Guitar Humidity

[GuitarGuy305]

A few years back, I lived in a shithole apartment without central air, and I decided to buy a real, solid wood guitar. I bought a Martin D-16RGT. I kept a humidifier in the guitar, but alas, the guitar dried out due to the conditions in my shitty apartment in connection with the dry winters in Iowa. I took the guitar into my local music store, West Music, and I must say they were great about it. They actually kept the guitar in the store for two weeks, in their perfect climate for acoustics, until it was rehumidified so that it could be worked on. They didn't charge me for keeping it there. And it was only $40 bucks for them to set it up again.

Soon after that, my girlfriend(now my fiancé) and I moved in together to a condo, which has central air, and I have a room now with all my guitars hanging on the wall, with a humidifier running set at 50% humidity. I also have a hygrometer in there, which usually reads between 48% and 55%. The door is always closed. My guitars have all been adjusting to the proper humidity for acoustics, and with that there have been some action problems, intonation problems, etc...that need to be taken care of. Now that the guitars have been in the room comfortably for a while now, I decided they are acclimatized enough to take them ALL in for setup to get them in prime condition for rocking out.

Since I don't want to be without guitar for any amount of time, I decided to take them in one at a time, starting today with the D-16RGT, the ultimate bitch of humidity. I took the guitar in, and explained the brief history of time regarding the guitar to my usual contact at West Music. As I was filling out my name and info on the work order, he picked the guitar up and played around on it a bit. While doing this he said "Yes. It is a bit dry."

I was shocked. I asked him what the best humidity is for a guitar, and he said 40% to 50%. He suggested that I get a hygrometer. I told him that I had one, and that all my guitars were in a room with a humidifier and the door closed, and that my hygrometer reads between 48% and 55% all the freaking time. He seemed confused, and said that the guitar tech there would have the final say on the guitar's dryness.

Basically, this is bothering me. Could this guy just not know what he's talking about, or is this guitar the bastard child of Martin guitars and refuses to remain humidified? I talk to this guy about guitars all the time, and he really seems to know his stuff. I can't tell just by playing a gutiar that it is dry, but if anyone could, I think he could. With the humidifier, hygrometer always reading correct %, and the door closed, could I still be doing something wrong?

Anyone's input on this would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks for reading this whole thing!!!



Adam

[HCHaikuWarrior]

adam-

i had the same problem before and i was pissed off as well..

#1 it could be that this guy doesn't know shit about guitar and he is just trying to look good infront of his boss...or he could be right...i would wait for the final say from the techy. The condition u put your guitar inside the room sounds perfect so i would be confused my self with that happening to the guitar...

When i went through this i couldn't get my guitar to get humidified...connecticut has bitchy dehumidified winters...

Luckily for me i purchased this guitar 25 days from when my guitar was giving me trouble and they pretty much concured it was the "bastard" (as you say) of the Taylor family. So they (at guitar center) agreed to give me a new guitar for free since i was still in my 1 month test period....

as for you the worst thing that can happen is having to send it back to martin factory and seeing what they can do if it is under warranty...

Tip of advice: Get a Dampit which is a sponge rubber covered rod they sell at guitar stores and it fits inside the sound hole keeping the guitar anything but dry...

hope all works out.

cheers,
andrew

[Kukini]

Dampit, I live in CO. Really dry, I've had my guitar for like 3 months now and went to have it checked she said it was in perfect condition so...

[GuitarGuy305]

adam-

Tip of advice: Get a Dampit which is a sponge rubber covered rod they sell at guitar stores and it fits inside the sound hole keeping the guitar anything but dry...

hope all works out.

cheers,
andrew

Yeah. I actually have a few of those. That is what I used to have in the guitar back in my crappy apartment when the thing dried out. I think when I get it back the setup will be this.


Dampit in guitar, guitar in case, case in humidified room.


That ought to get 'em.


Adam

[grock]

that guy doesn't know shit. it's like when you bring your car to the mechanic. They always find "something" that needs to be fixed. This time it's humidity. i would tell him to suck it and stop talking out his butt.

sorry but it just pisses me off when someone tries to act like thye know what is going on and they don't. i mean you obviously caught him lying straight to your face.

there are a couple ways to tell whether a guitar has been subjected to radical humidties but you can't tell a guitar "is a bit dry" just by playing it for five minutes. that's rediculous.

[GuitarGuy305]

that guy doesn't know shit. it's like when you bring your car to the mechanic. They always find "something" that needs to be fixed. This time it's humidity. i would tell him to suck it and stop talking out his butt.

sorry but it just pisses me off when someone tries to act like thye know what is going on and they don't. i mean you obviously caught him lying straight to your face.

there are a couple ways to tell whether a guitar has been subjected to radical humidties but you can't tell a guitar "is a bit dry" just by playing it for five minutes. that's rediculous.

Yeah. My instinct would be to think that they were full of shit. Except that I do a lot of business there, always get my setups done there, etc... so they really have no reason to lie to me. I have had so many problems keeping this guitar humidified, so that's what makes me think he may have not been full of shit.

Part of me does think he may have been pretending to have a sixth sense about guitar humidity, maybe so I'd think he was a guitar god, because he looked a bit shocked when I explained the extensive procedures I go through to keep my guitar humidified.



Adam

[Macht]

i think you should go over and kick his ass adam man

[grock]

that guy doesn't know shit. it's like when you bring your car to the mechanic. They always find "something" that needs to be fixed. This time it's humidity. i would tell him to suck it and stop talking out his butt.

sorry but it just pisses me off when someone tries to act like thye know what is going on and they don't. i mean you obviously caught him lying straight to your face.

there are a couple ways to tell whether a guitar has been subjected to radical humidties but you can't tell a guitar "is a bit dry" just by playing it for five minutes. that's rediculous.

Yeah. My instinct would be to think that they were full of shit. Except that I do a lot of business there, always get my setups done there, etc... so they really have no reason to lie to me. I have had so many problems keeping this guitar humidified, so that's what makes me think he may have not been full of shit.

Part of me does think he may have been pretending to have a sixth sense about guitar humidity, maybe so I'd think he was a guitar god, because he looked a bit shocked when I explained the extensive procedures I go through to keep my guitar humidified.



Adam

i don't think they are "Lying" to you. they just don't know shit. and they can't let that out so they talk like they know stuff. but it's very clear from this example that you are being had. maybe all the other times that's not true, but based on this one time i would have called him out on it cuz maybe it is just this one guy. but it is classic thing to say, and there is no way for a normal guitar player to "prove" his guitar is humdified right. so they sell you a dampit and then you think they are really awesome guitar techs cuz they got you hooked up with the humidity problem. but it's all a sham. it's all a sham.

what do you mean "problems keeping this guitar humdified"? if you put the guitar in a 50% humidity location it will be at 50%. it's not like some guitars magically do not become humidified. and if a guitar is subjected to a humidity xtreme, it will always bear some battle wounds but, it shouldn't cause lasting humidifaction problems.

it sounds to me that you've gotten all your advice from these same guys and i don't think they know what they are talking about.

the second you take your guitar, and pt it in the case and then in your car and then to the store, and then to play, it's going through many swings in humidity. it's really no big deal. the whole idea is to avoid the extremes and keep the guitar at a median humidity or all extended periods of time. no matter what guitar you have it is going to react similiarly to these shifts in humidty. don't buy into their crap about how your guitar has problems.

but honestly, bringing your guitar camping where the humidity is 80% or 30% is no big deal, unless you are camping for 2 weeks.

go get some more opinions on this and explain the story you said at the beginning and ask the other guitar store if they are trying to shit ya. or try the same thing and see if they try and sell you some dampits.

i think that when you find someone who is willing to talk for free and not sell you something or act like they are so smart, you will find that what you have been doing is perfect and you guitar is being taken better than most, your humidity levels are fine.

and then i would find that guy and tell him he's an ass. even if you just have to write a note to put on his car.

sorry for so much rant.

[Coldchillin]

adam-

Tip of advice: Get a Dampit which is a sponge rubber covered rod they sell at guitar stores and it fits inside the sound hole keeping the guitar anything but dry...

hope all works out.

cheers,
andrew

Yeah. I actually have a few of those. That is what I used to have in the guitar back in my crappy apartment when the thing dried out. I think when I get it back the setup will be this.


Dampit in guitar, guitar in case, case in humidified room.


That ought to get 'em.


Adam

When it's in the humidified room, leave it out of its case. that might help a little

[GuitarGuy305]

As it is now, my guitars are all hung on the wall in the humidified room. People have told me that hanging it on the wall, depending on the airflow around the guitar, may be whats drying it out.

A guitar case is pretty much air tight when it's closed. I mean, it's not literally air tight, but it should keep most of the humidity in when closed, if a dampit is in the guitar.

I will be taking the guitar to another tech for a second opinion on the humidity issue however. Because Grocks rant did make a lot of sense.


Adam

[Coldchillin]

yeah. good luck no matter what happens though. guitar troubles suck

[Coldchillin]

yeah. good luck no matter what happens though. guitar troubles suck

[HCHaikuWarrior]

yeah. good luck no matter what happens though. guitar troubles suck

i hate guitar troubles. they make me wanna shart.

[adamondo]

yeah. good luck no matter what happens though. guitar troubles suck

i hate guitar troubles. they make me wanna shart.

Same here.

[c_tietze]

I wouldn't hang it on the wall, that's a bad idea.

With a Planet Waves humidifier you should be fine as long as you keep it "charged" and keep your axe in the case.

The case is the best place to store a guitar.

Peace

CJT