Torrified tops and Rosewood b&s

[bbigsby]

My spruce top - RW b&s guitars are very ornery when it comes to humidity and temperature variations. My spruce top mahogany b&s not so much.

For those of you who have Torrified tops and some who may have Torrified tops and b&s, do you find these guitar sensitive to temp/humidity fluctuations.

My Addy Maddy D28 sounds best with humidity 45-48% and temp below 74 degrees. If it gets warmer and humid the guitar starts to loose crispness and I have to play something else. It makes me wonder if vintage guitars and guitars built with Torrified wood sound consistent all the time.

My other D28 are ornery as well but not so much. Maybe it is the Addy top? I thought this over and D18A is pretty consistent.

I can see why some people who only keep a stash of 1 or 2 guitars could go crazy and go the route of Carbon Fibre - Yikes!

[Osage]

My 1927 Martin 000-28 is actually worse than some other guitars I own when in high humidity. Not bad but it starts to sound worse if the humidity gets above 60%. It now lives in it's case unless I'm playing it.

There are two types of water present in wood. Free water and bound water. The bound water is encased in cells and is what dries out over decades or through torrification. The free water is what leaves the wood after normal drying, either traditional air drying or in a kiln. The bound water can never come back. The free water can. Soak a piece of dry wood in a bathtub overnight and it will fill up with water but this will only be free water. High humidity does the same thing. A torrified top will act exactly the same as a non torrified top with regards to free water.

[s2y]

I'm not sure. I have only owned my torrified DN for about a year and I keep the humidity very close to 50% at all times. I rarely hit more than 55% or lower than 40%.

[StillStephen]

I have both baked and unbaked spruce topped RW guitars. Live in a dry climate (Utah) and keep all of my guitars in case with Oasis humidifiers. Have never noticed a difference in any of them regarding temp or humidity changes through the year.

[vindibona1]

My '72 D35 likes the humidity around 40%. Anything over 45% and it starts to sound like someone threw a towel over it.

[Russ C]

My understanding is that torrefied wood absorbs humidity much slower than "natural" wood.

[pandaroo]

I have one guitar with Torrefied sitka top and the rest non-torrefied. I have had it for a couple of years now and my observation is that it is less sensitive to temperature and humidity changes so it has been able to perform quite consistently throughout the seasons. My other non-torrefied wood guitars have bad days and goods days. Therefore I have opted for torrefied tops for most of my upcoming builds as i was really happy with the outcome.

[McCawber]

We have some fluctuations in humidity in our end of the world but I haven't noticed any significant difference between my one torrefied top and the other non-torrefied tops. I can often go several days without the need to retune significantly. I have to do the most retuning when I get a humidity change at the same time as a significant temperature change.

I have noticed that the spell check feature on the forum tries to change that word to "terrified" tops. I don't think I have many of those . . . .

[slimey]

I guess I live in one of the worst areas , the Midwest , for humidity variation. In the 30's for winter and as high as 80 in summer, though we don't see that high a humidity often it can happen.
I have two torrified guitars a Collings and a Huss and Dalton, I cannot really say I've noticed a difference between them and my non torrified guitars, a Lowden and another Collings.
Having said that I watch the humidity like a hawk and as soon as needed the Oasis humidifiers are in the guitars.

I wonder if it is something that varies by builder and how the wood was treated. I have read about the Torrifaction process and what's done, but I wonder if everyone does it exactly the same way?

[1Charlie]

I own Gibsons and Martins from the '30's, '40's, '50's and '60's.

I have discovered that they are far more stable than the modern guitars I have owned, particularly lightly-built boutique guitars.

This is especially true with regard to staying in tune under a variety of conditions.

[bbigsby]

Thanks for all the responses. I have to say my 5 Martins are excellent in staying in relative tune. I have to fine tune a string or two maybe twice a month.

Last night the humidity was 50% and temp was 72 degrees. The Addy Maddy sounded a bit off. This morning 49% humidity and 69 degrees and it sounded brilliant. 3 degree does not seem like a big change but I do fine 72 feels comfortable and 69 I notice is cooler.

Other observations:

When an object is cooled it shrinks, when heated it expands.
The warmer it is I notice a slight buzz on the B string and even slighter on high 3. Maybe I am in need of a setup to raise the action. When it is cooler, below 70, I do not notice the buzz.

I have D41 that always sounds consistent within a 10 degree change. I am hoping as the Addy Maddy ages the tone changes level off as it ages. I have no idea why this relatively brand new D41 sounds so great all the time.

[werkout52]

I have a D-28 Authentic 1937 VTS torrefied top and a couple other non torrefied. I can tell torrefied doesn’t suck up as much moisture in the winter when I put in humidipac. Seems to hold tune better too. I’ve seen humidity as Low as 15% in the room.