Out of sight, out of mind...

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by golfreggie

I wonder if guitar players in, let's say, 1915 era, if they took precautions against humidity. I wonder if they even knew it could be an issue or if they just set it up against a wall at home and picked it up and played it.

Makes one wonder where all the guitars from the "old days" are today? Are they all stashed away under beds and in closets or are most of them broken, worn out, cracked or been thrown away? You don't see many old guitars for sale yet there must have been millions of them made over many years.

[JakeStone]

In winter here in NC, I use a humidifier and it works just fine.

I keep my main acoustic out on stand and when not home it's simply tucked safely in it's case.

[Bob from Brooklyn]

Hmmm... pre-war, pre-humidifier

[jaymarsch]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Makes one wonder where all the guitars from the "old days" are today? Are they all stashed away under beds and in closets or are most of them broken, worn out, cracked or been thrown away? You don't see many old guitars for sale yet there must have been millions of them made over many years.

I used to attend a steel string guitar show that was held at the Marin County Civic Center and I can tell you that a lot of guitars from the "old days" would show up there in all sorts of conditions. A place to get a good deal if you know how to evaluate old guitars that have been around the block a few times. I saw a Martin D-18 there once with the worst case of beltbuckle-itis that I had ever seen.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread...

Best,
Jayne

[Nyghthawk]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Makes one wonder where all the guitars from the "old days" are today? Are they all stashed away under beds and in closets or are most of them broken, worn out, cracked or been thrown away? You don't see many old guitars for sale yet there must have been millions of them made over many years.

Going through my mother's things before she went into assisted living she stated that she had her uncle's fiddle up in the closet. Now her closets were full of everything imaginable so I thought "what a cool thing to have!" We got it down and the wood was cracked so badly in came in two pieces when I picked it up. It was a 1910-1915 Montgomery Ward special so it was no big loss...still.

I think the same kind of thing is likely to have happened to all those guitars from "the old days."

[merlin666]

With arrival of a new kitten two years ago all my instruments went off the stands and back into cases. After one winter with a room humidifier (which was a pain to operate and left white residue all over) this also meant going back to seven (soon to be eight) soundhole humidifers. I usually refill the humidifiers on the weekends, and therefore have to open up each case and as it's open also give each instrument some play. Otherwise I maintain a rotation where those with the newest strings are in the living room for easiest access, and those with older strings in other rooms. Of course my dream is a bigger house with a dedicated music room that is off limits to kittens, is set to perfect humidity, and has all instruments and other tools and perfect seating. It would probably get more use than my living room ...

[tbeltrans]

If the OP is that concerned as to want to keep his guitars in their cases all winter, then the solution is simple. As one other poster mentioned earlier in this thread, get a decent carbon fiber guitar.

That is exactly what I did because I have similar concerns about humidity in the winter, having experience the occasional wood cracking. I have a McPherson Touring carbon fiber guitar, along with a couple of original CA Guitars Cargos. I much prefer small body/sort scale guitars, and find these the most comfortable to play.

Carbon fiber guitars are maintenance free, other than the occasional string change, impervious to humidity changes, sound quite good, and are very comfortable to play. You really can't lose.

Tony

[Dino Silone]

Originally Posted by golfreggie

I am surprised I have never thought of this question before or seen any commentary on the Forum, but I wonder if guitar players in, let's say, 1915 era, if they took precautions against humidity. I wonder if they even knew it could be an issue or if they just set it up against a wall at home and picked it up and played it. Does anyone have knowledge of how guitars were treated in the "good ol' days"?

That’s a great question! I’m pretty sure the answer is, no they didn’t do anything about humidity.

One way to think about this is technological. From the point of controlling the humidity in the environment, there probably wasn’t any good way. In the warm months, windows were open. In the cold months, heat was generated by wood or coal-burning devices. Even when I was growing up, a “humidifier” meant putting a pan of water on the radiator, and very few people actually did that. It didn’t really work, anyway.

Then, we can look at whatever surviving instrument cases there are. Did they have a place for a clay humidifier? I haven’t seen a ton of them, but those that I have seen didn’t have any provision for that. (Maybe somebody has different information...).

Honestly, I’d never even heard of humidifying an instrument until the last 20 years or so. Before that, well ... you made it a point to not store your instruments too close to the radiator, but that was it.

I live in New Jersey. With central air and heat, it’s pretty dry in my apartment in the hot weather and the cold weather, but the windows are open during most of the Spring and Fall, and the air/heat are off. So, for a good six months of the year, the humidity inside is pretty much the same as the humidity outside. I keep all my guitars and other plucked strings on stands. I keep my violins and viola in cases, but don’t use the humidifier. Never had a problem.

[DesertTwang]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

With that, comes zero play time for me. When guitars are out on their stands, I play just about everyday, even if for just a few minutes. However, once in the packed closet, they are out of sight, out of mind.


What about you? Does this happen to anyone else?

I admit your post blew my mind. At first, I couldn't even tell whether you were serious. To me, it's unimaginable not to play my guitars and switch to something else for a prolonged time, only because the guitars are in their cases. To me, that'd be like not ever riding my bike only because I have to lock it in the garage instead of leaving it out on the front porch, unlocked, so I can just hop on any time I feel like it.

May I ask why you don't simply humidify your whole house, or at least your guitar room? That's what I've done living in Arizona, because it is a pain having to keep guitars in their cases at all times. (Unrelated to the humidity issue, though, I still wouldn't leave mine out permanently because Tucson is a hotbed of burglaries.)

[DesertTwang]

Originally Posted by merlin666

With arrival of a new kitten two years ago all my instruments went off the stands and back into cases. After one winter with a room humidifier (which was a pain to operate and left white residue all over) this also meant going back to seven (soon to be eight) soundhole humidifers. I usually refill the humidifiers on the weekends, and therefore have to open up each case and as it's open also give each instrument some play. Otherwise I maintain a rotation where those with the newest strings are in the living room for easiest access, and those with older strings in other rooms. Of course my dream is a bigger house with a dedicated music room that is off limits to kittens, is set to perfect humidity, and has all instruments and other tools and perfect seating. It would probably get more use than my living room ...

Not sure if it helps, but my guitars happily coexist with three cats. I don't leave my guitars on stands permanently for other reasons (burglaries), but the cats are not the issue. When I play off and on during a weekend day, the guitar(s) stay out.

Kittens grow up eventually into less rambunctious creatures...

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by Woolbury

Id rather put my wife in a closet and go without sex

Well, I just put them in the closet until the mood strikes

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by DesertTwang

I admit your post blew my mind. At first, I couldn't even tell whether you were serious. To me, it's unimaginable not to play my guitars and switch to something else for a prolonged time, only because the guitars are in their cases. To me, that'd be like not ever riding my bike only because I have to lock it in the garage instead of leaving it out on the front porch, unlocked, so I can just hop on any time I feel like it.

May I ask why you don't simply humidify your whole house, or at least your guitar room? That's what I've done living in Arizona, because it is a pain having to keep guitars in their cases at all times. (Unrelated to the humidity issue, though, I still wouldn't leave mine out permanently because Tucson is a hotbed of burglaries.)

I was admittedly being a little dramatic in my OP, but when my guitars are cased up and put in the closet, my play time drops by less than half. I still play guitar in the winter, just not as much. I am probably being a little too cautious regarding humidification, but I also feel some isolated time in the case with a humidipak does them good.

I will be doing a lot of traveling in the coming months, and will be heading to the west coast in February and then Germany and Poland in March. For some reason, I just don't have a lot of time to play guitar in the winter due to work and family obligations, so I just try to focus on other things while they soak up some H2O in their cases.

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

Having them stored in their cases has never been a deterrent for me from playing the guitars that I love on a regular basis.

Same here. And while it's nice to give some attention to our other hobbies from time to time, playing guitar is one of those things that I just do every day, no matter what.

[BT55]

I have two guitar racks in my man gave with 10 guitars, two kittens and two humidifiers. All guitars are humidified, I have a “locking” bar on each rack so they are secure and ready to be played. With all of the money we pay for our guitars I can’t understand why people don’t just add humidifiers and move on. [emoji74]

[FrankHudson]

I have solid body electrics. I keep some out all year, there are two of them and a electric bass hanging right next to my arm as I type this. The only issue any of my electrics get from the drier winter air is some fret-sprout (not common, but it has happened). And since that bass by my arm is a fretless with a composite fretboard--I got no worries there!

As a result, when I'm trying to write a new song, I'll grab one of those electrics and play it unplugged to get some idea of chords and voicings as I try things.

I keep telling myself I should risk leaving one of acoustics out in the dry dry Minnesota winter hanging for a quick grab, because an unplugged solid body does not faithfully produce the same sound balance as the exact same same chord played on an acoustic. I'm just too risk adverse to do it--the thought of even risking harm to an acoustic instrument somehow seems wrong to me. I tell myself this is illogical (they're tools), just as I could tell myself (logically) to go where my acoustic guitars in cases are stored and get one the humidified acoustics out when I get an idea of something I need to compose or try. That would only take a few minutes to do, but sometimes the thing I want to try, or the question I want to ask, is answered with the guitar at hand in a few minutes as well.

Some of us are better than others in overcoming these odd human sentiments and laziness I guess.

I should either bite the bullet and say "this guitar may get damaged, but so what, that's just the cost of doing what I've set out to do" or get an affordable laminate or non-wood guitar.