70%RH... Fellow New Englanders/east coasters... worried?

[chazmo]

Hey guys,

I've got five guitars sitting out in the house, and the last few days we've hovered around 70%RH. Do any of you worry about this? I am toying with the idea of dehumidifying, but I'm also thinking it's probably silly. I know 70%RH is high, and the guitars risk some swelling, but is it a real problem? NO way I'm turning on the A/C when the temps are below 70degF!

 

[twocorgis]

Hey guys,

I've got five guitars sitting out in the house, and the last few days we've hovered around 70%RH. Do any of you worry about this? I am toying with the idea of dehumidifying, but I'm also thinking it's probably silly. I know 70%RH is high, and the guitars risk some swelling, but is it a real problem? NO way I'm turning on the A/C when the temps are below 70degF!

It seems that acoustic guitars handle too much humidity better than not enough from what I've seen.

I was concerned about that last sumer, which was ridiculously hot and humid here. The guitars that I had out seemed to weather it a lot better than I did. It was 80ºF with a dew point near 70 here today. I'm not looking forward to this summer.

 

[chazmo]

That's my take too, Sandy.

It could be my imagination, but as I look at my guitars on stands, I think I see some slight outlines around the edges of some of the bridge plates. Maybe the humidity swells the wood a little there. Dunno. I'm just not panicking.

I had the same situation last summer. Lots of high humidity and temperature, and I only rarely ran the A/C...

 

[Ridgemont]

Around these parts, most shops say they don't worry or humidify/dehumidify. It is currently in the 80s with 75%RH and that is low humidity for central Texas. But it is hot around here and we have our AC running regularly so that dries things out inside.

 

[killdeer43]

What's this AC or A/C thing I keep reading about here and there? :wink:

Joe

 

[davismanLV]

VERY funny, Joe..... VERY funny. No one likes a smug smart alec...... 8) :wink: Tom in Vegas

 

[zulu]

Tell you what, after coming from Nevada yesterday, that humidity hit me like a brick wall when getting off the plane in Providence last night!

 

[chazmo]

RH dropped today; the weather is gorgeous. But, zulu, I totally hear you... It's like a mop in the face, especially when you get off a plane from an arid climate.

 

[Frosty]

Yeah, we do have wide RH and temperature swings in these parts. While I have used Dampits for years... well, decades, in the winter I have never tried to abate the high humidity of the summer.

In mid-summer, the action on some old guitars rises and the wooden friction pegs in the fiddles get jammed... unless I remember to loosen ahead of time. Never seen any enduring damage, though. Unlike the cracking brought about by dryness.

 

[chazmo]

That's me exactly, frosty. I've learned my lesson about winters. I just didn't want to risk anything too serious in summer.

I'm staying the course.

 

[P-E-Z]

put in the cases should be fine

 

[chazmo]

I'm sure they would be fine in their cases, but the thing is, Paul, I like to display 'em in summer and keep 'em out on stands. So they're getting all the humidity...

I guess I'll keep my eye on them and look for signs of swelling.

 

[zulu]

RH dropped today; the weather is gorgeous. But, zulu, I totally hear you... It's like a mop in the face, especially when you get off a plane from an arid climate.

A mop in the face, the perfect description :lol:
the droid said 20% this afternoon in Pawtucket.

 

[zulu]

Nevermind. That was 20% chance of rain. RH about 80-90%.

 

[idealassets]

I panicked when I opened the windows in MI and the RH in the room went up to 70. That was after lots of rain.

Today it is about 50 in the guitar room. The humidifier kicks in very infrequently. In the winter it gets down to about 18-28, and the humidifier runs full time. What would be wrong with using a dehumidifier?

Don't you have an older F212 thats been in this humidity since the mid 60's? How is that guitar holding up?

Craig

 

[idealassets]

Sorry! Brad Little has the 1964 F212.

Craig

 

[chazmo]

Craig, your situation sounds similar to mine/ours here in New England.

Again, there's no cause for panic. Really. As Sandy said, it's arid air, not humid air, that really messes up a guitar. First of all, any swelling would take days/weeks to happen, and thus is subject to the law of averages; one day at 70% is hardly a concern. That said, I would say that NE averages well north of 60%RH during the summer months. The air conditioners do come on though, so I'm not really concerned. This time of year, though, I refuse to run the A/C.