Guild Humidified Archtop Case

Hi. Question for them of you that bought a new Guild with this case...or even just bought the case:
anyone had a problem with mold growth in the sponge?
i have Planet Waves humidifiers in 2 other cases & havent had that trouble with them
i e-mailed Guild & explained the situation & asked 1) has there been other occurrences & b) what can i do
to avoid this in the future.
Dan apologized & offered to ship out a new sponge & a t-shirt for my troubles.
So aside from the original question, im also asking you all here if any of you have a idea how to avoid this
in the future?
never saw this before with any other humidifier ive used or am using.
very strange
& thank you, my friends

That's interesting, kdavid.

We had problems with the TKL cases shedding water-soluble adhesive onto the guitars when putting too much humidity in the case. I haven't seen mold though. Reccommend sponging out the case with soapy water and then clear water, and then letting it dry out. If you're getting mold you're probably overhumidifying anyway with the new Humidipak cases. The good news is that mold (like the water-soluble glue) will just come off your guitar with a sponge. Don't use any abrasives!

kdavid said:

So aside from the original question, im also asking you all here if any of you have a idea how to avoid this
in the future?
never saw this before with any other humidifier ive used or am using.
very strange
& thank you, my friends

Click to expand...

Mold grows from spores, the spores're pretty tough, to survive long periods of downright hostile conditions, so it sounds like somewhere along the line your case or the sponge got "inoculated"
Spores are airborne, so could have even happened in your house.
Anyway, overly-humid conditions foster growth as Chaz said, and bleach is the traditional treatment, although I understand it might be problematic treating the inside of the case without staining the lining (I assume it's lined but don't know if the lining's dye is "Bleach proof")
While checking for recommended dilution of bleach, I came across this product which appears to be much more user and environment-friendly, "Concrobium"
Says EPA and Helath Cnand certified, lists auto interiors as one appliction so I think that'd easily extend to guitar case lining:
https://jet.com/product/Concrobium-Mold-Control-128-Oz/b43e22f884dd4f0e9ff287ac810bac59
Also show a 14-oxz aerosol can:
https://jet.com/product/Concrobium-White-Mold-Control-Aerosol141-oz/25a18225e2e2478cbe90ed9647d88545
Only other concern is possible interactions with guitar finish but I suspect catalyzed varnish used in Oxnard is a lot less "reactive" than traditional NCL finishes, but you might want to check with 'em again to see if they've got better info about what to avoid with that finish.
Not thinking about "treating guitar" so much as possible residues left in case and long-term exposure to inorganic salts listed as ingredient in Concrobium.

hi & thanks for the info! theres more here than i thought. thank you so much!
since none of the other guitars humidifiers sponges have this thing going on, im in agreement that somewhere along the line, the sponge for this case, or the case itself got 'dosed'. ive made sure that Daniel at Guild knew this & iive asked if they had any ideas to keep this from happening again & got no response for that. as ive said, theyre sending me a replacement sponge & a t-shirt 'for my troubles'.
ive mentioned that im undergoing chemo & just finished radiation (again) & my wife makes sure that our little house is mold, mildew, & just about dust free,
so if it happens again im going to have to ask for a different case. one without the humidifier as the ones ive bought from Planet Waves seem to be clean of that.
all they (the Planet Waves sponges) ask for is some distilled water once a week.
ive bleached theholder thats glued inside that guitar case, its all i can do at this point. we'll see what happens here.
Guild Oxnard is notoriously slow at shipping things out, so it could well be summer by the time i get the new sponge.
we'll see

kdavid said:

...since none of the other guitars humidifiers sponges have this thing going on...

Click to expand...

So the mold is just on the sponge? Throw the sponge away. I noticed what appeared like a little bit of mold on one of my regular sponges (inside the baggies, you know? :wink-new: ) I wasn't that surprised. The sponge is always damp! If it starts taking over the sponge, I guess I'll throw it away. Or bleach it.....

As adorshki mentions, spores can just come in through the air, so it would be hard to claim the case is at fault. Unless you've also got a visible infestation on the inside of your case, I doubt it needs any big eradication efforts....

Yah i throwed it away
was just curious if anyone else had that happen in a new case.
So far don't seem so.