# Humidifying Question



## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I keep my Martin D-18 in a humidified case at all times when not playing it but my Yamaha I store it hanging on the wall in my music/computer room.

My question is this:

Would it be better to occasionally put the Yamaha in a humidified case or should I just leave it out?

What is worse?

A constant transition between a humidified environment and a dry environment or a constant dry environment. I would think the transition would be worse.

Keeping in a case at all times is not an option as I need a guitar that is readily available when the mood strikes.

Currently in my room it is 71 degrees and 33% humidity.


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## sakuarius102 (Nov 23, 2016)

I have never used a humidifier, in my area is not essential, although it is a very dry climate ... not extreme.

My advice is not to use humidifier unless it is essential......Regads !


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Guncho said:


> I keep my Martin D-18 in a humidified case at all times when not playing it but my Yamaha I store it hanging on the wall in my music/computer room.
> 
> My question is this:
> 
> ...


I leave both my Martin authentics out on wall hangers all the time. I got up at 5 am this morning and realized my office dropped to 29% humidity. When I went to bed it was at 40% and the humidifier was just over halfway. So I just now cranked it to full. I like to maintain between 35 and 40%. It varies but I'm usually careful that it doesn't drop below 29% or get above 45% in the winter. In the summer it ranges between 45% and 55%
The temp is usually about 68%. I don't like my house too warm


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

"C. F. Martin recommends that you keep your instrument’s humidity level between 45-55% and temperature between 72-77 degrees Fahrenheit."

Martin Care and Feeding Guide


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

From what I have read, some luthiers feel 40-50 is good, but some will say 30-40% is good. I think some will say lower because a drier piece of wood will dound better than a wet piece of wood. I keep my room at 45, and it goes up and down by 5% depending on how long I leave the door open or closed.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Hey guys the question is whether to humidify sporadically or not at all.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Guncho said:


> Hey guys the question is whether to humidify sporadically or not at all.


I humidify sporadically. Its not the frequency of the humidification, its the consistency of the humidity level in your home. If my home is showing at least 40% without my humidifier on then I don't bother turning it on.
If your letting the humidity level fall to say 20% in the home and your sporadically humidifying then I'd say thats better than nothing. Its gonna need moisture. I would think over the long haul you're going to risk cracks if not humidifying at all and you have a dry home. Having said that I didn't humidify my HD-28V for about the first 5 years I had it and experienced no problems other than the action would get real low and the strings would buzz.
In the end its up to you. But my recomendation is humidify and try to maintain no lower than 35% and no higher than 50%. I don't think a variation in those parameters is going to hurt it.
If you mean by sporadically humidifying to let them go from 20% to 50% humidity for example, I would really try not to do that.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Guncho said:


> "C. F. Martin recommends that you keep your instrument’s humidity level between 45-55% and temperature between 72-77 degrees Fahrenheit."
> 
> Martin Care and Feeding Guide


Going by Martin is probably the best recommendation. I've owned Martins since going back to 1980 and I've found that they sound best kept at around 35% 68 to 70 degrees. Thats just me and what I like and in my opinion 35% is safe.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> From what I have read, some luthiers feel 40-50 is good, but some will say 30-40% is good. I think some will say lower because a drier piece of wood will sound better than a wet piece of wood. I keep my room at 45, and it goes up and down by 5% depending on how long I leave the door open or closed.


One of my guitars has a torrefied top and what I was told at the Martin guitar forum is that it acts much like a vintage guitar in that since the moisture has been baked out of the cells it doesn't need or take much moisture. Not sure what that means in that I don't have to humidify. But then there's the rest of the guitar, back and sides, etc that haven't had torrefication applied. Supposedly this is the way vintage guitars are. They've stabilized over the years and don't need as much humidification. Unless I've misunderstood some of the information I've read.


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

Good question. I've been sporadically humidifying in case with my Seagull this year. I'm wondering if I'm doing the right thing too. I leave it in case mist if the time but only 're-wet' the soundhole humidifier once a month or so. It seems like it dries out really quick, so I assume that the guitar holds that moisture for a while. 

I haven't owned very many acoustics though, especially not ones with solid wood. Definitely don't want a crack, and don't want to have it belly from too much moisture.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

My brain is telling me that constantly transitioning between a humid and dry environment would be worse than just staying in a dry enviroment.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I leave all my guitars out of the case and keep a humidifier in the room. it's set at 45% and my hygrometer says the room is usually between 40-50%, depending on how long the door stays open, temperature etc. As long as you stay within the safe range you shouldn't have any problems. The only time I see someone might screw up is if they lived in the desert in an air conditioned home, then decided to go outside in the desert at 15% humidity and play a while. I think that would stress the wood too much. or the other way around, if your guitar has been in a really dry environment for a long time and you suddenly move it into a room at 80% for a few days you might have problems. 

I also find my guitars stay in tune much longer if the humidity is stable. 

I'll bet a guitar at 30% rings better than the same guitar at 60%. But the closer you move to the extremes of the range, the bigger chance you take if there is a sudden and permanent change in humidity.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Guncho said:


> Would it be better to occasionally put the Yamaha in a humidified case or should I just leave it out?


My gut tells me that repeatedly transitioning humidity would be worse than letting it get a bit dry. BI (before internet), we didn't think much about these things. I was on the prairies for decades with a couple of acoustic guitars. I could draw three inch arcs when I touched a lightswitch. It must have been < 20% at some times ever winter. Winter after winter. Neither of my guitars suffered any ill effects that I'm aware of. I think gradual, seasonal changes from dry to wet are less of an issue than weekly transitions - but again that's my gut telling me that.

If you are going to leave a guitar out, you probably couldn't pick a better brand. I sold Yamaha acoustics for a few years and the wholesaler used to love to tell us about Yamaha's ability, do to its world market, to build guitars specific to environments. Supposedly a guitar built for Canada would use different selections of wood than the ones built for the Sahara or Amazon. No way to know if it was true, but made good copy to feed the customers. Either way, I believed they were the best bang-for-the-buck guitars we sold.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Guncho said:


> My brain is telling me that constantly transitioning between a humid and dry environment would be worse than just staying in a dry enviroment.


If you don't monitor humidity and humidify you will be transitioning. Not sure what area you are in but where I am this winter has been up and down in temperature changes. from -15 with the wind chill to +5 to 7. When its plus 5 to 7 my furnace hardly kicks on and the humidity will reach 40 to 45%. When it gets cold and that furnace kicks on a lot more the humidity can drop as low as 18%. This winter in particular the weather has been transitioning frequently and quickly. Me, I'm not that fanatical but I try to keep a consistent range in the winter of between 30 and 40%. Yes sometimes it drops to 26-29 and sometimes it rises 40 to 45%. Without monitoring and humidifying when needed, the range would be a lot more extreme. It gets a lot harder to do in the summer. I probably should get a dehumidifier as the humidity can get to 60% before I'll turn the AC on 
It seems like you're leaning towards not humidifying at all. If thats what you want to do then I wouldn't worry too much. As I said before I didn't humidify my guitars at all until a couple years ago. One big reason I started was I was tired of my acoustics having too low action in the winter and it going too high in the summer. I imagine that much movement in a guitar might accelerate the need for a neck reset. The acoustics I have now the action doesn't move with the humidity swings but I've got such a huge investment in them I figure be somewhat careful, better safe than sorry.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

High/Deaf said:


> If you are going to leave a guitar out, you probably couldn't pick a better brand. I sold Yamaha acoustics for a few years and the wholesaler used to love to tell us about Yamaha's ability, do to its world market, to build guitars specific to environments. Supposedly a guitar built for Canada would use different selections of wood than the ones built for the Sahara or Amazon. No way to know if it was true, but made good copy to feed the customers.


Sounds like marketing BS to me. Mahogany, Rosewood, Maple, etc grow in certain regions and they are what they are. Unless they mean that they built guitars for desert players out of "Desert Willow" or "Pinyon Pine" and Palm trees for those in humid conditions.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

guitarman2 said:


> Sounds like marketing BS to me. Mahogany, Rosewood, Maple, etc grow in certain regions and they are what they are. Unless they mean that they built guitars for desert players out of "Desert Willow" or "Pinyon Pine" and Palm trees for those in humid conditions.


You are aware that mahogany, rosewood and maple come in different moisture contents? Even after drying? Or else torrifaction wouldn't work.

May still be marketing hoowee. What isn't? And I still think those inexpensive Yammies are some of the best made guitars in that price range.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

High/Deaf said:


> And I still think those inexpensive Yammies are some of the best made guitars in that price range.


I agree. The Yamaha of the 70's and some 80's were among my favorite for inexpensive. Many of which were laminate. or laminate back and sides with solid top. I've never worried about humidification with laminate guitars. 
My grand daughters Taylor GS Mini is kept downstairs in my house and never humidified. Not saying humidifying it wouldn't be a good idea but I see less urgency.
When you say some of that Mahogany, Rosewood, etc is different moisture content, you're right. No 2 slabs of wood are the same. Which is why there is so much variation in tone woods. But general care for an acoustic remains the same.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

It might be a good idea to get a humidifier that you can set for the room where you keep your guitars. Thirty-three percent is too low and will likely have an impact in time on your acoustics.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

High/Deaf said:


> I sold Yamaha acoustics for a few years and the wholesaler used to love to tell us about Yamaha's ability, do to its world market, to build guitars specific to environments. Supposedly a guitar built for Canada would use different selections of wood than the ones built for the Sahara or Amazon. No way to know if it was true, but made good copy to feed the customers. Either way, I believed they were the best bang-for-the-buck guitars we sold.


The problem with buying one of those is you would have to sell that guitar before you moved to a different region of the world and I don't know how many guitars would be sold in the Sahara. You could be stuck there a long time before you were able to sell your used guitar.


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## Larry (Sep 3, 2016)

My closest Long & McQuade have Humidifiers set up in the Acoustic Guitar Room during the dry winter months, for all their Acoustics whether it's a $100. Denver or a $5,000. Gibson. That tells me something.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

My house just went above 40% today. The new humidifier is expected to be delivered tomorrow. But the way this winter's going, I will probably get a chance to test it sometime between now and the end of Feb.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

Larry said:


> My closest Long & McQuade have Humidifiers set up in the Acoustic Guitar Room during the dry winter months, for all their Acoustics whether it's a $100. Denver or a $5,000. Gibson. That tells me something.


Tells me all the acoustics are in the same room.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

I also keep my basement here in Edmonton at a fiarly constant 45%, give or take on the dry cold winter months. This winter has yet again been so dry that I have 2 of the suckers gong, just to avoid having to refill them on a daily basis. Overnight with the furnace blasting when cold really dries things up big time. I did happen to read that to give a slight correction to the furnace variable is to not run the fan constantly, if at all during winter months. Apparently the moving air will also help to dry the place out.


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