Can instrument get used to dry or humid environment?

[Henning]

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

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Henning

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

The simple answer is not much, really.

Wood is hygroscopic, and will always respond to atmospheric conditions especially as they relate to humidity levels.

Over a long period of time the resins in the wood do harden, and this is what the whole trend of torrefaction is about: Controlled heating of the wood to solidify the resins sooner. The process, in part, is to make the wood less affected by humidity levels, but it doesn't make the wood inert.

Howard Emerson

[srick]

Henning - I'm sure that there will be countless opinions and anecdotes following your query.

Three things - It depends on the instrument; it depends on the rate of change; and again, it depends on the instrument.

I have a fifty year old Yamaha that was stored in an unheated, uncooled attic with no damage. And yet, likely you will be regaled with stories about instruments that were left mere hours and developed cracks.

So I'll leave it for others to chime in. As for me, I live in New England where we have very dry winters (and gas heating). My main instrument is in it's case with a humidifier. The secondary instruments are in their case with no humidifier. Ten years of this scenario with no problem. Your mileage may vary.

best,

Rick

PS - Howard Emerson's reply above is spot on. Wood is hygroscopic. It's interesting that we put a finish on a guitar, in part, to decrease that rate of moisture exchange, but rarely, if ever, is the inside of the box finished. And some old guitars develop cracks, but not all of them. I think that we make a bigger deal about this subject than we have to.

Maybe the best advice has been, don't subject your instrument to conditions that you wouldn't want to be in (ie. an enclosed (uncooled) car on a summer day); and let the instrument acclimate itself while in the case after transferring it between temperature extremes (ie. opening the box of an instrument received on a winter day)

[Henning]

Thank you so much srick and Howard Emerson for your replies.
Regards Henning

[ripdotcom]

sure, wood will do whatever it wants to do

[The Bard Rocks]

There are several issues related to weather conditions, but they are not the same thing.

1) With certain finishes (think nitrocellulose), the finish does not expand and contract with the wood and may develop cracks. These do not affect it structurally or tonally but sure look bad.

2) The top may crack and, if it's bad enough, also the sides or back. These are structural issues and can affect the playability as well as the life of the guitar. If the back and sides are laminated, they are much less prone to crack.

3) Changes may take place in the neck area, giving you too high and action or fret buzzing. Frets may begin to pop upwards enough to make them feel rough on the end.

4) Changes to the braces are possible, but are not so likely.

Two instruments sitting side by side may be affected in different ways. One might have any of these things happen to it and the other, nothing. With the differences in pieces of wood, in construction techniques you get different results - these kind of things comprise an inordinate amount of (interesting) conversation here on the forum.

[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.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by Henning

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

Not one bit. Cut and carved wood assembled with glue is not a living thing with the ability to resond and modify itself from exposure to environmental stimuli. You cannot make an instrument more resistant to temperature or humidity swings by some regimen of exposure to such swings. Its like thinking you can strengthen the neck joint of a guitar by gradually hanging heavier weight from the headstock.

Its still better to expose an instrument to changes gradually as that is a common material property - taking a cold guitar from a car trunk out of its case into a warm room is asking for finish checking because the warming outer layer is expanding faster than the colder inner material. A gradual warm-up allows the whole thing to change temperature more slowly. This process does not, however, do anything to get the instrument "used to" lower temperatures.

[muscmp]

the degree of humidity would need to be more than 40% but less than 60%.

play music!

[SoCalSurf]

Adaptation is reserved for living things.

[mot]

I had this worry until I got a carbon fiber guitar. I got it as my beater guitar because they are reportedly more robust but it has become my number one 6 string and is definitely more robust. It sounds great too. Actually fuller sounding than my Taylor and plays just as well. I don't like my Ovation's sound and figured all carbon fiber were as bad or worse. I am happy to report that I was wrong. I never have to tune it because of weather changes nor worry about humidifiers ever again.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Henning

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

Hi H…
According to our local repair guy, the number one repair is cracked tops/sides/backs from dry humidity and people not humidifying their guitars/cases.

It's been his number one repair every year since he opened his shop for business.

[Bob Womack]

There are two interesting data points for this discussion:
1. Guitars built in Vietnam and other humid eastern countries will often dry out and self-destruct when brought into the U.S.A. even if you humidify them to Western standards. They are built in a much more humid environment and simply can't handle this environment.
2. My friends from the Eastern USA who have moved their guitars to Colorado and Arizona ("but it's a dry heat") have inevitably need new set-ups and experience fret sprout even though properly humidified in their new environment.

Bob

[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.

[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.