Timely Artice re humidity

Rayk

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I do need to have another meter thanks for
the link ;)

I’m running about 30% I also need another humidifier. The humility changes are not drastic swings so I’m thankful for that . 😁
 

Rayk

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Ray if you've got one saving grace it's humility.

Lol I just seen that haha dang auto correct but I’ll take as I have no idea what the word would of looked like with out it . Hehehehe
 

F312

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Ya just can't slip up here, and I like that LTG correct.

Ralph
 

gjmalcyon

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I do need to have another meter thanks for
the link ;)

I’m running about 30% I also need another humidifier. The humility changes are not drastic swings so I’m thankful for that . ��

So, where can I buy a humilifier? My wife and kids certainly believe I could use one....
 

jedzep

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I always wonder about humidity, since my guitars are very old and I assume that at many points in their lives all the moisture has been sucked out of their fibers leaving a stable substrate of solid dry old growth wood. I wouldn't F with that by trying to hydrate and risk changing that stability. They're good to go every day and rarely, if ever, develop cracks.
 

kostask

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Dried out guitars do not become "...a stable substrate of solid dry old growth wood..." because they are not one piece of wood, nor does their gran run in parrallel directions, and there is also glue involved. If a guitar was like a log, and were given enoug time to dry out at a controlled rate, then your statement may have been somewhat correct. However,guitars generally have some parts working contrary to other parts. The topw wood runs parallel to the length of the guitar. The X braces below the top run at an angle The back and side woods are usually different species (hardwood), and will shrink at a different rate than the top wood (usually a softwood). The shrinking of the wood also puts stress on glue joints due to the various directions and rates that the different woods are shrinking at.

Put a guitar into a situation where the ambient humidity is at say 15%, I don't care how old the guitar is, it will develop top cracks. See how many top cracks are repaired every year in areas that have indoor heating during the winter. In the case where cracks don't develop, you will often see the curve/arch of the top decrease, creating action problems (too low in this type of situation( causing buzzing and decreased volume and tonal quality.
 

adorshki

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I always wonder about humidity, since my guitars are very old and I assume that at many points in their lives all the moisture has been sucked out of their fibers leaving a stable substrate of solid dry old growth wood. I wouldn't F with that by trying to hydrate and risk changing that stability. They're good to go every day and rarely, if ever, develop cracks.
Kostas made good points but underlying reason all those problems can occur is this:
ALL (untreated and unsealed) wood is hygroscopic, that is, it absorbs ambient humidity and in fact will absorb it right up until it can absorb no more or it reaches equilibrium with the ambient humidity.
By the same token it will also give up its residual moisture when RH is low enough for osmosis to takes over, that's the tendency of all molecules to move from areas of greater concentration to areas of lesser concentration. (Which is the basis of the hygroscopic nature of wood). So if the ambient air's drier than the wood the guitar gives up its moisture content.
I think he knows that but if you didn't you may have still failed to grasp the why of it all.
Too much humidity is also not desirable for guitar as it will cause swelling which leads to similar problems as shrinkage when it come to pushing glue joints out of alignment or other distortions.
That's why there's an ideal humidity range defined for guitars of anywhere from 35% at low end to 55% at high end and depending on who you ask.
Within those limits virtually any guitar will retain its ideal dimensions and not suffer from distortion-causing swelling or shrinkage-induced cracks.
I suspect the reason your guitars have been so stable is simply that like me, you're fortunate enough to live in an area where ideal humidity range prevails for the vast majority of the year.
Cold air is inherently less capable of holding moisture than warm air and heating it dries it further, thus the annual reminders to members to start humidifying, "where necessary".
Other factors, such as construction, come into play with guitars as well : laminated tops, sides, and backs are inherently swell-and-crack resistant.
 

Quantum Strummer

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My house is holding real well at ~40% humidity despite the sustained cold spell. From experience I know if I try pushing it any higher I'll just end up with condensation on the windows. Got my F-20 on a stand, out of its case, and it's stable & playing/sounding great.

-Dave-
 

jedzep

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Yeah, I'm in that boat, Dave. Adorshki is correct, and having an old house (1820) that allows a certain amount of the outside inside keeps the moisture levels in a safe range. I measure the RH in the house by how far away my finger is from the switch plate screws when the static spark jumps to it. I always jump and always curse.

Wind chill here is 25 below.
 

adorshki

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..having an old house (1820)...
Wow, talk about "a stable substrate of solid dry old growth wood"!! LOL!!
I measure the RH in the house by how far away my finger is from the switch plate screws when the static spark jumps to it. I always jump and always curse.
So...1/2" gap equals 35% RH, 1" gap equals about 50%?
:biggrin-new:
 

jedzep

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Hoho...if there's a spark jumping across a half inch I'd end up on my floor.

I had the house moved back 200 ft off the roadside in '03, with hardly any cracks in the plaster. Post and beam with no insulation and only 6 inch thick walls. I pulled down the interior walls and built inward to get enough wall depth to squeeze R-13 fiberglass in. The exterior sheathing consists of 2 inch thick slabs of pine, spruce or hemlock from local water driven mills.

All fresh air all the time. Nevertheless, with a wood stove in play I can walk around in shorts and flip flops with tonight's windchill around 25 below.

My luthier gave me the humidifier lecture. I hung my head in mock shame. He's patching hairline top cracks on the F20. I just bought the 2016 Oxnard M-40 I was waving out there for the consumption of others, and looking forward to hearing the side by side. Still can't figure why it sat on Reverb at the $800 mark for so long. I just couldn't let it pass without a tryout.
 

adorshki

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Hoho...if there's a spark jumping across a half inch I'd end up on my floor.

I had the house moved back 200 ft off the roadside in '03, with hardly any cracks in the plaster. Post and beam with no insulation and only 6 inch thick walls. I pulled down the interior walls and built inward to get enough wall depth to squeeze R-13 fiberglass in. The exterior sheathing consists of 2 inch thick slabs of pine, spruce or hemlock from local water driven mills.
I was gonna make the horsehair insulation joke but figured "Na-a--a-a-h....nobody can afford to waste that much on heating these days....it must be modernized"


My luthier gave me the humidifier lecture. I hung my head in mock shame. He's patching hairline top cracks on the F20.
A-HA! I thought the static sparks were an indicator of way too low humidity but played it for the laugh instead.
They can also result from the friction between the right combination of materials, but one of the factors is that the skin potential varies with humidity.
Anyway, my sympathy about the F20, although properly repaired cracks are supposed to be acoustically "invisible".
Still, who wants to spend dough they didn't need to?
 

Rayk

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Aaaaaaaaaaaah 30% is that a crack on my F212xlce!? ........ oh just a dog hair Phew .. wait that’s a crack on my cv-1 one ? No no no that’s finish checks it came with them pre installed .

Ok all fun aside I’m running the humilifier 24/ 7
I know my wonderful mobile home is anything but air tight . Need a hot cold thingy meter imager .

On that note just had to call my A/C guy a capacitor went or I’m hoping that’s the issue.

Anyway maintaining 30% I’m sure that’s just localized and not the whole house .
 
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