Humidifying a thinline electric

[marcwhy]

For those who use humidifiers, can anyone recommend a good hygrometer for under $75 USD ?

I've done a bit of research, and it seems that accuracy can be all over the map for these things. There's no shortage of customer reviews which have mentioned purchasing 2 of the same product, placing them side by side, and getting completely different temperature and humidity readings.

I've also found that most of the "buying guide" sites have never actually tested the products they "review", and merely exist to drive traffic to an Amazon affiliate purchase.

Oasis? Not sure how super-accurate or not ...

[ronjazz]

I never found it really necessary to humidify here in New England until I started playing handmade classical and flamenco guitars, they'll explode if not humidified. I can't imagine it would do any harm at all to humidify archtops or semis, given the fret sprout or changes in action that extremes can bring.

[redcap]

The humidity guages in my home, and I have 3, are all within a % or 2 accurate. That's close enough. You can probably buy 3 on amazon for 75 bucks. My latest one is an Acurite. Does humidity and temp. Unless you're doing scientific research, +/- a degree or 2 should be good enough. IMHO. One of mine is a precision instrument, the other cheapo's, and they're in the same tolerance.

While the dual function temp/ humidity devices are convenient, my priority is obtaining an accurate humidity reading. This seems to be the more challenging chore for these dual devices. I would certainly be satisfied if I could obtain readings within the manufacturer's + or - 3% accuracy parameters. However, it appears from many of the negative reviews, these products can be inaccurate by a much wider margin.

Many thanks for taking the time to discuss your experience, as well as your suggestion. I will likely purchase 1 analogue and 1 digital unit, and have them face-off in a head to head salt slurry calibration test. The loser ( if one is declared) will get an all expense paid trip back to Amazon.

Cheers

[GuitarHack]

Here's my setup:
1) I have a hygrometer in the same room as my case just to see what current humidity is in the room
2) Thinline case (my guitar is solid not laminated) has an Oasis Humidifier (looking a little flaccid in the pic) and a Hygrometer to monitor the humidity (I think it's this one which can be adjusted - the forum won't let me post a link, search Amazon for "Hygroset DHYG-FM Adjustable Digital Hygrometer for Front Mount Humidor")
3) My classical case is the same except for an upright bass size Dampit instead of the Oasis
4) Always store in the case

The hygrometer can be calibrated by sticking it in a sealed plastic bag with a soda cap full of salt and water - you mix the salt and water until it's a slushy consistency and let it sit in there for about a day, that makes 75% humidity if I remember right and then you can set the hygrometer.

[Gabor]

I can not believe the many russian roulette shots here. Measure the the relative humidity first, for the God's sake, then at least we can know what are we talking about. Above 40% there is nothing to do.

***

We also do not know the value of the instrument. It is not realistic to plan to care a say $578 instrument for the next 40 years.

***

Not only dryness hurts guitar, but wet also. Above 60% is suboptimal, even worst. Neck angle can change, action goes higher, body may hurt also.

***

Regardless of the humidity value, the worst thing you can do with a wood instrument is the frequent changes of the condition including humidity and temperature.

[starjasmine]

For those who use humidifiers, can anyone recommend a good hygrometer for under $75 USD ?

There was an extensive thread on this subject here about a year (?) ago - finally found it!

Looking for a small (relatively) inexpensive hygrometer

I keep my guitars in cases in a closet and I have a hygrometer in the archtop case (I don't worry about the solidbodies.) I use one of these to raise the humdity in the room:
Honeywell HWM-705B HWM705B Filter Free Warm Moisture Humidifier, Black


YMMV but I've found it will add about 10-12% humidity to a 300 sf room here in No Cal, where winters are rainy, not cold enough to precipitate every bit of moisture out of the air. That may not be enough if you are in the bone-dry Northeast, but it works OK for me here. I wind up with around 30-40 % humidity in the room and typically just over 30% inside the thinline archtop (the cheap Chinese hygro I posted to the old thread has a probe that you can drop inside the f-hole; it's meant for a violin.) What I like about this humidifier is that it emits steam, not ultrasonic mist. So no powdery stuff anywhere.

It'll run 10-12 hours on high, longer on the low setting. Downside is that they will give you only 2-3 years daily use before croaking, but for the price that's OK, I spoze.

[Marty Grass]

they do need humidifying to prevent things like fret sprout, unwanted neck movement etc

Laminates are tougher but not invincible. I have yet to see full thickness cracks on them from humidity shifts. Solid woods will expand and contract more rapidly because the inside of the body has a broad surface area. The neck shifts more slowly. The main access for ingress/egress of humidity is through the fretboard. The neck movement is slow. Even fret sprout is slow.

Another factor is the temperature. Rapid shifts cause the entrapped moisture within the wood to expand and contract.

Pete Moreno told me this story that is relevant. He did a project with Gibson in Canada during the winter. These guitars coming were frozen. The first day the guys working there, who didn't know better, would open the boxes and cases immediately to Pete's horror. He could literally hear the cracking of nitrocellulose. After that they gave the guitars a day to warm up.

[Marinero]

"I live in a normally heated but still very dry Philadelphia apartment and also use one of these for my Campellone thin line archtop. I place it in the case near the headstock and replenish the water every 3 days or so." bmw2002


Hi, B,
I have a Humicase for one of my Classical guitars that has humidifiers built-in at the headstock and one over the soundhole. I removed the one at the headstock since it caused the wood to swell around the rollers on the tuners and caused two pieces of wood to chip from the friction. Hard lesson learned and the repair was labor intensive, although, successful. That's why an hygrometer is useful.

Play live . . . Marinero