Hello everyone. I was just wondering if anyone in the UK had any thoughts on the issue of humidity for acoustics? (solid wood top or whole body) Most of the information I’ve read online concerns the USA. Clearly it’s a different climate/range of climates.
I’ve not had any issues as yet but guitars still pretty new. I’m just monitoring it at the moment with a humidity meter and RH% readings are generally upper 50’s or creeping into low 60’s. I believe the ideal is 45-55 and 40-60 is still good. So if anything it’s slightly on the high side.
Just curious if anyone had any thoughts whether that’s to say it’s not an issue or if you’ve had problems and what happened. Don’t want to dive into buying a load of stuff I may never need so just monitoring and gathering information at this time.
In the UK - generally - humidity should not be an issue. Obviously it depends a little on the house, heating, time of year etc. but assuming the norm i.e. a dry house with central heating during the winter, you are unlikely to see any issues with your guitar. That’s my experience anyway.
I have to watch out.But I live in the middle of norway were it usually is very cold in the winter. But it has to be below 0’C and it have to be below 0’C for some time before it can turn into a issue, according to my local luthier.The cold dries out the humidity of the air and it can do all kind of bad things to your guitar. So i store my 2 guitars in their case with humid packs in the wintertime.
@BobW72 I am pleased you asked about the uk.
Must confess not something I had thought of as beginner, but perhaps I should given it is made of wood.
As it turns out the room the guitar is in has one of these weather stations that gives inside and outside info. Current humidity inside is 39%, inside temp 21 deg c, outside is humidity 20%
I will keep an eye on the humidity and record it, will be interesting to see how it changes
Thanks everyone for your thoughts. It just seems like something to keep an eye on, no need to panic. I don’t think the kind of problems people in the States can have with low humidity which can lead to wood drying out are going to be applicable unless someone keeps their guitar next to a radiator for example. I’m just going to fix a few hygrometers near the guitars to check on as the seasons change.
I’d read about people having issues with humidity, so thougth I’d check it out for myself - my guitar is electric, but I’m sure the strings could be affected.
I got a cheap humidity/temperature gauge which sits within half a metre of where the guitar stand is, and the temp varies but hovers around the low 20s. Humidity is relatively constant, with a max of around 55%, and that seems ok. The unit I have is bluetooth enabled, so I can track the humidity and temp over the year/hour or whatever I want.
During the times when I can’t play for a few days, the strings will go out of tune - but there are plenty of factors which can affect this - everything from simple mechanical stress, temperature, whether I have had any coffee
If I had an acoustic I think I would be inclined to keep it in a case - the bare wood inside is obviously going to be really susceptible to humidity changes.
It’s going to be similar advice to keeping a piano. In a modern centrally heated house that’s not cold and damp in the winter, occasionally hanging out some laundry to dry in the same room as the instrument will help prevent the air in the room from getting too dry (and obviously don’t put your piano/guitar by the radiator!).
I think that when acoustics are very new and the structure is bedding in, that’s when you want to make sure that they don’t get any sudden big changes in temperature or humidity, and they should stay in the case when not being played.
I recently got a new instrument and so I’m using the humidipak system by D@Addario to make sure. Because the humidity in the room is generally 42-46% it means that the humidipak doesn’t really have to work very hard, and so should last a good six months. So for a fancy guitar it’s certainly worth the thirty quid for peace of mind.
Thank you. I’m going to collect a guitar from set up this week and will ask the folks if they have had much repair work from this issue. The guitars are kept in their gig bags when not in use. Where I live it’s generally a damp cool climate. If anything we’re not lacking humidity (I’m aware too much can be an issue as well) so unless a guitar is near a radiator I would be surprised if it dried out.
