Relative Humidity

sws626
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Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:57 pm

Andy,

I can't see higher humidity levels becoming a problem unless they are accompanied by excessive heat. I wish I could keep my house at 55% RH in the winter, but the reality is that it is closer to 25%.

I keep a little Oasis humidifier suspended in the sound hole and a hygrometer in the case behind the tuning machines. This keeps the RH in the case at about 48%.

But I tend to agree with Bear that there's a bit of hysteria that doesn't really jibe with physical reality in some of the literature on this subject.

Stuart


d_dog
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Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:59 pm

Wow, this is an interesting thread. Aside from blatant mis handling and or care of ones guitar, I've never seen any evidence that this humidity issues is as big of an issue as I've seen it made out to be.
I have come across what I'd say is the best explanation of Relative Humidity, Temperature & Dew Point Temperature I've ever seen. You'll love this one Bear. About Humidity...
In my opinion, if you have an environment / atmosphere in your home that is such that will damage your guitar, you have a lot of other things to worry about in your home, like mold. :X


AndyT
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Sat Jan 16, 2010 6:37 pm

Hawaii has a few places where we get spontaneous mold growth. Another reason we condition the air here and remove humidity.


bobk35
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Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:17 pm

Another variable to consider is the glue used in construction. Most older and some newer guitars were built with hide glue. It was used in violins way before the invention of the guitar. It has the advantage of allowing parts to be removed, re-shaped and replaced. Heat takes it back to a liquid form. A guitar neck reset usually involves this process.

Another glue is the "water based" wood glues. Once cured, these glues are usually water resistant but cycled humidity will cause them to degrade. This is usually visible as a white chalky residue.

I've seen glue failures at braces, neck blocks and binding parts so I guess I've seen the effects of letting humidity change over a period of time.

Just another item to consider.


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