I appreciate your sage advice. However, because several D'Addario Humidipacks that I had installed in my cases were defective (but not visually so or to the touch), they emitted fumes which crudded up the interior of two cases, and the wood and metal components of my Stratocaster. It took over a year to negotiate a settlement with D'Addario- Eventually, they replaced the guitar and the two cases. Consequently, I think using Humidipacks is too risky. Instead I use Music Nomad case and sound hole Humiditar humidifiers, plus in-case hydrometers for each of my guitars. Their proprietary sponge holds moisture for two to three weeks (better than kitchen sink-type sponges). I've also used big whole-room humidifiers as well, but they have minimal impact in my extremely dry home. (I have 100-year old steel casement windows and steam heat.) And I've had to get hard-shell cases for each guitar, because gig bags are far more permeable. Finally, on your recommendatoin several months ago, I splurged for a McPherson Sable, which is phenomenal.
Great stuff. I also leave my 2 guitars & bass "In their cases" from December to March in NYC. I also use room humidifiers . . . but it's alot of work to maintain 40% - 55% Humidity-level.
Here in Australia it’s currently summer and the humidity is high between 60-80% so here I’m running the A/C as well as a room dehumidifier in the room with the guitars and keep silica packs inside the guitar cases and humidipaks in the acoustic cases as well. Thankfully the only issue I’ve noticed is a bit of green oxidation around the frets and the acoustics sound a bit duller when it’s very humid but no belly bulges or braces coming loose.
I am in the Atlanta area and lately it has been a real pain trying to keep it above 30%. I have a humidifier in the room with acoustic instruments running constantly. Heating really makes the air super dry. I really want one of those Sable M Acoustics too.
I know for cellos and such one might put a potato wedge in the case. I've also seen a stoppered rubber tube with a sponge inside that goes in the F hole. There are gadgets you use to keep cigars from drying out. Then there's putting a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the house. I just adjust the truss rod twice a year.
I have numerous guitars, all solid body, 1 wooden resonator, and 1 acoustic. I keep the house a little above 70 in the cold winter months. I keep all guitars in hard cases standing upright in my walk in closet that has no heat vent. I have electric heat, so it's a dry environment. I haven't had any issues as of yet. Thanks, very informative vid!
Humidity... OK. What caught my ear was something that I was not expecting... the tip on micro-practices... 30-seconds, two-minutes. Now that's a cool guitar-lover practice!
Glad that I found your channel, great content. Just ordered pre-wired tele controls too... superior quality and work. Will be my go to site from now on.
I bought a brand-new Gibson J-45 Standard a few months ago from Sweetwater. I live in the same environment you do. I let it acclimate before opening it, but since the day I got it, it's had 2 mirrored striations running at ~ 45° angles from each end of the bridge towards the outer bouts. It's not a belly. The 2 luthiers I asked about it said it wasn't a problem. It still concerns me. I've always stored it well and used a hygrometer and D'Addario Humidipaks. Doesn't change anything. It sounds and plays just beautifully, so I hope those luthiers are right.
I keep most of my acoustics on display and go a small step further than Dylan with monitoring humidity. I have an inkbird smart hygrometer/thermometer in the main place that I keep my acoustics. It connects via wifi to the inkbird app and has configurable thresholds for high/low alarms. I'm fortunate that my humidity is mild year round and I don't have to use heat too often but this gives some peace of mind.
I have a fender guitar that shipped with "boveda" packs. They are the same thing as the D'addario ones, but a bit cheaper. They are also able to be "recharged" if they get low on humidity by soaking them in water. When I took my acoustasonic USA Tele to Vegas in summer, the boveda pack got kinda dry and I soaked it in water to recharge.
It's very hard here in Colorado. Right now, I have a small room humidifier and I can realistically keep it between 30-45%, I closed the heat register in the room as well. I use a sound hole humidifier constantly, in the case, for my acoustic. I have an electronic hydrometer/temp gauge in the room. Keeping the door shut or partially shut helps as well.
All my guitars sit out in my living room. In the winter, I have a woodburner for heat and use a 5gallon humidifier in the room. I maintain 45% humidity around 71 degrees. I go through 5 gallons of water every 48hrs roughly. I refuse to put guitars away. I bought them to play them and enjoy them. Summer time. Just go to ac and dehumidifier if necessary. Leave em out and play em all!
It is 40% to 55% for me, to keep my guitars and pianos healthy. If I have to do some work on guitars I might have to go down to 30% range, to properly execute some glue joints (that have to survive dryness in the future, as we all know most people will not humidify).
I live in an area where the indoor humidity rarely reaches 45%. I run a humidifier in my room where I keep my guitars out and in the winter it struggles to keep the humidity much above 30%. My guitars seem OK but I do worry about this. I keep my guitars out because that way they get played. If I put them away then I forget about them and they don't get used and I may as well not have them.
Great video! I’ve had issues with my studio being super dry at 30% humidity. Any recommendations on a good humidifier? I heard the ultrasonic ones spray droplets all over the room and could cause more damage. Also does leaving a guitar in the gig bag protect against humidity changes like a case does?
Hi ED from Fenwick Ont. What's up with the SD secret agent pickup. Was gifted one. I have a Tele. All I needs is a scratchplate Your thoughts?. Love the idea/concept. If it's crap. Can you make a better one? Not dissing just asking.
I have a Sable as well. Even with the lower saddle in the action was still a bit too high for me. Since I don’t play it plugged in, I removed the saddle and took out the pickup which lowered the action even more. Now it plays great.
It's 26% at 18C right now in my flat in Kyiv, Ukraine. Feels borderline unhealthy to be honest, but it's a low temperature spike right now (-15). It's not quite as bad usually. Guitars are all in cases inside a special cabinet. I'm super paranoid about my guitars if an explosion blows a window out and it's below freezing outside.
Honestly if you ask me we have already figured out how to make acoustic guitars virtually indestructible now we just need to apply the same logic to electric guitars, my reasoning is how come we only have like 1 proper manufacturer of carbon fiber electric guitars and a bunch of acoustic carbon fiber guitar brands like emeral, mcpherson, and rainsong, yet we dont have any well known electric guitar manufacturers. I am a big guy 6 feet tall and i feel most of the guitars especially les paul guitars are way too small, my Main electric is a 2019 B.C Rich shredzilla Prophecy W/ Evertune and that guitar is much bigger then a les paul in body size is the most comfortable one i found that resembles a strat body, so when you have carbon fiber guitar makers like Rubato only offering the little tiny body of a les paul (rubato is actually worse in this case and is even tinier then a les paul) there really is no cure for humidity for electric guitars, and its something that has been bothering me ever since the inception of the rainsong carbon fiber guitars. I have a Mcpherson sable carbon fiber exactly like yours and i absolutely fell in love with the thing so much so that its the only acoustic i want for the rest of my life, big like a guitar should be fits me exact the action from the factory that will always stay like that is beautiful is actually my preferred string height the volume is immense and i dont have to deal with adjustments, IT JUST WORKS. Dylan you're a very persuasive person here on youtube, if you could recommend any manufacturers of solid body electric guitars ressembling that of a stratocaster that is 98% carbon fiber through and through (metal tuners and bridge and knobs/plastic of course) i would love to actually get my hands on 1 or if you could make a video talking about this topic, and what the future of electric solid body guitars could be like, i feel like we need to let go of this whole belief of "the tone coming off the wood is so much better on this guitar" bull crap that we been forced to believe a guitar pickup is wax potted to isolate the sounds coming off the body of the guitar, the only thing the pickup understands is the magnetic field of the string, in acoustic guitars yes "tone woods" do make a difference but obviously if many people out there love carbon fiber guitars, then that doesnt really matter, i find that i can change my tone very easily by swapping out brands of strings rather then the material the acoustic guitar is made from. Do you think we can push to have Carbon fiber solid body electric guitars in the next 5 years? Lets make it happen!!!
