care for acoustic guitars in our climate

[van_halen]

our climate is super humid.. is there any special precautions we need to take care of our acoustic guitars?

to my understanding though, correct me if i'm wrong, humidity is only a problem if the humidity level fluctuates alot, causing the moisture level in the wood to shift alot, causing the wood to expand/contract alot which is bad for the guitar. but in our climate though it's very humid, it's constant throughout the year so yeah there's no fluctuation and the guitar's woods don't go through the "hot and cold" treatment so it's still ok. it's countries which have the 4 seasons where they really have headaches cos during winter it's so cold and dry but summer so humid.

or is it the case that due to our humid all year round weather, even though the humidity is constant, it's killing our acoustics?

i remember a product description on luthermusic (i think it's for a simon and patrick), that older batches of that guitar had problems in our climate and there's alot of returns due to warping issues but the folks at simon and patrick came up with a more stable version and they sold the improved version and it's alright now. what improvements were made that made the newer batches more stable? i'm curious to know.

for acoustic owners, what steps have you made to protect/preserve/care for your acoustics? or you simply just wipe it after playing and keep in it's case or stand, don't really care and nothing happened? or you care for it like hell but in the end it warp or got problem? please share your experiences

 

[zac89]

my acoustic has been with me forabt 5 months now, and it's hanging on the wall. exposed to alot o humidity specially since i'm living near the pool area, but my guitars dont seem to suffer at all, my mum grandpiano on the other hand is gettig owned by thehumidity level

 

[van_halen]

what acoustic are you using, zac89?

 

[Gr3y]

my suggestion is get yourself a humidity measuring device.. guitar stores should have and you should use a thristy hippo travel lite pack to go along if ur instrument is getting too humid.. air it if it is too dry(hardly e case, our air is always around 80-90 and the correct value for guitar is 40-60)

instruments will and will not reveal signs of getting too humid.. the 1st thing they affect is the tone.. if your's is a solid top or even a full solid, the age-ing process would be affected.. that is one main reason y many people can't achieve a nice sound from their solid top/full solid acoustic after years of playing..

if you realised, acoustic shops will always have a dehumidifier to maintain the humidity level. In this way, the guitars will sound better in this correct level.. for us, we don't have 20 over guitars, a meter + thirsty hippo n such is good enough!

the s&p guitars are same as a&l and as well as seagull if i'm not wrong.They are made in the dry canada and thus the wood can't survive our kinda environment.. If i'm not wrong, they replaced their original configurations with a slightly thicker wood setting and material choice.. These will result in less overtones and harmonics from the instrument but allowing the brand to survive the weather here in Singapore. I've personally seen too many A&L and Seagulls cracked.. warped.. all sorts of defacts due to weather and before they are damaged, they don't sound appealing to me..

btw, do you know that ppl that stays in the 4 seasoned countrys actually have 2 different saddles for different seasons? the guitar actually shrink n expand as e season change.. this affects the action drastically and in result ppl have to use 2 different saddles.. 1 high 1 low..well those who can't afford or simply lazy will use shims in return.. amazing huh?

just my 2cents

 

[zac89]

my suggestion is get yourself a humidity measuring device.. guitar stores should have and you should use a thristy hippo travel lite pack to go along if ur instrument is getting too humid.. air it if it is too dry(hardly e case, our air is always around 80-90 and the correct value for guitar is 40-60)

instruments will and will not reveal signs of getting too humid.. the 1st thing they affect is the tone.. if your's is a solid top or even a full solid, the age-ing process would be affected.. that is one main reason y many people can't achieve a nice sound from their solid top/full solid acoustic after years of playing..

if you realised, acoustic shops will always have a dehumidifier to maintain the humidity level. In this way, the guitars will sound better in this correct level.. for us, we don't have 20 over guitars, a meter + thirsty hippo n such is good enough!

the s&p guitars are same as a&l and as well as seagull if i'm not wrong.They are made in the dry canada and thus the wood can't survive our kinda environment.. If i'm not wrong, they replaced their original configurations with a slightly thicker wood setting and material choice.. These will result in less overtones and harmonics from the instrument but allowing the brand to survive the weather here in Singapore. I've personally seen too many A&L and Seagulls cracked.. warped.. all sorts of defacts due to weather and before they are damaged, they don't sound appealing to me..

btw, do you know that ppl that stays in the 4 seasoned countrys actually have 2 different saddles for different seasons? the guitar actually shrink n expand as e season change.. this affects the action drastically and in result ppl have to use 2 different saddles.. 1 high 1 low..well those who can't afford or simply lazy will use shims in return.. amazing huh?

just my 2cents

now that is cool, that last bit of info

van_halen: i'm using a cheap epi acoustic the one that comes with the amp, gt it frm swee lee

 

[8fingermadness]

While it's logical to put a thirsty hippo pack in your case, I don't know if it's safe to put a pack AGAINST the body of your guitar. Not too sure what/how much it's gonna suck out. haha.

 

[Anteopiz]

hmmm how bout my maestro ED2
its with a spruce top and ovangkol sides
will i need a thirsty hippo?
or since its s'pore made i can just leave it...

 

[van_halen]

will it help if i put a thirsty hippo (the big one) in my room instead of putting the packet version in the gigbag with the guitar?

i've used thirsty hippos before and it's really amazing (and scary) how much humidity is in our air. just leave it for 1 day and you can see water inside!

yeah i think what grey said makes sense. from what i know, the folks at s&p really season/dry their wood very well. end product is a dry and well seasoned wood guitar that sounds good (dry is good for acoustics, the dryer the solid top, the better the sound). then ship the guitars to singapore and the dry wood is attacked by moisture.. sudden moisture overload and it can cause problems. wah lao.. the humidity here is killer man, dun say guitars, even people also cannot tahan! imagine sit down do nothing also can sweat and feel sticky all over cos the sweat can't evaporate cos the air already saturated with moisture liao..

 

[van_halen]

i'm curious, which situation is worse for acoustic guitars

1) our all year round super humid climate or
2) the 4 seasons which cause the guitars to shrink and expand so drastically?

 

[Radius_Vector]

Im guessing that a constant climate will be suitable for any guitar, as there wont be any expansion/contraction of wood

 

[van_halen]

i read from some folks in the low humidity countries that they have to put humidifier (yeap, opposite from our DEhumidifiers) cos their air too dry and the wood will crack.

 

[eXtr3me]

are there any effects if like the gutiar is exposed to aircon in the night and room conditions of the rest of the day?

 

[van_halen]

the s&p guitars are same as a&l and as well as seagull if i'm not wrong.They are made in the dry canada and thus the wood can't survive our kinda environment.. If i'm not wrong, they replaced their original configurations with a slightly thicker wood setting and material choice.. These will result in less overtones and harmonics from the instrument but allowing the brand to survive the weather here in Singapore. I've personally seen too many A&L and Seagulls cracked.. warped.. all sorts of defacts due to weather and before they are damaged, they don't sound appealing to me..

hmm, how abt taylors, martins or other brands of acoustics made in usa? going by the same logic they should be rather prone to problems in our weather too?

 

[sellingemall]

I keep my acoustic in my room, air-con on every night, so the room's humidity would fluctuate from 30s to around 60 (when air-con's off).

I did notice the sound being more crisp when the guitar is "dryer". I experimented by leaving it out in our normal S'pore 90 RH for a few days... the sound was a tad duller.

More importantly, it's best to keep it at a constant temperature and humidity. You can guess what happens when wood expands/contracts too fast... not good for the glue and joints ya?

Btw, my acoustic bridge popped out last time and I got it fixed. However... it's starting to peel again in less than a year! Poor workmanship? Or temperature changes? I don't know... but it's costly

 

[van_halen]

I keep my acoustic in my room, air-con on every night, so the room's humidity would fluctuate from 30s to around 60 (when air-con's off).

I did notice the sound being more crisp when the guitar is "dryer". I experimented by leaving it out in our normal S'pore 90 RH for a few days... the sound was a tad duller.

More importantly, it's best to keep it at a constant temperature and humidity. You can guess what happens when wood expands/contracts too fast... not good for the glue and joints ya?

Btw, my acoustic bridge popped out last time and I got it fixed. However... it's starting to peel again in less than a year! Poor workmanship? Or temperature changes? I don't know... but it's costly

wow.. how did u manage to keep ur room humidity down to 60 with aircon off? btw wad acoustic are u using?

 

[van_halen]

are there any effects if like the gutiar is exposed to aircon in the night and room conditions of the rest of the day?

i wonder too.. cos at night i tend to turn on the aircon to keep out the mosquitoes but the rest of the day i normally don't turn on the aircon.

 

[barefoot]

my 12string acoustic bridge area become sort of like arched top surface i didnt leave it in a bag, and i actually down tuned in half a step and hold capo in first fret for lower tension. you know normally acoustic had this bridge uplift problem, but mine was so well glued that the acoustic top actually curved =( excellent, althought so far it have yet to affect so much on the action and intonation, seeing it is just depressing

 

[sellingemall]

wow.. how did u manage to keep ur room humidity down to 60 with aircon off? btw wad acoustic are u using?

Curtains always drawn. Door's always closed and no one's inside until night time

I'm using an old Ibanez dreadnought, cedar top.

 

[3rd_stone_fr_the_sun]

i have a strat that i bought in 05, the bridge saddles and pickguard screws rusted quite rapidly in the 1st year when i was staying in hostel, not surprising considering i only leave it in a gig bag. i find that gig bags actually make it worse coz it soaks up the moisture in the air. now at home i both my strat and acoustic in the wardrode and throw in 2 boxes of thirsty hippos, solves the problem