Humidity a problem?

[Jake952]

I live in MN and it gets very very humid up here. Do I need to store my acoustic differently so the wood doesnt get moist?

[ez-one]

From what I understand, proper humidity for a guitar is somewhere around 45%, I live in Arkansas and during the summer in gets up around 90% often and in the winter since I use wood heat alot, my house gets down to 20% I have a room where I normally play, practice, and store my guitars, so in the winter I keep an in case humidifer and also run a mirco mist type of humidifer, and in the summer I keep a small dehumidifier going. It might be a bit of over kill, but but since I leave the ac off during the day when I am working and turn it on when I get home, I can grab my guitar and have all sorts of sting buzz that I did not have in the morning befor going to work. THen after and ac is on for a while and the air in the house starts to dry out, the buzzing starts to go away. So for me I really have two choices try and maintain something close to proper humidity or have the action on my guitars set extra high. P.S. I do live in an extreamly old farmhouse, so air transfer is at a peek. :-)

[nlsstar]

i was wondering if you could use a humidor system for an acoustic?...i don't know if you ever saw one...they are used in a cedar lined box for cigars,,,it's small, portable and inexpensive...i would think they would fit in a case...?...

[Bounty]

Jake952 I too live in MN. PM me and maybe we can jam. Ok in the summer you should be fine. In the winter you might want to use a humidifier. A lot of houses here get pretty dry. nlsstar is right that they are pretty inexpensive and you can just get it wet and put it in the case. I don't know what your living space is like but I have a split level and playing in the lower level seems to keep my guitars in pretty good shape year round.

pm if ya want to jam.

[nlsstar]

Pennsylvania has the same conditions...Hazy Hot Humid in summer and dry and cold in winter...so dry your skin cracks and bleeds...i keep my guitars where my computer is...since they both need some type of climate control..the big problem here is when you transport your gear...either hot or cold..once they leave their safe environment they lose tune immediatley...and you battle with them until they adjust to the new climates...
Mitch

[Bounty]

..so dry your skin cracks and bleeds

Yep gotta love the great up north. I heard EVH has a lotion line coming out. :D

[mavv-]

Humidity can affect the wood dramatically, I won't spend the time breaking it all down here but the Taylor guitars website has plenty of info and also a really neat piece on how they brought back to life an extremely dry guitar (but I guess you wont have to worry about that living in a high humidity area :p )

http://www.taylorguitars.com/see-hear/

[Jake952]

so is there like a sponge that I can use to absorb the moisture?

[nlsstar]

Yep gotta love the great up north. I heard EVH has a lotion line coming out. :D

I have it all ready....lol...it's called.."moisturizing with the devil"....lol it's in a red tube with the frankenstrat stripes on it....lol

on a serious note..i don't think a sponge will work. it has no way to attract humidity or a way to dissapate it...i would think it would make matters worse cause if it would get moisture in it ...it would create more and cause mold problems...one of the band rooms i rented was below grade(underground) and we had a nasty moisture problem...we took our guitars home every time so they weren't affected..but the sound equipment, amps, drum kit and mic stands were...we learned a trick from a contractor that worked very well...he had us buy a 50 pound bag of calcium chloride(a powder)put it in mesh bags and hang one in each corner of the bandroom . he had us place buckets under the bag..the calcium chloride was a magnet for the moisture and as it drew it out of the room it dripped into the buckets...then once a week we poured them out...a 50 pound bag lasted us about 2 months and only cost like 10 bucks a bag...it worked well and stopped the mold, moisture and rust problems we were having
Mitch

[Largol]

For a stratocaster, the french hotline of Fender told me to leave the instrument around 60% of relative humidity. But beware, iot's not an acoustic.

I asked for temp changes, they say it's not really a problem, as long as you stay with the 60% of relative humidity.

That's all folks.
Oops, Rock on good people.

Largol.