# Cold weather = Bad for Guitar?



## kous (Apr 12, 2007)

Hey everyone, 

Its starting to snow and its getting pretty cold. Every year I always wondered about this but does change in temperature affect the guitar in any way? My house is fairly old and it gets pretty cold in the morning. I know the strings do because the they shrink quite a bit and I have to tune them every time I play. I suppose it might affect the tuners, the bridge, maybe the frets too. But I am more worried about the body. Is the fluctuation in temperature going to have affect on the wood? I don't think it will, but I'm not too sure about long term exposure. I don't want to wake up one day and find the guitar cracked or split. Nor the finish.


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

kous said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> Its starting to snow and its getting pretty cold. Every year I always wondered about this but does change in temperature affect the guitar in any way? My house is fairly old and it gets pretty cold in the morning. I know the strings do because the they shrink quite a bit and I have to tune them every time I play. I suppose it might affect the tuners, the bridge, maybe the frets too. But I am more worried about the body. Is the fluctuation in temperature going to have affect on the wood? I don't think it will, but I'm not too sure about long term exposure. I don't want to wake up one day and find the guitar cracked or split. Nor the finish.


Yep. It affects it. If you don't have a constant temperature, the two most important things to do are keep the guitar in the case and run a humidifier. Forced warm air is dry. This is what leads to weak wood, cracks, and warps. A humidifier is a must for guitar owners in Canada (and a good thing to have for air quality in general)


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## kous (Apr 12, 2007)

keep guitar in the case? but i like having them out in view for personal pleasure:tongue:
i actually don't have cases for all of my guitar, i guess its time to invest.

a humidifier hey.. thats going to cause a problem since there is a *DE*humidifer in the house... hmm


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Well it depends on what the local climate is like to some degree.
Some parts of Canada, even in winter are less cold and less dry.
But do be careful taking it outside. I always like to warmup the vehicle and then get the guitar from inside the house to inside the car ASAP. And arrive early enough to let it sit in its case for awhile. But inside--you need to see what the home is like. The de-humidifier may be a good thing in some part of Canada.


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## LowWatt (Jun 27, 2007)

kous said:


> keep guitar in the case? but i like having them out in view for personal pleasure:tongue:
> i actually don't have cases for all of my guitar, i guess its time to invest.
> 
> a humidifier hey.. thats going to cause a problem since there is a *DE*humidifer in the house... hmm


I keep mine on stands all the time to. But if you are going to do that, a consistent climate helps quite a bit. If you are running forced air and your heating system doesn't have a humidifier, you will likely want one in winter for the guitars, but zontar is right, your local climate will determine what you need. But dryness is a huge issue to guitars so be cautious. 

The easiest way to see if a guitar is too dry is usually by looking at the fingerboard (if it's rosewood). Is it a lighter colour than usual? Is it starting to bump up a little and feel unneven in any way? Those could be signs of dryness.

Best bet would be to talk to a guitar shop in your area. They will have good advice on how to best take care of your guitars through the changes of weather in the area.


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## Freeze1962 (Nov 19, 2007)

*Cold intruments*

Funny how we have been told forever that cold will kill a finish if it is expossed to warm air quickly, I have never had a problem,


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

Freeze1962 said:


> Funny how we have been told forever that cold will kill a finish if it is expossed to warm air quickly, I have never had a problem,


Much less of a problem on poly finished guitars, the main problem is vintage-style nitro finishes which are known to 'check' (tiny cracks) due to sudden temp change. 

Years ago when I worked in a music store new guitars came shipped completely frozen in an unheated truck, just like aything else. We were told to just let them warm up inside before opening the cardboard. I've never had a problem either, but I try to give 20 or 30 minutes warmup time before opening the case


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## NB-SK (Jul 28, 2007)

I'm not worried. I've got heated floors and a wife who likes to wear shorts and a T-shirt year round at home. The coldest it gets in my home is 23, which about the temperature my wife starts to complain it's cold.


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## Ringwraith (Nov 17, 2007)

It's not so much the cold but a quick / drastic change in temp is bad. When I was a teen on the road, (the great Northern Ont circuit) I pulled out my Nitro finished guitar from being in the truck all night @ -20 and watched it check before my eyes! I freaked. Now people pay to have new guitars look like that! LOL

Also dryness is more of a factor that can damage your guitar. Doesn't matter what kind of heat you have, it's going to dry out the house in the winter. Buy yourself a small humidifier for the room your guitars are in. Get a humidity gauge & keep the room around 50-55%. Leave the dehumidifier for the summer.

Cheers
Sean


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## shad (May 4, 2006)

This is something I have wondered about as well kous, as I have seen many posts here about humidity problems. 

I have never experienced these problems, and I don't have a humidifier for my guitars. I don't think that we have the humidity extremes here in the Lower Mainland of B.C. like they do back east. It never gets really dry here, so maybe it's not a problem for us guys out here on the Wet Coast!!

Somebody will probably shoot me down, but that's my theory for now. Any comments?


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...yeah, i keep them in their cases with those little clay "pucks". does anyone know if they are really effective in maintaining a degree of humidity inside the case?

-dh


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## kous (Apr 12, 2007)

Thanks everyone, I'll keep all of these in mind!

P.S. The reason there is a dehumidifier in the house is because we air-dry our clothes :tongue:.


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