Humidifiers - Who Uses Them

Here you can discuss details about instruments, equipment and all those other bits that non-musicians won't understand !

Moderator: GORDON

Lu_B
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:28 pm

Humidifiers - Who Uses Them

Postby Lu_B » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:45 pm

I'm a bit concerned that the central heating is drying out my guitars, especially my acoustics.

Now I know I should keep them in the case and put in individual humidifiers but its not that practical. I'd never play them if they were all in cases, so I have all 10 out on stands in my music room.

So I got to thinking about a room humidifier - can anyone offer me any advice on humidifiers in general? What do you do to keep your instruments in tip top condition?

Cheers

Louise
Last edited by Lu_B on Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
AndrewD
Posts: 212
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:19 pm
Location: North Somerset
Contact:

Postby AndrewD » Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:07 pm

I have the opposite problem. Living very close to a river and on the north facing side of a valley we have a very high level of humidity locally. I have a dehumidifier which runs all the time to keep the levels down to a manageable level. A lack of moisture isn't something my guitars have to deal with.

User avatar
Roger
Posts: 565
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:02 pm
Location: Southsea

Postby Roger » Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:50 am

Louise,

Before doing anything else I would advise you to purchase a hygrometer. This is a device which measures the humidity of air relative to temperature. One option may be to buy a small weather station, which will have a humidity and temperature display (have a look on amazon).

Once you have your hygrometer, place it in your music room making sure it is out of direct sunlight and not too near a central heating radiator. In general a wooden instrument should be fine in an environment where humans are comfortable. Hence humidity should be in the range 40-60%, while temperature should be between 18-21 Celsius. If the humidity in your room is less than 40%, then you should consider taking some action. A simple but effective measure for increasing humidity is putting some pot plants or cut flowers in your room. Regular watering of the plants will increase room humidity, as will evaporation of the water that cut flowers stand in. Also try to make sure that the room is well ventilated.

Hope this helps,

Roger

Lu_B
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:28 pm

Postby Lu_B » Fri Apr 17, 2009 1:39 pm

Hi Roger

Thanks for the excellent advice. I have ordered a hygrometer and will let you know how I get on.

Hadn't thought of the pot plant solution!

Cheers

Louise

User avatar
Russ Gannicott
Posts: 222
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:28 pm

Postby Russ Gannicott » Tue Apr 21, 2009 12:38 am

Hi Louise,
I guess it depends on what it is you are worried about - finish or tonallity. When you take any instrument away from the environment of it's maker you are going to have some impact on it's sound - even altitude will influence this! My problem is, that to honest, I wouldn't be able to hear the difference - along with probable 95% of the 'listening public'! Although, it was often (alegedly) said in Italy that you could identify the area of a violin maker by the 'dryness of his sound.

Finish is a different thing entirely. My 1938 Martin has at least a dozen splits right through the body, but (as I think) Gordon would vouch, sounds wonderful, and could not sound any better if it was intact and flawless.

If all your guitars are nitro finished there could be an answer - if some are nitro, some waxed and some polyester, then there is nothing you can do, as this whole thing about wood 'breathing' is a total nonsense and is quite frankly 'bad science'. At the end of the day, if your houshold environment is bad for your guitars, then it will be equally bad for your ears and you will never hear a depreciation in their sound anyway!
As has already been said, if the room is nice, and you have a few flowers or pot plants in there and you go in and out several times a day then there is no reason it should be any worse for your guitars than it is for you!
Cheers,
Russ

Lu_B
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:28 pm

Postby Lu_B » Sat May 09, 2009 5:23 pm

Well it looks like all is well in my guitar room, put in a pot plant in there and the meter is reading between 53- 56% humidity.


Return to “Guitar Anoraks Forum”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 51 guests