Guitar Display Cabinet?

**Chrome** · 12-03-2012, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by DaveS

I live in an area that is not wildly wet or dry and use furnace humidification in my home. So RH is usually in reasonable control. In the cabinet, I have a hygrometer I can trust that I keep an eye on, and make any small passive changes with open container(s) of either water or desiccant. If in a dryer region, you may want to get more aggressive re humidity control or cabinet sealing

Thanks, Dave.

**spitfire** · 12-03-2012, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by Chrome

Thanks for your thoughts. Nice to have some owner feedback.

If I may ask, are the water pans altered in any way to increase surface area?

In my case the water is in four small dishes. These dishes are actually the small rectangular glass dishes used by restaurants to hold packets of sugar and sweeteners. They are about 3 x 5 inches and 2 inches deep.

As far as controlling humidity, I do it by how many of these dishes I keep in it. But it isn't that complicated to deal with. Since the cabinet is wood and with all the guitars. The humidity doesn't change quickly. For example, to initially bring up the humidity when I first got the cabinet, after 4 days of waiting, I finally put some damp paper towels in the unit to get the initial humidity into the cabinet.

I think the makers know what they are doing and four dishes works well when my home is very dry. Surprisingly, the transition period from dry (winter) to moister (summer when I use evaporative cooling) doesn't take long. Maybe 6 to eight weeks, Which means I go from 4 to 0 pretty fast.

Since the humidity is so stable, you notice when it is creeping up or down from day to day. So if the water is almost all gone or you simply need more dishes, it's obvious. But the changes happen rather slow. And you don't have to manage it daily. For me it is more seasonal.

Also, keep in mind that the relative humidity will change with temperature. For example, in the winter, my home is colder in the morning, therefore the humidity in the case goes up. As the day warms, the humidity in the case drops.

This is NOT because the case isn't sealed well. It's because in a sealed system, as air temp rises, RELATIVE humidity drops.

This may seem the opposite of what you think because we tend to associate dry air with winter when it is cold. But, that's, in part, because when you take cold outside air and bring it inside and it warms, it's relative humidity drops.

Note: These changes due to temperature, are only a few percentage points of relative humidity. So it's not a big deal. But it is something you can notice.