"Newbie" questions on dehumidifying overly wet guitars

[NOTP]

Hi all,

Been playing for nearly 14 years and always kept guitars in their cases when not being used. I had never cared about humidity until now, due to an over-humidified Yamaha FG720S-12 that I'm trying to fix.

I live in an area where summers are frequently very humid, almost always over 70%, and over 90% during rainy/stormy days like today.

This evening I bought a BIOS hygrometer (as pictured below) from Walmart and the humidity inside the case of the Yamaha guitar is 69%. I also tested the humidity inside the case of my Taylor K14c and it was 72%.



I followed an AGF tip for putting uncooked rice in a sock, tying off the top of the sock, and putting it as an inexpensive and effective dehumidifier inside the guitar case with each guitar. I plan to monitor both guitars/cases daily. Balled up, the end of the sock (with rice inside) is slightly smaller than my fist (and I have small hands). I hope that's a good amount, as I used more than the recommended amount given in the link I just provided since my humidity is high. Hopefully the rice will gradually absorb the excess moisture until I can get both cases to just under 50% humidity.

Here come the dumb questions.

1) I only have one hygrometer, as I bought it just to try it out. Do people normally have one hygrometer per case? Right now, I plan to switch the hygrometer over to the other case every day and let it acclimatize for a few minutes before taking my daily readings of both cases.

2) The hygrometer doesn't turn off or go to sleep, and there is no power switch. So I suppose I'm to leave it running constantly inside the guitar case, draining the battery?

3) I've read that some people put homemade dehumidifiers (their rice-sock) in the headstock region of the case, while others put theirs in the area by the neck heel. Which do you prefer, and why?

4) I imagine the rice being unsafe to cook and eat after this dehumidification process? It's absorbing moisture and I'm guessing that will encourage microbial growth, so I'll discard the rice after I achieve proper relative humidity just under 50%. Is the sock reusable (if laundered) for future dehumidifications with fresh uncooked rice?

5) I have a Taylor GS Mini and Taylor 110 that are in Taylor hardbags, not hardshell cases like the above guitars. Are gigbags as effective buffers/shields against ambient humidity as hardshell cases are? Recall that I always keep my guitars in their cases when not being used.

Thanks in advance!

[WaddyT]

You can buy silica gel packs and also loose silica gel in jars on Amazon, and I'm sure in other places like big box stores etc. It would be better than rice, as it can be dried back out and re-used. I don't think you have a lot to worry about with the humidity levels in the range you have been experiencing. Most guitars like to be at a bit higher humidity than where they were built. It's the serious drying that is the most worrisome. Nothing wrong with keeping them at a bit lower humidity than what you said though, but you might want to check that hygrometer from WalMart. Those things are seriously unreliable.

[Paully]

A real man would eat the rice afterwards.

[NOTP]

What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.

Any suggestions for an inexpensive yet effective/accurate hygrometer? I have 90 days to return the merchandise to Walmart. The Planet Waves Hygrometer on Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...s%20hygrometer) costs CAD$48.63 but I was thinking of spending no more than half of that.

[charles Tauber]

If the string height you measured at the 12th fret really is 3/16", as you state in your linked thread, humidity is the least of your worries. To reduce that to an average playing height will require you to reduce the saddle height by 3/16", giving you 3/32". The photos appear to not have 3/16" of saddle height that can be reduced.

Relatively minor over-humidification won't cause the action issues you are experiencing. And, rice isn't a very effective desiccant.

[B. Howard]

Rice may work for cell phones but not guitars. I had a guitar this year that was left out in a thunderstorm. Another shop did the rice thing and then came to the conclusion the guitar was trash. A few months later it came here. I removed another 20cc of water from the instrument. I have a very tightly controlled environment and let the guitars sit in the rack in the work room until they reach equilibrium. Silica packs in the case can work, but you are also dehumidifying the case as well. And I seem to remember different silica packs that will equalize at different RH so care must be used and the instrument monitored.

As for those little electronic hygrometers, I Threw all mine away. Even the good ones that you can calibrate don't hold calibration that long. They change greatly as the battery loses charge and are just too unreliable for this work. There are mechanical dial types but I have no idea of actual accuracy. I monitor my shop environment with wet/dry bulb thermometers and use a psychometric chart to determine actual RH.

[WaddyT]

Brian is definitely right about the digital hygrometers. I have 4 in my shop, and none are closer than 10% at any given time. I also have an expensive whole house Thermostat with a hygrometer in it for the humidifier on my heating system, and it's off by nearly 15% most of the time. Unless you want to spend an awful lot on a hygrometer, it won't be very reliable. Some of the less expensive analog hygrometers that can be calibrated will work fine, but they do have to be calibrated regularly. The good "hair" type analog hygrometers will cost you more than $150 and are too big to fit in a case. They also have to be calibrated. I keep my Abbeon calibrated with a wet/dry thermometer and a chart as Brian does.

I still think, unless the instrument is really wet, humidity that averages in the 60 to 70% range is not an issue. Spikes into the 90's are not usually an issue. Indoor humidity, particularly in an air conditioned environment, are usually in the 50 - 60% range.

[B. Howard]

I agree with Waddy, guitars will live in the real world and even 70% RH isn't that extreme. In the old days before so many had air conditioning it was quite common for an acoustic guitar to have two saddles with it, one for summer and another for winter. This was to keep action relatively the same between the seasons and the changes in RH. Generally no real harm comes to a guitar from high RH, low RH is the guitar killer.