UK Humidity

[SugarMountain]

i hear alot of people worrying about dryness on here, but it seems my side of the ocean its the other way

i have a humidity dial with markers between 50%-70% reading 'Normal'
anything above 70 damp and anything below 50 dry and my room is usually between 60%-65% so ive always thought everything is ok

but in my little booklet in the guild case it states that ideal humidity is between 40%-50%

the humidity in my house, in all rooms all year round stays between 60%-70% so is my guitar in grave danger??

and if this is so, how does anyone in the UK keep vintage stuff??
i asked a luthier who told me i should stop worrying and i dont need to be concerned

thoughts?

 

[paganskins]

Something I've been considering recently too, if it is an issue would silica gel would be the obvious solution when casing guitars?

 

[wright1]

Hi Guys, I too live in London and humidity is something around 60-70% depending on which dial I read. The main thing that does the most damage to an instrument is rapid change to it's environment. If the conditions you keep your guitar in are stable then it will not usually come to any harm. Gigging and taking it out of the house is another matter. Going rapidly from cold to hot,steamy to air conditiond is when the instrument will start to complain. If you have to do these things then leave the guitar in it's case in the new environment for as long as you can before taking it out so that it has time to get used to it SLOWLY! I bought a S100 second hand recently and it was sent to me by carrier. It had been on the truck over night and when I opened the box the case was very cold so despite being anxious to play it I left it alone until the evening when I could feel that the case was at room temperature. If I had opened it up straight away then the cold guitar would have hit the warm room, sweated and maybe caused all sorts of problems with finish and warping because it couldn't change to it's new environment quickly enough. This problem goes for all wooden instruments. Consistancy is the thing they need the most. If you run around 60-70% humidity then try to keep your guitar at that where ever you take it. Some states in the USA have wide differences in humidity depending on the seasons and they need to add or subtract humidity to keep things consistant. Usually all we have to worry about in the UK is central heating which strangely can add or subtract humidity so you need to be aware of what your heating does to your house.
Hope this helps and your luthier was right to tell you not to worry too much.

 

[Jake The Loafer]

"would silica gel would be the obvious solution"

That's the only thing I know of to absorb moisture. I know all my new Fender Strats & Teles shippped w/ one in the case. Can't remeber if my Guilds shipped w/ a pack. The only new Guilds I have bought were an X-500 & my X-170T.

 

[iamru02]

Usually all we have to worry about in the UK is central heating which strangely can add or subtract humidity so you need to be aware of what your heating does to your house.
Hope this helps and your luthier was right to tell you not to worry too much.

sugarmountain, I'm sure you'll get more inputs from guys in this forum that are very well versed in this subject and I tend to agree, pending correction from those guys that your probably ok.

In the event you decide to "dehumidify" your house, I can give ya some things to watch out for in that regard. I spent over 20 years in the Heating and Air Conditioning field, the last 10 in my own contracting business. There is a bit more to it than meets the eye and can be a little tricky so I'll keep abreast of this thread and if you or anyone would like some recommendations in regard to your house, I'll be more than happy to share my experience.
regards

 

[SugarMountain]

well, i bought the guitar in london...and its managed to survive 30 odd years here (that is if its always lived here) so i guess it should be fine