Neal
Senior Member
I was in Richmond today, and decided to stop by Guitar Center to play a vintage Martin D-18, just for educational purposes, mind you.
I went straight for the high-end acoustic room, and the first thing I noticed was that the display on the humidifier was alternating "F" and "20". I own the exact same humidifier and knew exactly what that meant. "Fill" and "20% RH". The humidifier was bone dry, as was the room containing easily $30,000 worth of high-end Martins and Gibsons.
Next thing I noticed was that the action on the D-18 was high, and the wood had that "parched" look to it. Next thing I discovered was that all of the guitars in the room were dry and had high action.
The sales guy was in there trying to sell a customer a Martin D-35, discounted because it had a hump in the neck where it joins the body. The sales guy actually said, out loud, that the hump might go away "once the guitar is properly humidified". Evidently, it did not cross his mind to add water to the humidifier in the "climate-controlled" acoustic room to help rectify the situation.
I then went across the hall to where the high-end Taylor's are kept and, guess what that humidifier showed? Yep. "F" and "21".
I mentioned this to the guy at the counter as I was buying picks, which I presume are unaffected by low humidity, and he seemed utterly indifferent to the fact.
I almost feel like driving back down there tomorrow to see if either humidifier has water in it. My guess would be no.
I went straight for the high-end acoustic room, and the first thing I noticed was that the display on the humidifier was alternating "F" and "20". I own the exact same humidifier and knew exactly what that meant. "Fill" and "20% RH". The humidifier was bone dry, as was the room containing easily $30,000 worth of high-end Martins and Gibsons.
Next thing I noticed was that the action on the D-18 was high, and the wood had that "parched" look to it. Next thing I discovered was that all of the guitars in the room were dry and had high action.
The sales guy was in there trying to sell a customer a Martin D-35, discounted because it had a hump in the neck where it joins the body. The sales guy actually said, out loud, that the hump might go away "once the guitar is properly humidified". Evidently, it did not cross his mind to add water to the humidifier in the "climate-controlled" acoustic room to help rectify the situation.
I then went across the hall to where the high-end Taylor's are kept and, guess what that humidifier showed? Yep. "F" and "21".
I mentioned this to the guy at the counter as I was buying picks, which I presume are unaffected by low humidity, and he seemed utterly indifferent to the fact.
I almost feel like driving back down there tomorrow to see if either humidifier has water in it. My guess would be no.
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