Putting some guitars away for the dry heating season.

[mbkri]

I try to keep the humidity in my study fairly well controlled but I always get a bit worried during the frozen months of deep winter here in Chicago. With the heat cranked it gets pretty dry despite a whole house humidifier and a room humidifier. It’s a really leaky old Victorian house. So I’m putting most of the hollow bodies away into their cases with a couple of Herco humidifiers in each. One in the cutaway and one under the headstock. Each loosely wrapped in a soft cotton rag. I will usually check them and rehydrate them every 10 days. They will stay in their cases (unless i need them for a specific project) till March I imagine.
Leaving the solid bodies (and a 6120 and my Falcon) out for daily use.
Anyone else take a seasonal approach to guitar storage?

 

[Mr. Lumbergh]

I hate that stiflingly-dry heat. I just let my place get cold and wear a hoodie.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[CousinWarsh]

I’m near Buffalo NY so we get the same type of winters. I usually only need to humidify my acoustic. Once a week I need to soak the sponge in this, it works pretty good. I’ve never humidified my electrics, hollow or otherwise

 

[dafreeze]

I am in the high desert of the Pacific Northwest and keep this old house at 45% RH. Lot easier than having dampits for everything plus it’s much easier on people. Before I got the whole house humidifier I worried that with those dampits I might be over humidifiing the guitars.

lovely jewels you have there...one of my all time favorites was a Country Club with Dynas

 

[El Marin]

There is no need to do that to a plywood guitar

 

[thunder58]

@mbkri , here's what I do but ., not all my guitars and cases are the same either . i.e. - my 12 string Martin has no room under the headstock for a Herco .

All my acoustics have a Dampit as @CousinWarsh shows above , even my new Ovation which has no traditional sound hole ( equalets )
Here's some tips , and what I do also .

* Go down to CVS and purchase a few Travel Soap Dishes , drill some holes in it
* Purchase some sponges , just sponges , without the scrubby part / side , cut to fit
* Place the wet ( squeezed out ) sponge into the travel soap dish

* Google " Flukers Hydrometer " and keep it in the case . About $13-14 on Amazon ....but if you want to throw away your money , buy it at SweetWater / Guitar Center . It's $30 there and has the name " Oasis " on it ........ It's the same darn thing at twice the price . I actually found my Flukeres at a pet supply shop .

The cloth that wraps around the low E string unfortunately needs to be purchased at Guitar Center or on line . It's been a while but I believe the hydrometer also comes with a clip so you may try clipping it on to the door of the guitar case compartment under the neck .

Here's the " most example " of what I do . This is how I keep my Martin HD-35 for years with no issues . Herco under the head stock , CVS / Sponge under the neck joint . Dampit in the sound hole .

 

[thunder58]

P.S. @mbkri , in my 6120-1959 I keep the soap travel / sponge at the " cut away " of the guitar ( where your rags are / master vol control )

 

[mbkri]

There is no need to do that to a plywood guitar

Surely humidity affects plywood also. And what about the neck, fretboard etc?

 

[lathoto]

I take a medium sized Idaho russet potato with no blemishes and put it in the case pocket.

 

[Fasteddie42]

I take a medium sized Idaho russet potato with no blemishes and put it in the case pocket.

And a mackerel!

 

[Bertotti]

My house is already down to low 30% for humidity and other month we will be in the low20s or even the teens. Tried a console humidifier but it was terribly loud and I got mold around my bedroom window. Had to tear the whole area out to clean it up. I keep everything in a case and use oasis for acoustics and soap containers with a. Damp sponges for my oars.

 

[Skydog]

I tried the ‘hillbilly humidifier’ (sponge/soap dish) and although the sponges were marked as being mold & mildew proof, I had a few that imparted a strong smell to my cases. I don't have an answer yet as my house (Chicago area) has a water boiler so no ducts. It makes it hard to have a whole house humidifier. This is compounded by the fact our city water is terrible here. The Aprilaire that we had when we moved in 25 years ago had more scale than a jazz fakebook. I am contemplating getting two (one upstairs, one down) portable humidifiers although they aren't without troubles too. I always know when it's dry; you start getting static shocks that hurt like hell! I leave water in the bathtub and leave the door(s) open when we shower vs. using an exhaust fan. All this only slightly helps so I am following this post for suggestions, not just for the guitars but furniture, pets, and people, too.

 

[Skydog]

I take a medium sized Idaho russet potato with no blemishes and put it in the case pocket.

Ever hear of the elderly woman that had the “green vines in verginny”?

 

[Merc]

Surely humidity affects plywood also. And what about the neck, fretboard etc?

Back when I played URB years ago I owned both a plywood and a carved wood bass. From what I remember real wood expands and contracts with moisture changes and that can cause them to crack. But with the plywood instruments there was no real need to worry about moisture changes in general. The plywood and glue combo do not really swell and shrink in the same manor. Add to it the thick poly plastic finish on most new guitars that seals one side entirely. The necks are usually sealed in plastic too and with the proper use of something on your fretboard should be good enough. High end acoustics and carved woods obviously disregard any of this. This is geared more towards a poly coated plywood guitar.

Personally I wouldn’t worry much unless I was in a desert or maybe if it’s a nitro guitar (unless you want finish checking). But it likely won’t hurt anything if someone does humidify. I do remember when using those green tube sponge thing that my URB teacher at the time did instruct me not to have it overly wet where it may drip onto the wood. Apparently that may cause damage as well.

 

[Bertotti]

I tried the ‘hillbilly humidifier’ (sponge/soap dish) and although the sponges were marked as being mold & mildew proof, I had a few that imparted a strong smell to my cases. I don't have an answer yet as my house (Chicago area) has a water boiler so no ducts. It makes it hard to have a whole house humidifier. This is compounded by the fact our city water is terrible here. The Aprilaire that we had when we moved in 25 years ago had more scale than a jazz fakebook. I am contemplating getting two (one upstairs, one down) portable humidifiers although they aren't without troubles too. I always know when it's dry; you start getting static shocks that hurt like hell! I leave water in the bathtub and leave the door(s) open when we shower vs. using an exhaust fan. All this only slightly helps so I am following this post for suggestions, not just for the guitars but furniture, pets, and people, too.

I am considering a whole house like the Aprilaire. My water is on the hard side so it might mean a filter of some sort dedicated to it as well. Hmmmmmm

 

[Tony65x55]

We get schizophrenic weather. At the receiving end of the Great Lakes weather systems, it is very humid through the summer but our house is drier than a popcorn fart through the winter. We had an in-furnace humidifier for years and the damn thing went south a few years back. I gotta get a new one.

So I have three humidifiers running day and night to keep the air in the 40% range and dehumidifiers running in the summer. It's a bit extra on the electric bill but I have it down to where only 10-15 guitars need two set-ups per year

 

[El Marin]

Surely humidity affects plywood also. And what about the neck, fretboard etc?

Yes, sure it does, but no in a significant way... neck is covered in lacquer, fretboard is oiled... Just talking about my experience, 40 years only with 335, Guild X-165 and 6120 and never had any issue.

Nevertheless I will always use humidifiers with my solid wood acoustics and Spanish guitar because in this case I did had some troublesv indeed

The affection on plywood, to me is negligible

 

[DougWheeler74]

Northeast Wisconsin + radiator heat = dry in winter. All are in cases with Music Nomad case humidifiers. A room humidifier is added when it gets around mid January or when room hygrometer indicates it is time. One year I didn't humidify my solid body. One day I discovered sharp fret ends. I now humidify that one as well. It may be different for other folks but I have done it for years and not suffered ill effects except for that one situation.

 

[Merc]

Northeast Wisconsin + radiator heat = dry in winter. All are in cases with Music Nomad case humidifiers. A room humidifier is added when it gets around mid January or when room hygrometer indicates it is time. One year I didn't humidify my solid body. One day I discovered sharp fret ends. I now humidify that one as well. It may be different for other folks but I have done it for years and not suffered ill effects except for that one situation.

I’ve been lucky and never had any fret sprout grow out and I’ve never done anything special (lived in Mass, AZ, Korea, England, and FL). Although I once picked up a used 19 year old G&L L-1000 bass with a maple board that had it really bad. But bring up a valid experience I wasn’t considering. I would assume once sprouts are taken care it likely wouldn’t happen again. Unless the fretboard dried out and shrunk past the previous shrinkage.

 

[S.R.Cash]

I do the ziplock bag / sponge thing. 3 in the Martin, 1 for the Mandolin, and 2 for the Gretsch.
My room usually sits around 10 to maybe 15 % at best through the winter. I only monitor the Martin case, but it stays pretty consistent around 55%.