Guitars, Humidity levels and Staying in tune

rmbaylin

Inspired
I live in the mid-Atlantic region and this is the time of year we run our oil-fired, forced are heating system in the house. I have a great practice studio in my home in the basement, and keep my guitars hung on the wall (convenience and show).

I've noticed that since the end of summer my guitars (Fender Custom, PRS Johnny Highland, Godin LGXT...) just dont seem to stay in tune lately. At a gig last nite my Fender, which usually very good keeping tune, was constantly out of tune. Mid song, and almost every song I had to retune.

I am imagining this is related to the humidity levels in the house?

What recommendations do you guys have for proper humidity control? I would prefer a room humidifier, versus a whole house (we are replacing the HVAC next year).

What is the specific humidity level I should try to keep the studio at? What do use to measure the relative humidity?

I just want my guitars to stay in tune again! arrrrgh....!
 
Relative humidity between 45-55% is ideal. With anything above 60% you can end up with mold issues - since the indoor air often is non-circulating and because walls and ceilings are cold and the damp air will create condensation on the surfaces. A hygrometer is a good piece of kit and you could also invest in a room humidifier. If you're getting a humidifier - buy one which does NOT break the water with an ultra sonic driver. Instead buy one which pumps the water up over a filter and then has a fan which blows through the filter and evaporates the water out into the room. This will also purify the water and the air. The ultra sonic ones are useless and can be dangerous to your health. If the water droplets they are spreading is contaminated with bacteria - which often can be safe to drink - you could easily catch a lethal pneumonia by breathing in the droplets. Ie pretty serious stuff... There's also the third option and that is to do like me and hang wet towls on your... ... erhm radiators. :D
 
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One way to gauge humidity is to watch the spruce top of your acoustic guitar shrink and cave in - when the bridge pops off and you have cracks along the grain then the humidity is too low. Other signs of humidity problems: Fret ends protruding past the fingerboard edge, increased neck relief in dry seasons and decreased neck relief in wet seasons (unfinished fingerboards will shrink and swell), delimitation as different woods swell and shrink at different rates (including fingerboard separating from the neck).

I like the whole home humidifiers if you have forced air and water supply near your furnace, it's an easy solution as you don't have to continually refill the tank and they usually have a hygrometer controlling the humidity level. There are steam systems that only require a 3" hole in your duct near your furnace, disk units are cool too but usually require a 6" flex duct between the ducts and the humidifier. There are also steam units that don't require ductwork (Aprilaire has one).

Room units often have fan noise and you have to fill the tank. You can find these at hardware stores, home stores, etc. Wine rooms and humidors (cigar room) are humidified and there are special built-in room humidifiers available in specialty wine and cigar stores.

If you start seeing damage to a guitar get it humidified and in its case. It's best to keep acoustics in their case and buy a Rainsong to hang on the wall.

If you're shocked by the price of a humidifier then check out the cost of repairing humidity damage to your guitars.
 
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Reading this thread really makes me want to try out one of those Parker or Steinberger composite thingies!?
 
Composite Acoustics made a solid body, the 'Blade', before they shut down, now Peavey produces them and they only make acoustics.
 
I like the whole home humidifiers...

I had inquired about such a system with the HVAC guys that service our place because we had gotten a piano for my daughter. Plus all the guitars and my drum set. They didn't recommend it. One of the reasons why was cleaning the filters. If you don't stay on top of it you can put... I can't remember the exact word the used but I think it was bacteria in the air and you can make people in your household sick.

Given the cost of such a system and you still have some maintenance as described above my preference is for the portable units. That being said I still don't have any portable units. Where we live humidity hasn't been a problem. I have a hydrometer (I don't think I came anywhere close to spelling that correctly) and we seem to stay within an acceptable range. In the summer just running the A/C helped keep the humidity down. The unit I have has a logging capability so I'll analyze the data at some point to what time(s) a year we have issues and then I pop for an portable unit.

I am no expert. I just wanted to share what I heard from a trusted HVAC company that we've used for years. It would be awesome if I could have a perfectly controlled climate for the music room but it would be too expensive for me to make that happen.
 
We were advised by both our plumber and air duct cleaner to not use the whole house system. It required two, 3 gal capacity, portables to keep my 24x22 first floor studio at 45% in January and February. Which had to be refilled twice each daily.

I've since moved to a place where I'm in a finished basement and have hot water baseboard and only require one portable now. Everyones circumstances are different on what is needed to get to 45%.
 
I believe humidity is more of a problem than temperature change

Our guitars regularly go from cold to warm and although some initial tuning maybe required pre-performance, we've never experienced any real mid-gig drift - let alone from mid-song!

Of course here in sunny Britain, the humidity is much more consistent though
 
I believe humidity is more of a problem than temperature change

Our guitars regularly go from cold to warm and although some initial tuning maybe required pre-performance, we've never experienced any real mid-gig drift - let alone from mid-song!

Of course here in sunny Britain, the humidity is much more consistent though

Sunny huh?
 
I'm going to get a hydrometer later today, to see exactly what my relative humidity is in the studio. It seems to me that oil furnace hot air is drying out the moisture in the air.

I had a whole house humidifier at one point (AprilAire) that stopped working at some point. We never really noticed any change when it was working, so we never replaced or fixed it - maybe it was doing more for us than I thought.

The idea of having to fill two - 3 gal. units twice a day is just silly to think I'll be that responsible. But I do understand that the cost repair or replacement of $10-15K in guitars should be a motivator - I'm just being realistic and know that I'll forget or 'do it later'.....yada yada..... So maybe I'll look into replacing my the whole house if it comes down to it. Its probably less costly than 2 humidifiers anyway.

I may put the acoustics back into the cases and put a case humidifier in each.

Thanks!
 
So maybe I'll look into replacing my the whole house if it comes down to it

lol.gif
That's the way!
 
Not to beat a dead horse here, but a hygrometer is the item to use. I was thinking it was called a hydrometer.

from wiki.answers.com -

A hygrometer measures relative humidity in the air while a hydrometer measures the density of a liquid. Hygrometers tell you about the weather, while hydrometers are used for things like checking how much charge is in a lead acid battery or checking how your home brew is going.

Read more: What is the difference between ahygrometer and a hydrometer

Also, here is link to info about humidity and how to calibrate your hygrometer for accuracy.. I mean we are tweakers here right, so why not tweak you hygrometer. Maybe Cliff can model that in the Axe also?

http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/yohoyohe/momo/momo_002.cfm#table2
 
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Reading this thread really makes me want to try out one of those Parker or Steinberger composite thingies!?
I can recommend the Parker Fly. Mine spent 2008 in Mumbai, where the humidity goes up to 100% and back. It stayed perfectly in tune. Not perfect though: moisture did creep into the wood endgrain, and turn it cloudy under the finish.
 
Strange that your PRS are playing up, mine have been super stable, from freezing English winters to hot humid Queensland summers, they are out on display with no special treatment or storage, doors and windows open and it's coming into summer so it's 30 ish and very humid with lots of tropical storms and moisture in the air, which can dry up in a hour and back to blazing sun.

These guitars have been great, never a peep and rarely ever need tuning, in fact it's the main reason I switched over from Gibsons, the hot gas of a passing cat fart would knock em out of tune instantly. Wonder if the maple neck on your hiland is more prone to movement.
 
Strange that your PRS are playing up, mine have been super stable, from freezing English winters to hot humid Queensland summers, they are out on display with no special treatment or storage, doors and windows open and it's coming into summer so it's 30 ish and very humid with lots of tropical storms and moisture in the air, which can dry up in a hour and back to blazing sun.

These guitars have been great, never a peep and rarely ever need tuning, in fact it's the main reason I switched over from Gibsons, the hot gas of a passing cat fart would knock em out of tune instantly. Wonder if the maple neck on your hiland is more prone to movement.

I know! That's what surprised me too. Part of the reason I posted this. I was always prided myself on the never tune guitars.
 
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