Hi guitar friends! I have a question about guitar maintenance. I have an acoustic guitar that was handmade in Mexico. I was told by the luthier that it needed to keep humidity of about 60. I was wondering if you have any recommendations for humidifiers. I would hate to have my guitar damaged because of dryness. During the summers Iām in Mexico but in the fall, winter, and spring Iām in NYC, which can get very dry. Thank you! I would really appreciate your thoughts on this.
Laura
I use the DāAddario humidipaks.
Welcome to the forum Laura. 60 is on the high side anywhere between 40 and 50 is fine for your guitar. Do you have a hygrometer. Thatās the best way to know if you need to humidify in the first place. I live where the winters can be very dry as well so I humidify the whole house. You can use a portable one or have one installed on your furnace if it is forced air.
If you get a portable one make sure its 5 gals or you will be filling it twice a day.
I use the herco humidifier.
I live in Minnesota, winters probably comparable to yours. If you try to keep the whole house sufficiently humid for the guitars to be happy when itās bitterly cold outside, youāll end up with condensation on your windows at best, and structural damage to your house at worst. The guitars have to stay in their cases with humidifiers in the winter.
My guitars have been on stands for over 30 years and Iāve humidified my house for just as long with no ill effects to the house or guitars. If your getting condensation on your windows you have your humidifier turned up to high.
That was my point. Check the published charts; a house should not be kept above 40% humidity when itās bitter cold out. I have a whole-house humidifier, but in keeping with manufacturers recommendations, my house is between 30-35% humidity in the dead of winter. I wonāt risk my guitars to that low of humidity, so they stay in their cases with humidification devices when theyāre not being played.
this may be a contrarian view but here goes. i used the DāAddario packs for a few years but then stopped. for the past 2-3 I leave my guitars out on my stand to be playable at a moments notice and they have never been better. i do recommend getting your acoustic checked by a professional luthier type if it starts to sound of or become less playable. they can make minor adjustments to the truss rod (and more significant adjustments) that you may not be comfortable doing. in other words donāt stress too much on it.
That all depends on where you live. You may live in an area where humidity is not a problem. So using humidipaks could have been a waste of money. Also since the internet a lot of people freak out way to much about humidifying their guitars. 35% RH will not hurt your guitar for a few days but it you live where it gets down to 20% RH for weeks you need to humidify. But for the OP to try and keep a guitar at 60% RH is just bad advice from her luthier and keeping your guitar in itās case is a personal choice but not necessary if you have a properly calibrated hygrometer.
I just donāt see the reason to risk it. People say āIāve never had a problem,ā but the first time you do notice a problem it may be too late. You may have a crack in the wood, that could have been avoided with the minor inconvenience of keeping the guitars in their cases with a humidification devices for the few months that the in-house humidity drops under 40%. Whatās the old saying? Better safe than sorry.
I donāt understand why youāre stressing out over someone elseās guitars. If it makes you feel better putting your guitars in their cases so be it. Iām not risking anything, I keep very good care of all my guitars. My oldest guitar is 75 years old, Iāve had my 12 string and a 6 string for 43 years and my two newest ones are both 10 years old and all of them are in great condition even the 12 and 6 string I had on the road for 3 years.
Because people tell OTHER people not to worry about it. The original poster was asking for advice about humidification devices, and immediately people come in and say theyāre not necessary, citing their own individual experience and disregarding what the manufacturers recommend.
Hi Laura, welcome to the community.
I live in New Hampshire, humid in the summer, dry in the winter. I use MusicNomad humidifiers during the dry months. They have a special āspongeā that you soak with distilled water (distilled to to prevent things from growing in the sponge). They have sound hole and case holster type holders. Itās easy to reload the sponges when they dry out and replacement sponges are available if needed. My sponges have lasted multiple seasons, so far.
I use a plastic portable humidifier that I drop into the guitar in itās case, and I am to wet the sponge every three or so days at the advice of the guitar tech at the store where I bought my acoustic.
I appreciate the tip to use distilled water to ensure that nothing grows on the sponge! Has anyone ever had an issue with mold or other humidity issues with their guitar while using an in-case humidifier?
Thanks,
Christina
That is interesting.
I think it would depend on where you live, water quality and how your water is purified.
I live in Denver where the water is moderately hard and is purified with chloramine. We then have a whole house filter that removes the chloramine, but no water softener.
The water from our tap is essentially sterile. If a clean sponge is used and you clean it occasionally, like every time you rehydrate it, I wouldnāt think anything would grow, and if something would, it would with distilled water as well.
What distilled water brings to the table is that it has no minerals. Our water here is hard enough that after some months of wetting and evaporating, a sponge will slowly build up mineral deposits and act less like a sponge and more like a rock.
That happens to the wicks in my evaporative humidifier.
If you have āexpensive spongesā from the manufacturer, the distilled water can help them last longer. You can also clean them by soaking in white vinegar for a while, or using another chemical descaling agent.
Buying distilled water would be too much hassle for me.
Thanks so much for sharing Jamolay!
Molds can grow in tap water, and even distilled, although if the sponge is kept in the dark the risk would be pretty low.
The dāaddario system looks pretty good as it uses boveda packs (which you can buy also directly without their markup) that can adjust humidity both up and down and can be refilled when exhausted (even if they are sold as single use)