Guitar Humidity

[GuitarGuy305]

A few years back, I lived in a shithole apartment without central air, and I decided to buy a real, solid wood guitar. I bought a Martin D-16RGT. I kept a humidifier in the guitar, but alas, the guitar dried out due to the conditions in my shitty apartment in connection with the dry winters in Iowa. I took the guitar into my local music store, West Music, and I must say they were great about it. They actually kept the guitar in the store for two weeks, in their perfect climate for acoustics, until it was rehumidified so that it could be worked on. They didn't charge me for keeping it there. And it was only $40 bucks for them to set it up again.

Soon after that, my girlfriend(now my fiancé) and I moved in together to a condo, which has central air, and I have a room now with all my guitars hanging on the wall, with a humidifier running set at 50% humidity. I also have a hygrometer in there, which usually reads between 48% and 55%. The door is always closed. My guitars have all been adjusting to the proper humidity for acoustics, and with that there have been some action problems, intonation problems, etc...that need to be taken care of. Now that the guitars have been in the room comfortably for a while now, I decided they are acclimatized enough to take them ALL in for setup to get them in prime condition for rocking out.

Since I don't want to be without guitar for any amount of time, I decided to take them in one at a time, starting today with the D-16RGT, the ultimate bitch of humidity. I took the guitar in, and explained the brief history of time regarding the guitar to my usual contact at West Music. As I was filling out my name and info on the work order, he picked the guitar up and played around on it a bit. While doing this he said "Yes. It is a bit dry."

I was shocked. I asked him what the best humidity is for a guitar, and he said 40% to 50%. He suggested that I get a hygrometer. I told him that I had one, and that all my guitars were in a room with a humidifier and the door closed, and that my hygrometer reads between 48% and 55% all the freaking time. He seemed confused, and said that the guitar tech there would have the final say on the guitar's dryness.

Basically, this is bothering me. Could this guy just not know what he's talking about, or is this guitar the bastard child of Martin guitars and refuses to remain humidified? I talk to this guy about guitars all the time, and he really seems to know his stuff. I can't tell just by playing a gutiar that it is dry, but if anyone could, I think he could. With the humidifier, hygrometer always reading correct %, and the door closed, could I still be doing something wrong?

Anyone's input on this would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks for reading this whole thing!!!



Adam

[Rob]

Unfortunately, solid wood guitars really need to be kept in their cases. I think if you get a small case humidifier, a small hygrometer for the case, and keep it locked in there when it's not in use, you'll find your problem is solved.

Don't forget, also, that if there is any air blowing directly across the guitars it will dry them out, regardless of humidity.

A good, quick test of guitar "health" is to run your fingers down the neck, perpendicular to the fretboard, where the fretboard meets the binding. If you can feel the fret wire poking, chances are you're a little dry.

[billgostic]

im not sure if this is true...but i bought my girlfriend a guitar once and she thought it needed to be at 0% humidity...so she dried it out completely. When i saw what she was doing i told her it needed to be humidified. But after humidifing it for weeks nothing made it better. Finally i took it to a guitar store where i was told that the enzymes in the wood were destroyed by the extreme dryness and the guitar could never fully be revived. I dont know if its true but it might be the source of your problem.
-bill

[GuitarGuy305]

im not sure if this is true...but i bought my girlfriend a guitar once and she thought it needed to be at 0% humidity...so she dried it out completely. When i saw what she was doing i told her it needed to be humidified. But after humidifing it for weeks nothing made it better. Finally i took it to a guitar store where i was told that the enzymes in the wood were destroyed by the extreme dryness and the guitar could never fully be revived. I dont know if its true but it might be the source of your problem.
-bill
That's very interesting. Thanks for the info Bill.

So, was the guitar even still playable? I mean, was it able to have the action adjusted by a tech, and still be played, or was it pretty much just useable for firewood?



Adam

[billgostic]

the guitar had a huge depression in the top prob. half a inch deep due to how dry it was. The high e string could not be played above the 10th fret and the neck was way outta wack. they said they would have to reset the neck to make it better but said it would not do much. it was going to cost over $150 so we opted not to do it. However, i did play it yesterday at her house and it is good enough to mess around on...
-bill

[Rob]

My girlfriend, being a bio and med major, found the enzyme comment particularly interesting. Enzymes can't have anything to do with anything... An enzyme is a protein that aids reactions. There aren't any reactions taking place in dead wood.

Solid wood guitars are produced in a certain set of conditions. The guitar must then be kept in the same type of conditions in order to keep it in proper order. A guitar produced in totally dry conditions would vibrate like crazy and be very likely to crack rather than flex. A guitar made in wet conditions would be prone to sagging. Therefore, a good compromise is used.

Now, when wood dries out, it shrinks. When it absorbes moisture, it swells. Think of your hands in winter, when it's dry, or after they've pruned in water. Same idea with wood. The difference is- a guitar is several pieces of wood, often different types, put together to form the instrument. Different types of wood will shrink/swell at different rates, and grain/shape/assembly will all have an impact on the adjustment the guitar can make to different moisture conditions. A guitar is more likely to be permanently damaged by drying out as it will develop cracks and start to take a shape based on these cracks. In addition, when you re-moisturize the guitar the cracks themselves provide more surface area than previously existed, causing extra swelling to happen in those areas. The guitar will never fit together correctly again.

I'm still very wary of keeping a guitar in a room rather than a case. I'd believe your Martin is, indeed, dry. Irreparably so? No. However, I strongly suggest it's kept in its case, with a case humidifier, with a small hygrometer. What do you have to lose, other than some display time? Besides, there's always more of an impact showing off an instrument that's so valuable it's kept in its case ;)

[GuitarGuy305]

Yeah. I've pretty much decided that when I get the guitar back it will remain in its case with a humidifier in it, and the case will remain in the humidified room.

Adam

[billgostic]

maybe when they said enzymes they were meaning to say protiens...just because the wood is no longer living does not mean it has no protiens in it... but im not sure so whatever

[GuitarGuy305]

Well I heard from the tech at my guitar shop today. He said all the guitar needs is a truss rod adjustment, which is what I was thinking...before the other guy scared me with his dryness talk.

The tech told me the guitar is NOT dry. He could tell it had been very dry at one point, but now he said it was fine.

I described to him the room I have my guitars in, and he said that was perfect for them, and after he sets the guitar up, I should have no more troubles.

Amen to that.


Adam

[billgostic]

thats good to hear... did he say how he could tell it had been dry? the neck maybe?

[Rob]

My guess would be he could tell in the reflectivity of the body- guitars that were once dry tend to have a slightly uneven body surface that really only becomes apparent under reflective light.

Truss rod adjustment is simple- you may want to consider learning how to do it. A little goes a long way, but it can make a huge difference in playability and sound, and save your wallet some hits!

[GuitarGuy305]

Yeah. I have a set of allen wrenches, and I've dabbled with doing it myself on a couple of my guitars, with decent results. Any tips?

Also, my electric and my Chet Atkins SST just have a plate on the headstock that is removeable...but that's as far as I get. What kind of tool do you need to adjust the truss rod on an electric?

Adam

[Fiorentino]

The person who said the guitar should really stay in its case is 100% right. I have an HD-35 and D-41, and damn are martins sensitive to humidty and such. Point is, if you have a room thats controlled, unless its truly professionally setup climate control like at a guitar shop the rooms gonna be unevenly humidified.

[Rob]

Allen's should be fine for an electric. Read a ton of material on the subject, be prepared for trial and error, and make tiny adjustments at concert pitch, retune, and test. That's all there is to it.

[maks155]

i just bought a taylor 110. i love having it on a stand in my room so i can pick it up and play it whenever im in the mood- but now im hearing ya'll say that its gotta stay in the case. i live in ny, so during the winter im gonna keep a humidifier in, but now it just sits in my room (central AC at 70) w/o the humidifier (im worried about over humidifying).

[maks155]

also- if i leave the humidifier in for a week w/o taking it out- will it have any effect on the middle two strings that it pushes to the side?

[Rob]

Those strings are under more tension than you can imagine. If you fold a string in half- literally put a good bend it, before installing it, you won't notice the fold (the life of the folded string will be shorter, but you aren't folding the string w/ a humidifier). The humidifier won't make any difference if left in.

You need a hygrometer- plain and simple. You can't guess a guitar's humidity. In addition, if you have a humidifier in the soundhole (I assume you're using a Dampit, which I don't like, but that's another story ;)), but the guitar is out of its case, you aren't really doing anything. The neck can (and will) dry out, and it's just as important to keep the neck properly humidified.

I can't stress it enough- guitars with any real, non-nato wood need to be kept in a case unless you have a room professionally made for them. It doesn't take but a second to pull it out of the case, and you'll be protecting your investment.

[Pipsqueak]

also- if i leave the humidifier in for a week w/o taking it out- will it have any effect on the middle two strings that it pushes to the side?

nope

[Pipsqueak]

i just bought a taylor 110. i love having it on a stand in my room so i can pick it up and play it whenever im in the mood- but now im hearing ya'll say that its gotta stay in the case. i live in ny, so during the winter im gonna keep a humidifier in, but now it just sits in my room (central AC at 70) w/o the humidifier (im worried about over humidifying).

a LITTLE less crucial for you because you have laminate back and sides....

but you DO have a solid spruce top....so make sure it doesn't dry out.

the best rule for a guitar is "if you are comfortable, your guitar is comfortable"

the next best rule is "the case is the place for your guitar"