protect your guitars and amps..

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