I should be saying yay, as I am concerned about humidity control.
That said. I donāt do anything about it. Short of keeping āmeā cool, or warm depending on the season. I donāt have a hydrometer so I really donāt know what the humitiy is in my house. All I know is that I keep āmeā comfortable.
As for my guitars. So far Iāve no negative consequences. They are all stored in their cases except for the one Iām using today which just sits on a guitar stand for use. When Iām done with it for the day, back into itās case it goes.
fwiw. I had 2 guitars prior to me getting back into playing. One of these guitars were from my youth. A acoustic 12 string. The other guitar I got in about 1999 is a gibson l6-s. I quit playing shortly there after and both them guitars sat in their cases, unopened for 20+ years. They were in my spare bedroom where I donāt have the heat on, nor let the a/c get to that room when itās summer time. They both are still servicable after all that time w/o use. For that matter, they still sit there as Iāve got me some new guitars that I like to play.
While I feel like I may be treading on thin ice. Iāve done nothing to mod my behavior.
So far. No ill consequences on any count.
Still feel I should do something about it, but w/o consequences I find it hard to mod my behavior.
Iām in the middle about 8 miles South of Birmingham, I donāt have any problems with most of my guitars but I am more careful with an Acoustic thatās all solid woods (Freshman Apollo 40CE), it does move and starts to become inconsistent with tuning but in a hard case and a few bags of Silica gel itās fine. I am a bit surprised that your 114CE is moving enough to need a neck reset - I had a 214CE that moved like my Freshman and was a bit surprised by it being affected like it was, generally laminated woods donāt move like solid wood, maybe itās to do with Taylor construction methods
Drying out is much more serious than a bit of excess humidity but the amount of excess humidity the instrument will tolerate is an unknown and can only be found out by checking setup and tuning frequently, if the tuning is on the move that is indicative of wood movement so needs closely monitoring.
The top on the 114ce is solid spruce, so may partly explain the problem. It also has a very thin finish on it which will not offer very much protection. I donāt know how much bracing there is on the top but the back has no bracing at all - it is a sheet of 2 ply sapele. It is mainly the body that has been affected, the neck relief has not changed much.
I have my AC on in the summer so that takes care of the high humidity . Spring and fall shouldnāt be a problem for any one. But the winter comes and the heating system dries out everything.
I bought some Bluetooth sensors and Base station That monitors temperature and humidity. I believe it was about $30. I leave my guitars in the case when the heating season comes and put humidification in the cases when they get below 30%.
It seems to work great for me and it was very cheap. Better to know what the humidity is than to guess.
I got my hygrometers a few days ago and theyāve been registering about 70% and where I am ATM its quite high this last night and this morning at about 90-95% dropping not to 70. But my partners weeked iāve putt the guitar in its case for a few days. Also monitoring inside and ill note what it is tomorrow.
Are you sure youāre reading the hydrometer correctly. If that is the humidity in your house in the UK then the condensation must be running down your walls!
Hi Rachel, the humidity indoors and outdoors can vary greatly. Where I live, the humidity at night has been going to the mid 80s, but the hygrometers in the house rarely go over 50%. Of course, this changes significantly depending on AC or heat, or even fans. Mind the humidity in the room your guitars are in, and youāll be fine!
That I think is very building dependant, Iām a mid terrace upperfloor flat insulated 4 sides and the other 2 face east/West so itās a little cooker lol.
I have a fan above the bed which has been running non stop for months now. and the hygrometer is sitting at 72 atm.
Northolt data this month, we even hit 100% one day.
The humidity outside is going to be very different from the inside humidity. Basically, if itās raining outside, that counts a lot towards the humidity measurement because rain itself is a form of air humidity.
Unless you donāt have a roof, I would ignore the external humidity readings!
70 - 90% has been typical in my grade level apartment this summer, and the action of my guitar is measurably higher at 12th fret.
Iāve got it a bag with 6 (!) damp traps, which reliably bring the humidity down by about 20%, and the action is slowly getting better. I wish I had done this earlier in the season.
Just putting the guitar in the case will not necessarily reduce the humidity. You should put your hygrometer in with the guitar to measure the actual humidity in the case.
97% humidity outside this morning but I run a dehumidifier set to 50, and itās currently around 52%. Before I got the dehumidifier (around 3 months ago) it would typically be mid to high 70ās on days like today (damp and rainy).
I have a thermoPro wireless monitoring with 1 sensor outside and 2 other sensors around the house as well as the base, so it gives 4 points of reference. Itās fairly accurate and correlates with the other bits of equipment that have humidity sensors (air purifier, dehumidifier, Inkbird hygrometer) and for the price you cannot go wrong. The good thing that is helpful is it has arrows to show you if temp or humidity is going up, down or stable.
I have noticed that prior to getting the dehumidifier, I would have to retune the guitar quite regularly, which I presume is due to the fluctuations in the humidity etc. With the humidity stable I have had to do it less.
I too have one of those weather station things with 3 sensors. One inside the house, one outside and one in my greenhouse where I grow tomatoes etc.
Humidity this morning in Southwest Scotland after overnight rain and now quite a sunny morning -
Inside - 55 and steady
Outside - 85 and dropping
Greenhouse - 67 and rising
I know from experience that the inside humidity drops to 40/45ish in the winter when the central heating is on.
So I reckon Iām fortunate in this area of the world that I donāt have to worry about humidity affecting my guitars adversely.
and the hygrometer is sitting at 72 atm.
