The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
Reply to Thread Bookmark Thread
Posts 1 to 11 of 11
  1. #1

    User Info Menu

    I like to keep a guitar on a nearby couch at all times. In the winter my house can get down to 25% humidity. I keep my acoustics all in a spare room with a humidifier during the heating season. I have a carbon fiber that I often leave out during the winter months. But I do enjoy playing my Danocaster unplugged as it's less bothersome to the family during my noodling sessions.

    Anybody worry about low humidity and their solid body guitars?

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by alltunes
    I like to keep a guitar on a nearby couch at all times. In the winter my house can get down to 25% humidity. I keep my acoustics all in a spare room with a humidifier during the heating season. I have a carbon fiber that I often leave out during the winter months. But I do enjoy playing my Danocaster unplugged as it's less bothersome to the family during my noodling sessions.

    Anybody worry about low humidity and their solid body guitars?
    The fretboard may shrink making the ends of the frets stick out (or not !).

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    Quote Originally Posted by alltunes
    I like to keep a guitar on a nearby couch at all times. In the winter my house can get down to 25% humidity. I keep my acoustics all in a spare room with a humidifier during the heating season. I have a carbon fiber that I often leave out during the winter months. But I do enjoy playing my Danocaster unplugged as it's less bothersome to the family during my noodling sessions.

    Anybody worry about low humidity and their solid body guitars?
    Not really. Unlike acoustic guitars, with large areas of unsealed wood to absorb and shed moisture into the atmosphere, solid-bodies are pretty well sealed and therefore fairly well-protected from changes in humidity. I suppose semis might be somewhat vulnerable, but I keep mine cased. Speaking solely for myself.

  5. #4

    User Info Menu

    humidity can cause problems with solid bodies....the neck may move with humidity and temp changes...and yes the frets can sprout

    if you pick up a guitar you played yesterday and all the strings are now flat or sharp fairly equally, thats cause the neck moved...you may not feel it initially, but over time you will

    keep that trussrod tool and tuner handy!


    cheers
    Last edited by neatomic; 01-23-2021 at 04:20 PM. Reason: sp-

  6. #5

    User Info Menu

    25% humidity, eh?
    I'm in South Florida and run a dehumidifer around the clock just to keep the humidity between 50 and 55. (A/C takes care of excess humidity but it's been off for a few months now, so...)

    I've often wondered what it would be like to live somewhere with lower humidity. (So does my wife: it's rough on her hair!)

  7. #6

    User Info Menu

    Yeah, it's newsworthy if the humidity gets much below 50% here. It has been between 90 and 100% here for the past week, and looks to continue. Fog and mist all day, every day, but temps are moderate, 60 to 70 degrees F, sometimes warmer. I'll accept high humidity as long as there are no low temps. I've been in central Alaska in the winter, with temps approaching -50F, on all-expense-paid camping trips courtesy of my rich uncle named Sam. There is no moisture in the air at all, except for the occasional ice fog caused by vehicle exhausts. Never again. Uncle Sam can not print enough pictures of dead Presidents to get me back up there. But regardless of the temps, solid-bodies are affected far less than hollow-bodies. I wouldn't worry about it. Adjust the truss rod as necessary, and play on.

  8. #7

    User Info Menu

    Yeah, the frets on a solid are just as prone to sprout as those of an archtop. Put a soundhole cover on the carbon fiber, of which I'm jealous, by the way.

  9. #8

    User Info Menu

    The summer is usually 55-60% humidity outside, occasionally higher...the locals say “isn’t it humid today” like it’s a thing, having never been to New Orleans or Houston or Atlanta. Fortunately the AC keeps it 45-50 indoors.

    In the winter it drops down to 15-20% in the house. In fact I noticed one week in October or November when it dropped from 45 to 20 all of a sudden.

    I had a classical guitar pop a bridge once. Sounded like a gun went off. Which reminds me that I haven’t used the sound hole humidifier at all this winter, but I glued the heck out of it a few years ago, and no problems since.

  10. #9

    User Info Menu

    To echo what others have said, you risk fret sprout, as well as your fretboard cracking if it's unfinished. My old Carvin has bubbles on the sealed fret ends from the frets pushing against it while it was stored under a bed for years when I was away in the Army. Thankfully, they can't be felt, but they are an obnoxious reminder to take better care of my guitars.

  11. #10

    User Info Menu

    I keep my solid-bodies in my basement studio, no heat so it gets down to 59F, and lately, humidity in the low 30%s. No issues yet. On the other hand, even with a humidifier sponge and normal room temp, I've had problems with one of my Martin flat-tops, developing buzzing and even finish cracks.

  12. #11

    User Info Menu

    Years ago I lived in a basement apartment in Atlanta--humidity summer or winter without AC was probably 80% LOL. It was in an old house in the Little 5 Points neighborhood--called the "Murder House" by the locals because a murder had been committed in the very basement where I lived--I didn't find out about that til awhile later though. Every time I heard a noise...

    Anyway, I had an old 1970 Goya classical--great guitar except for a bit of neck bow. Over time it developed waviness on the top like swells on the ocean. After Atlanta I moved to Minnesota, and believe it or not over time the top flattened out again due to expansion of the wood and tension from the body.

    I never did get the neck reset as it needed, and eventually my ex-wife got it after the divorce--still has it and still can't play it LOL.

    I miss that guitar. I believe that Mason Williams recorded Classical Gas on a similar Goya (made in Sweden, not Spain btw).