1st.
I don’t keep my humidity controlled in my house.
It gets very dry in my house in the winter.
2nd.
I’m concerned about my solid sitka spruce, mahogany sides and back and neck guitar.
I read somewhere else the other day that I can give my guitar a shot of humidity via taking it in the bathroom when I’m showering.
For sure it gets humid in the bathroom when I’m showering.
What I’m wondering is, is that a viable method for getting my guitar some moisture?
Or do I got to resort to the sponge? Which for some reason I don’t rally want to do.
I also keep my guitar in it’s case when not in use.
I seem to rotate between three guitars. The one I’m playing today will be out all day. But at night it goes back in it’s case.
Next morning I get a different one out. So. My guitars will be cased for 2-3 days before getting it out. That guitar sits in my 20% humidity house for the duration of that day. Then back into it’s case.
Any insight for this strange method of humidifying my guitar? Can it work?
fwiw, I’ve got no room for a humidor cabinet. So, it’s either some kinda sponge or the strange method I’m asking about.
Another fwiw, I’ve got another acoustic too. It’s likely laminated maple top, I think mahogany sides and back. Don’t know what the neck is.
Anyways, it sat in it’s case for 20-25 years w/o ever getting it out of the case. It seems to play just fine and has no damage after that run of abuse.
I also had my original guitar from 1970. A harmony stella, cheapo. It hung in my basement, unprotected for 30-40 years. It got a crack on the sound hole board after that much time. Since I didn’t like that guitar, it didn’t break my heart to toss it in the garbage since I always thought it was garbage to start with. But it did break, I assume from the lack of humidity.
Thanks Jacek.
I’ve visited my local music store and they have some of them kind of devices on hand.
I’ve just not done that since I seem to have some kind of aversion to putting a sponge inside my guitar.
Guess I’m just not big on the idea of having to refresh the sponge all the time.
Perhaps I should get over my aversion and just get a sponge?
Hi Jim, I have a similar issue, so here’s my $0.02 worth of input. I’ve been using these packs from D’Addario. I understand they are made by Boveda (and by all appearances they are.) I purchased the ones I have in early November, I think, and they are still going strong. They are a bit expensive, but certainly less so than a humidor cabinet! Also people tell me you can rehydrate them, I haven’t tried that yet but I will do.
I also tried a different version of those spongey things. I found it clumsy, disliked how often it needed to be soaked, and I was (probably unnecessarily) concerned about water dripping inside my guitar.
Oh - as to your original question…I doubt it would work. Unless you take very long showers, I don’t expect that’s enough time for the wood to absorb sufficient moisture. I’m no expert, though, and happy to be shown I’m wrong!
There’s also the humidification packets. A few companies offer them. Boveda and D’addario are the ones I know. If you don’t want to do the sponge, they’re probably the best alternatives. The sponge requires too much attention for me. I have one of those and I always forget to keep up with it.
I keep my instruments in a smaller extra bedroom and run a humidifier nonstop in the wintertime. On the coldest days (like today, which will probably be the coldest day of the year), the best I can get is up to about 35% humidity. I think by next winter, I’ll probably be adding either another humidifier to the room or potentially a whole home humidifier.
In summertime I don’t need to use supplemental humidification. In fact, sometimes the humidity gets too high, but thankfully that’s not for extended periods of time.
I don’t have any guitars made of entirely solid wood. 2 of acoustics both have laminated back/sides (the 3rd is carbon fiber and I don’t need to worry about it) and my understanding is that they’re not quite as sensitive to suboptimal humidity. My wife has multiple solid wood ukuleles, though, and she does sometimes take them into the bathroom when she takes a shower. She also keeps her nicest 100% solid koa one cased 100% of the time and uses extra humidification in the case in times like now.
I haven’t tried the shower idea, but before I started using the packs @judi cites, two of my acoustics got too dry – I consulted a luthier, who left them sitting in his humidified guitar room for several days, and they were back to normal. The physics seems sound but I’m not sure how long an exposure is needed to get the guitar from ~20% to ~40%.
I live in the desert where humidity is typically in the low 20s. My solution was to buy a humidifier for the room where I keep my guitar. I keeps the humidity in the mid 30s. The unit doesn’t cost much, but you need to used purified water and obviously refill it daily.
@TheMadman_tobyjenner Toby, yes, but in slightly different context. OP began asking if bringing the guitar to the shower is a viable way to keep it humidified, then asked if not, what people suggest. Granted, the second part - what people suggest - has been covered, but I’ve not seen discussion around the first question. I usually find it interesting to see what different people are doing, and have to say. And when I don’t, I skip it!
And that’s how we end of with multiple topics on the same subject. Ways to humidifier were copiously covered in the “should or shouldn’t I” discussion. And thats pretty much what the OP was asking “how”.
Its no wonder this place gets harder to navigate and also gives the mods a full time job, regrouping duplicate or near duplicate topics.
The simple answer is if your guitar is very dry and you humidify it to fast it will damage the finish and could loosen the bracing if it’s and acoustic. If it’s and electric all that motorist at one time would not be good for the electronics.
Seems like Shower method is a very temporary solution. Like there is no level of control and I would think its rather time consuming and potentially costly to run the shower (hot or cold) for untold time. Whether it works or not is an entirely different question, but to me it does not sound like the “solution”.
I would not be afraid of playing the guitar in the bathroom occasionally, when my kids were little I used to play for them while they bathed, but I am not certain I would make it a method of humidifying the instrument.
One of my first teachers told me he did that…almost 30 years ago, before the availability of cheap digital hygrometers.
He had a solid wood nylon string classical guitar and it sounded and looked great. I don’t know how often he did it…maybe every week or two?
I tried it a couple of times, with no ill effects. I can’t remember if there was any difference in the way my guitar played. Looking back, you would probably have to do it at least weekly keep the guitar from drying out. And I certainly didn’t do it that frequently. IIRC, I did get “fret sprout” every winter.
It seemed to work fine for my teacher, but I have some concern that frequent exposure to high temperatures and humidities might soften glues and finishes. Although maybe that’s not an issue with more modern guitars that are constructed from high tech materials?
That’s what I do now. I taped two recycling bags together, which combined are big enough to hold the guitar stand and the guitar. I throw a single damp kitchen sponge in the bottom, and re-wet it every few days when it dries out.
It’s kind of a nuisance taking the guitar in and out of the bag, but it works. No fret sprout or big changes in the action in the last 2 years since I’ve been doing this. My D’Addario hygrometer - placed in the sound hole of the guitar - shows that this raises the humidity from around 30% ambient in my apartment, to about 50% in the bag.
(BTW, 30% isn’t healthy for humans either…I’m looking into getting a humidifier)
Keeping your guitar in its case does NOT humidify it - this is a common misconception. It only slows the drying process. You need some kind of humidifier in the case.
I see that someone suggested the D’Addario humidifier upthread. I have one of these, they are simple and cheap. But they only work if you keep it in the case or the bag. I tried to just leave the guitar on the stand, and that didn’t work.
I’m no expert, but I don’t see how exposing the guitar to wildly fluctuating humidity every day could be good for it. Going from much too dry for 23 and a half hours a day to much too humid for maybe a half hour doesn’t seem like a solution to me.
Yes, exactly. I’m not convinced that having a single, giant topic is better than several related but more narrowly focused topics.
Just look at the F-chord thread - over 400 posts, IIRC? Many of us have read all of them because we’ve been here for several years. But is a new-to-the-Community beginner going to benefit much from wading through all that?
In any case, this is off topic. But might be worth a separate thread on “giant topics”.
