Hi: Am seeing ads for guitar humidity packs. First time I’ve heard of them. I have electric guitars, not acoustic. Are guitar humidifier packs recommended for electric guitars?
Really any wood guitar. You can throw your guitar into its case with a pack and all good if you have humidity problems.
Hi Harry,
In my experience, and in my home (North eastern USA, with hot summers and cold winters with heating that dries out the home), these humidifier packs are a must for my acoustic guitars, but my nicer electrics do fine in their cases without packs, even my semi-hollow, which tends to sit out on a stand all the time - perhaps a quick truss rod adjustment as the seasons change. I do have an external humidifier running during winters so I’m sure that helps.
So I guess the short answer is it depends on your circumstances. If you’ve got time do check out other threads on this topic… like most guitar questions it’s a bit of a rabbit hole 
Cheers
Ashu
Hi Harry ,
Maybe this is the topic that will give some light in this 
? 
Greetings,Rogier
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The temperatures are starting to drop here in Minnesota. Soon, the humidity in the house will be regularly below 40%, even with a humidifier on the furnace. Once that happens, my guitars go in their cases with humidification devices when I’m not playing them.
I just think that it’s not worth any risk of damage, and the extra minute or two need to take them in and out of their cases is not that big of a deal.
By the way, the packs not only release humidity when the environment is too dry, they also absorb excess moisture when the humidity is high. You can use that to re-charge the packs. When the packs dry out, you can put them in a closed container with (but not touching) a wet sponge, and they’ll be good as new again.
I have a few solid-body guitars and one hollow body. I have had these from 4 years to 6 months across the group.
I live in an dry climate where the indoor humidity is between 15% and 35% nearly year around, with only 3-5 instances per year that go into 60-70% for 1-2 days after a good rain.
The heavily painted solid body guitars have no trouble being out on the stand. The first guitar I bought has been out for over 4 years and I have had no trouble with it. I can see the tuning change when the weather changes, but nothing terribly substantial.
My solid body with light oil finish is the same. out for 3 years with trouble only at about the 5th or 6th week of my ownership (bought new, online) where it needed the tuning machines tightened to the headstock and the neck screws tightened to the body. since then, very consistent.
I have a chanbered body with light varnish. Same story so far. Had it around 2 years.
I recently (6 months ago, maybe) bought a hollow body arch-top that has a very light finish and construction akin to an acoustic. This guitar changes more than others with the weather. I keep it in the case with a Himidipak. I use the time I have it out to recharge the himidipak as mentioned above. I may leave it out if the house is 40-55%, but tend to put it away if lower. It feels like this is the best thing to do for this particular guitar since it is more sensitive to weather changes and i think that fast changes are likely more trouble than just slightly out of spec humidity for months.
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My first acoustic, an inexpensive Yamaha, has never had particular care WRT humidity. No truss rod to adjust. But it also doesn’t have a terribly delicate construction. Its tuning tends to be quite stable after the initial couple weeks after a string change, and I use that as an indication of whether I need to be more careful about humidity.
Yeah, my Epiphone electric has a pretty thick finish and also doesn’t really move much with changes in conditions.
My Taylor (still laminate back and sides) is affected more by changes in conditions. But not by a ton. It’s marketed as a travel guitar that is more robust, though.
My wife has multiple solid wood ukuleles that have a very delicate construction and they get a lot more care. She has started using the humidipaks and keeping the instruments in their cases, especially at the recommendation of the manufacturer of two of her nicest ones. They don’t like any of the humidifiers that use water and some sort of sponge or whatever to release humidity because they’ve seen those leak and ruin instruments.
Humidity here is HIGHLY variable, too. During summertime, we don’t tend to need to humidify except sporadically. But in wintertime, the humidity gets super low and our humidifier runs constantly. We’re actually getting a bigger one this year. We had our HVAC totally redone this year (even the ductwork, which was the big reason for the redo - it was very poorly done and damaged) and considered a whole home humidifier. HVAC companies around here tend to recommend AGAINST them because mold is an issue around here (we’re technically in a temperate rainforest, so yeah), so we passed on it, in part to save a few bucks (with the humidifier, we would have been $10k over budget, so saving a few bucks was helpful).
I live in Queensland in Australia where the weather is subtropical. The humidity in summer can get up to 80 or 90% but in winter is usually closer to 40%. My online researches have suggested the ideal humidity for wooden instruments is between 40 and 60% so when the humidity starts to climb in summer I use humidipacks to maintain that rangeand keep my guitars in solid cases. I also keep my instruments in the coolest part of the house whenever they’re not being used.The plywood in the solid cases can itself absorb and release moisture which I suppose might act as a bit of a buffer to external conditions. Gig bags don’t offer the same protection and I believe the humidity can vary much more significantly as a result, as can the effectiveness of humidipacks.
I do have one laminate hollow bodied guitar and, whilst I’m careful with that, I believe the laminated construction makes it less vulnerable to changes in humidity than a solid wooden instrument. That guitar tends to sit out on a stand but when our summer brings high heat and high humidity it’s going into its hard case and into a cool part of the house with its acoustic friends.