Anybody Agree with This

[guit30]

A friend of mine told me that the reason I was having problems with my solid top sinking and drying up in the cold weather was because I didn't loosen the strings like He does. He has 2 acoustics, one all laminate A/E, with lo setup and xtra lite strings and one with a solid top and lo set up with xtra lite strings. He has hot air heat. When the super cold spell hit in January, he had no trouble with either guitar and he uses no humidification in his house at all, it was easily like 20 or lower relative humidity. Was he lucky or is there any truth to what he said, he has been playing guitar for over 50 years.

Jim:freak:

[smatel]

I agree that if you take the tension off the top of a guitar it will behave differently given the same humidity fluxuations.

[knockwood]

IMHO your friend is quite lucky. It is probably a good idea to detune a guitar if you know you won't be playing it for some time, but I wouldn't look at this practice as a substitute for proper humidification. Consider that there is basically zero string tension on a fretboard whether the strings are tuned five octaves above pitch or removed altogether, yet the fretboard is one of the first places on a guitar that will exhibit visual signs of being impacted by low humidity conditions. Top/side/back cracks may form as a result of different wood species that expand/contract at different rates being bonded together into fixed positions while attempting to expand/contract in response to fluctuating humidity - one of the reasons the top on either side of the segment of the fretboard glued to it is such a common location for cracks.

At 20% or lower RH in your friend's home over an extended period of time, I would expect your friend himself might crack or his chest might sink. How did he know it was

[guit30]

I'm guessing his house was 20% or less, that's what my apartment was. His guitars are fairly new
Jim

[bjorn-fjord]

It's possible I guess. A more arched soundboard is said to be stronger than a flatter one and one of the symptoms of a dry guitar is a flattening of the soundboard. So I guess being under tension could exacerbate the flattening. That said, I wouldn't call his method a logical solution to low humidity.

[knockwood]

I'm guessing his house was 20% or less, that's what my apartment was. His guitars are fairly new Jim

 

 

I had a friend whose house was at 15% RH for two weeks. Then it snowed. He went out to shovel his driveway and was eaten by a lion. After two weeks in that low-humidity environment, he was just the way lions usually like 'em: nice and crunchy...

[RKW]

The fact that one of his guitars is all laminate goes along way towards explaining why it hasn't been effected by low humidity. If the other one is solid top with laminate sides and back, it's not going to be as vulnerable as an all wood. My Tak is solid top/laminate back and sides and I only recently, after nearly ten years, begun humidifing it's enviornment. No doubt every year it endured weeks and weeks of humidity in the sub-20's, until a horrified friend insisted I take better care of it.

[guit30]

My guitar which is giving me nightmares and am ready have Lions eat it is Solid top, laminate sides and back
Jim:mad:

[DonK]

IMHO your friend is quite lucky. It is probably a good idea to detune a guitar if you know you won't be playing it for some time, but I wouldn't look at this practice as a substitute for proper humidification. Consider that there is basically zero string tension on a fretboard whether the strings are tuned five octaves above pitch or removed altogether, yet the fretboard is one of the first places on a guitar that will exhibit visual signs of being impacted by low humidity conditions. Top/side/back cracks may form as a result of different wood species that expand/contract at different rates being bonded together into fixed positions while attempting to expand/contract in response to fluctuating humidity - one of the reasons the top on either side of the segment of the fretboard glued to it is such a common location for cracks. At 20% or lower RH in your friend's home over an extended period of time, I would expect your friend himself might crack or his chest might sink. How did he know it was

 

 

+1 all the way.

[missedmyexit]

When I bought my solid wood guitar I bought one of those dampit cords. Yes.. I have since learned that a sponge in a ziplock bag does the same thing. I do not however have a Hydrometer (If that's the word for it). I live in Boston Area which means it's pretty damn dry in the winters. The guitar stays in it's case unless it is in my hands. I wet the dampit about every two days or so. Do I have to worry about it drying out? I honestly don't have the slightest idea what the Humidity is in my apartment. I would love to just buy a humidifier for the room and leave it out but the room it is in doesn't have a door and it would be hard to manage.

[WaveRay]

I would love to just buy a humidifier for the room and leave it out but the room it is in doesn't have a door and it would be hard to manage.

?? Old house?

[knockwood]

When I bought my solid wood guitar I bought one of those dampit cords. Yes.. I have since learned that a sponge in a ziplock bag does the same thing. I do not however have a Hydrometer (If that's the word for it). I live in Boston Area which means it's pretty damn dry in the winters. The guitar stays in it's case unless it is in my hands. I wet the dampit about every two days or so. Do I have to worry about it drying out? I honestly don't have the slightest idea what the Humidity is in my apartment. I would love to just buy a humidifier for the room and leave it out but the room it is in doesn't have a door and it would be hard to manage.

 

 

 

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I use Dampits only, have no clue what the RH level is in my apt but couldn't do anything about it if I did - lack o' doors, etc. I leave gits in cases with Dampits (I don't use the soundhole covers), and this has kept my gits safe. Ebony fretboards have still been a bit of a problem because the heat in my apt is so out of control, but I'm moving in June and will be looking for a better sit.

[Dave W.]

A sunken top is just one sympton of lack of proper humidity. While slacking the strings may relieve this, there are a lot of other humidity related concerns that it won't help. Properly humidifying a guitar is not that difficult, I don't know why so many people try to find a way around it.

[missedmyexit]

I would love to just buy a humidifier for the room and leave it out but the room it is in doesn't have a door and it would be hard to manage.

?? Old house?

Coverted Attic Apartment. The guy they had remod the attic was a drunk (Which I don't have a problem with) and a moron (which I assume was the problem) long story short, the doorways are not perfectly level/square which makes hanging doors pretty tough. I am looking at houses so I don't want to invest the time in trying to hang a door.

[missedmyexit]

Another question I don't know if anyone will know the answer to.. I also have two 55 Gallon fish tanks (Fresh Water).. I wonder if this brings up the humidity in the house. I would assume it does some but have no idea how much.

[rjoxyz]

I would love to just buy a humidifier for the room and leave it out but the room it is in doesn't have a door and it would be hard to manage.

?? Old house?

I have 11 guitars on stands/racks in a 20x14 foot family room which is open to the kitchen. I have a whole house humidifier on the furnace, but I question its effectiveness (with it alone, humidity will drop to low 20's).

I keep a Honeywell warm mist humidifier running in the midst of the guitars and can maintain 40-45% filling it in the morning and in the evening. I typically set it at 40% during the driest of winter to be able to keep up with the tank filling. 5 of the guitars are all solid and the rest solid-top, and all do fine.

[bjorn-fjord]

Another question I don't know if anyone will know the answer to.. I also have two 55 Gallon fish tanks (Fresh Water).. I wonder if this brings up the humidity in the house. I would assume it does some but have no idea how much.

 

 

Those tanks definitely increase the humidity in your house. More so in the summer though. How much? No idea.

[Queequeg]

my Holmes #3500 twin tank room humidifier (conditions 1200 sq ft, but don't believe it) cost about $60.00

my Holmes digital hygrometer cost $30.00

I have one PW case hygrometer @ $30.00

about 15 soap boxes with about 15 sponges. About $ 30.00.

that's $150 total.

I have too much invested in acoustic guitars not to know what the RH% in my house is. I have a door on the music room but it is always open so I know that some of the moisture flows out of the room. Still I am able to keep the room in the 40s.

If you are walking around your house getting static shocks, your guitars are not happy.

You take your music seriously and live in a place that experiences winter, and you heat with forced air? spend $25 today. You can get by with sponges and baggies until next winter now.

[Hudman]

I disagree with your friend's theory 100%.

 

String tension has nothing to do with humidity. Zilch, zip zero....

 

A guitar will dry out with or without strings if left in dry conditions for long stretches. It's the nature of wood.

 

The humidity in his house must be higher than the humidity in your house.

 

My Seagul S6 made it 8 years without a humidifier. I kept it in the case (tuned to standard pitch) when not using it. The humidity in my house gets down in the high 20's to low 30's when it's cold out. I never had any isssues from low humidity. It is surprising how much protection a hardshell case can provide.