My happy "tubby" guitars.

[Silly Moustache]

It's been a high humidity August here on the south coast of England. Record high temperatures and as we expect here three days of intense heat and then a thunder storm and heavy rain.

it's summer so windows and doors are left open equalising our house and the RH inside has been up to 60% .

This has done no favours for the PB strings on guitars left out of cases (and for some even inside) - but all my guitars ar 2on song" full, no rattles all soud fine.

in November 2016 I bought a Waterloo WL-12 (qwent out to buy a gibson but came back with this) and , frankly, when I got it home I kinda decided that it wasn't for me.

Then I got ill and so it has spent much of its time in my little office, hanging on the wall listening to talk radio (though an ancient giant hi-fi system, for about 18 months.

For the past few monhs it has been my late night picker sittingon a stand beside the TV Hi-Fi speakers.

Now this is an expensive guitar made to look and soud like a cheap guitar from the '30s or so. It is sitka and maple - nothing fancy - and I know abut maple - it doesn't "colour" tone so much as other woods.
But this guitar is now producing some remarkable tonal qualities that I would never have anticipated.

Describing a tonal quality in words is like dancing about architecture, but to me the trebles seem "pearly" - rounded , full and sweet. and the bass (being a smaller guitar) is neither boomy nor muddy but clear and full. All is remarkably balanced.
This guitar is now two years old. I have not needed to take it to my tech, but have adjusted the truss rod a little , initially, but this year? Nothing. It has stabilised.

My Santa Cruz RS is "on sing" too, as is my very sensitive Collings 0002h which seems to react to every slight change of temp and RH.

Must have been something I ate!

[rokdog49]

It happens.

[catfish]

Silly Moustache,

Great summer report, thank you for sharing!

[Mr. Jelly]

I had experiences with a Waterloo WL-S that I once owned where the humidity changes +/- greatly effected the action on it. Though my Waterloo WL-S Deluxe moved but not to a great amount. I haven't experienced a dry Iowa winter with my WL-12 yet to be able to report anything about it.

[jaymarsch]

Thanks for posting this, Silly. I am noticing a few changes in my guitars as well.

Except for my most recent purchase of a mahogany backed guitar, my other two main guitars are rosewood. Sparky Kramer, the maker of the mahogany guitar, and I were talking about humidity changes and how it may affect instruments. He mentioned that, very generally speaking in his experience, rosewood guitars can tend to sound a bit better when it gets a bit drier and mahogany and maple guitars can tend to sound a bit better when it gets a bit more humid. I have noticed lately with some higher humidity in my area over the past two weeks that as per usual, my rosewood guitars start sounding, as you say, a bit "tubby" and my mahogany guitar is sounding as sweet and resonant as ever. Obviously, no over-arching one-circumstance-fits-all statement but it is interesting to note how each guitar can be impacted by environmental changes.

BTW - My two rosewood guitars were made in Southern California at 38% humidity and my Kramer was made in the Sierra Nevada mountain area at 45% humidity so that may be a factor as well.

Best,
Jayne

[Tenzin]

It's great to be able to enjoy the pleasures of things we are so fortunate to have and be around for! I share in your pleasures!

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by Tenzin

It's great to be able to enjoy the pleasures of things we are so fortunate to have and be around for! I share in your pleasures!

'tis true. Maybe I'm masuring my life in string changes!