for those of us in the arid West?

Arid west ... that is east of the Cascade mountains.

West of the Cascades, I need to have a de-humidifier.

I imagine

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Arid west ... that is east of the Cascade mountains.

West of the Cascades, I need to have a de-humidifier.

Yeah, man. Wyoming is east of the cascades.

I know in winter time my dehumidifier hibernates. It comes on in May and basically uses a boatload of electricity until it shuts down in December. I'd need a smart humidifier/dehumidifier here in Pennsyltucky.

I've read that the best humidifiers are the in-the-case type. I run a regular humidifier (the type that blows a fan across a wicking filter and you have to fill it up every day) in the upstairs area. It does seem to help but I don't monitor it.

Obviously acoustics are much more susceptible to damage from low humidity, but it seems to me the necks of even solid body electrics might exhibit some warping or fret loosening over time. Since I have a dedicated music room, I thought I might run a room humidifier. My neighbor just took his acoustic into a luthier for some fairly serious neck problems, that will require a month in a humidified room before the luthier can begin to work on it. Got me to thinking. I keep my lone Martin guitar in its case all the time and that seems to help it stay pretty stable.

That is not a problem for me in Gulf Coast Texas.

I use the type Mark refers to as a whole house humidifier. I also run a mister humidifier in my bedroom. I'm a humidity freak in the winter. I also keep hygrometers in a couple of rooms in my house.

Just put yer weed plants in there, mannn.

(Or any plants that need regular watering. )

I use a small Kenmore with a 5 gallon reservoir. With the local humidity at 12% keeping the house at 30% is a full time job.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Arid west ... that is east of the Cascade mountains.

West of the Cascades, I need to have a de-humidifier.

Yeah, man. Wyoming is east of the cascades.

Yup ... Wyoming is east of the Cascades for us too. When generally speaking west, sometimes wish it was a bit arid for us just to get a break from all the rain.

I just cased my guitars and put these in there with them. I only have acoustics. The guitars were so dry and light. My D-28 developed a crack in the top near the low E string from the lower bout to the bridge.

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...-replacement-12-pack

They spent about a month in the case with 3 of these packs and I must say it worked. These supposedly last 2-4 months but the guitars were so dry that I swapped them out after a month.

Depending on the size of the room, you should be able to use 1 or 2 of those tabletop ones. Pretty inexpensive and they work just fine.

Keep in mind that 45-50% humidity levels are recommended.

Bob

Essick Aircare MA1201 in the winter set to 40 or 45.

I have one of these in my piano room. Works great.

https://aircareproducts.com/hu.../space-saver-831000/

Practiced my Google Fu and came up with two opposing views—not surprisingly.

The Guitar Pages

Premier Guitar

I’ve decided not to worry about the electrics. I think I’ll try the Humidipak recommended by Premier Guitar for my Martin. I like the fact that it protects against over-humidification as well as under. I’ve had this guitar for about 9 years now, and it really doesn’t show signs of the ill effects of low humidity, hope I don’t cause problems instead of preventing them.

D’Addario Humidipak