# Humidifying and Storing



## opentuner (Nov 28, 2009)

I have to admit, until I got my new acoustic this week, I have been keeping my guitars either in a gig bag or hanging in the living room. Just realized that I ought to have hard shell cases and humidifiers for the other two guitars. Or is there an alternative for storing them safely?


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## xuthal (May 15, 2007)

opentuner said:


> I have to admit, until I got my new acoustic this week, I have been keeping my guitars either in a gig bag or hanging in the living room. Just realized that I ought to have hard shell cases and humidifiers for the other two guitars. Or is there an alternative for storing them safely?


In a hard case where you can keep track of the humidity levels is best.If you have a way to keep your room at a good level it should work out.The general rule is between 45% to 60% humidity.It also depends on if your guitars are solid wood.If only the tops are solid it's still a good idea to keep them in a case.Laminate guitars aren't that much of a problem,except for protruding frets every once in a while.


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi,

Keeping your guitar in a closed case, hard shell or not will not prevent dryness from hiting your guitar, it will just slow down the process a bit. Having a humidifyer in the room where you store/play your guitars is a solution, although a noisy and costly one.

Personnally, I use this: http://store.daddario.com/category/146459/Acoustic_Guitar_Humidifiers

I wet the sponge ever 2 to 4 days and it does the trick. (My five guitars all remain on their stand constantly in the living room.)

Like xuthal said, if your guitars are made of plywood, than you don't have to worry.

Hope this helps!


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

In my studio there is a single Bionaire humidifier which easily keeps the air over 40%, usually about 43%, for the sake of the instruments. Sometimes I shut it off for a while so I don't hear it, though it's pretty quiet anyway, and then boost it later. Given that there's an outside door, the humidity can drop like a stone if it's opening a lot through the day. This has been a much better unit than the old Vicks vaporizer and soundhole plug humidifiers I used to use. It allows me to keep more instruments out and handy, saves the hassle of constantly checking on them, and makes breathing a little easier, literally and figuratively. 

Safe storage? In cases works, but hung high on the wall above furniture, kids and pets has always worked for me. They look good and are easier to access.

Peace, Mooh.


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## -TJ- (Aug 28, 2006)

I use Oasis humidifiers and keep the guitars in their cases, with a hygrometer.... I only refill them once every week or two because I also run a small cool mist humidifier in the room every second night overnight.... I find that keeps my humidity at a steady 46%, which is pretty much perfect for acoustics

works great for me


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## xuthal (May 15, 2007)

Instead of going out and buying an expensive case humidifier you can make one of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5P0_irwOPI
Keep a hygrometer in the case to keep track of the levels and your set.


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## Nohtanhoj (Jun 30, 2008)

Interesting timing, I just came home from the music store with a hygrometer for my guitar case about 3 hours ago. I use Oasis sound hole humidifiers, but I've been having a problem with properly monitoring the humidity in my case. I have mounted the hygrometer in the case (above the left shoulder of the guitar) and am consistently getting a reading of ~35%. However, when I hold the hygrometer above the sound hole to get a better measurement, it immediately jumps to ~45%. 

Any way to get more consistency when it comes to my humidity measurement? Just tacking on 10% in my head sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

Peace.


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## opentuner (Nov 28, 2009)

*lightweight cases*

I guess I'm going to have to buy 2 more hardshell cases to store my guitars in. I would like to buy a fiberglass case to make the guitars easy to carry. Are those good enough to store a guitar and humidifier?


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## fret15 (Feb 17, 2006)

My only acoustic is a Seagull and I bought the NASA-style case with it, made of foam and what not, that's supposed to keep whatever humidity is in the case. Then I purchased the new kits from Planet Waves that are like pouches that release humidity as needed, and are supposed to keep the level at around 45%. They are called Humidipaks.

In the long term, though, I'd like to have my guitars out of their cases instead of having to pull each out when I want, so a room humidifier might be the best way.


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## Alain Moisan (Jan 16, 2010)

Hi again,

Since we are on that subject, here are some small precisions on humidity issues related to acoustic guitars.

First off, even though guitars are suppose to be assembled in a 45% humidity environment, it doesn't mean you HAVE to keep your guitars in that same environment. Guitars can take humidity changes. The reason guitars are assembled in that level of humidity is because it's about in the middle of the two extremes of humidity levels (dry and humid) we have in North America and Europe. This way, a guitar will rarely have to take more than a 25% difference in relative humidity.

Also, what we really have to watch for relatively to humidity issue is over dryness, let's say less than 20% for several days. The top and back will tend to shrink cross-grain while the bracings are holding it together, blocking it from shrinking freely. This generates high tension points in the wood which eventually will lead to cracks, which we all want to avoid, of course.

Too much humidity is rarely a problem, unless it's really humid (i.e.: rain on it, flood victime, etc.) or if it's accompanied with heat (like if on a really hot and humid day, you leave your guitar in the trunk of your care for several hours/days). Than it can lead to parts getting unglued, completely or partially.

Most of the times, differences in humidity levels, provided that they are not too extrems (and not for too long) will simply generates small movements of the top (collapsing when dry, moving up when humid) that may require you to take your guitar to a tech for a string height ajustment. I've even heard of luthiers that give two saddles with every guitar they sell; one for winter (high saddle) and one for summer (low saddle) so their customer can change them themselves.

It's never bad to keep the humidity of a guitar around 45% of course, but it's not necessary to buy expensive high tech cases into which you will keep your guitar in all the time. Unless you live in the middle of a desert maybe...

Hope this helps!


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## -TJ- (Aug 28, 2006)

Well that is always going to be difficult, but you can feel secure in knowing that if your ambient humidity is at 35% (which is not a bad level), then the added soundhole humidifier will make up the small difference and get you comfortably in the 40-50% region where you should be fine...

even at 35%, most acoustics will be just fine, its really when you are getting into the 25% and below are where you can have serious trouble


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## Mike MacLeod (Nov 27, 2006)

*Some Humidity related articles.*

I scanned these in and posted them on line for folks to read:

<http://public.me.com/mi3ke>


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Just to bring the subject up and warn about the risk of dryness (humidity under 45 %) which shows his bad face to my solid wood acoustics since room humidity dropped from 70 to 55% in two weeks... Time to put sponges back in the cases and begin to wet them again to avoid loosing control ! ;-)

Recommended range is usually 45 to 55 %.


P.S. I am sure my favorite luthier in Riki is warning guitar folks that he begins to see cracked guitar arrive as happen every Fall !


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

I keep my entire home at between 45 and 50 during the dry months and I'll run a dehumidifier if it gets too damp in the summer. That way it's comfortable for me and the guitars. I have a decent hygrometer hanging on the wall. I have seven acoustic guitars and the oldest was made in about 1965; next after that is 1974, then 2000 and 4 new ones bought in the last 6 years - none of them have any problems. I only use the oasis things if it gets emergency kind of dry and the humidifier running all the time can't keep up or if I'm going somewhere for a few days and I know that dryness will be an issue. I'm always concerned that the oasis thing might leak. If I could only control one room in a house I'd put a humidifier in there and that's where I'd keep the guitars. So the environment is stable and I don't have to tweak the truss rod with season changes. Actually, all my guitars, once I set them set up they pretty much stay that way for years. All that said though, I don't obsess over the things and mostly they go where I go. As someone mentioned they can take humidity changes but I find that what I'm doing is the easiest way for me - keep them in a stable environment and in the long run it's less crap to deal with. Extended dryness does effect them though - when I was living in the grad rez at Queen's back in the dim and distant past I came home hammered one night in February or there aboots and the bridge had lifted offa one of my guitars .. that was a lot of fun.


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## -How- (Dec 31, 2017)

Never really worried about it here on the we(s)t coast, but I do have a couple small humidifiers which I take with me if travelling...


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

All my guitars are on a stand so I have a huge double tank Bionair humidifier in the room set at 50% and my separate hygrometer usually reads 40-45%. I also have a 5 gallon bucket of water in the corner of the room. I rarely have to tune my guitars as I have the bonus of having a bedroom as a music room. Door always closed unless I am in there. Much easier to control temp humidity and pet fur.


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## Yikes (Oct 19, 2017)

Stumbled across an item called a Musik Tent (made by Origineer) a few months ago. Bought the version which fits 3 guitars. The concept is good, the see-through vinyl is flimsy, though. It uses a low-tech wick and water solution to add humidity. I used to store guitars in cases with Oasis humidifiers, which worked, but found this inconvenient to remove guitars when wanting to play. Kinda killed the mood on a couple of occasions. The tent solves that issue. Also, I use a 2 gallon water bottle which needs refilling about every 6 months, so don't have to do weekly refills for Oasis. Guitars maintain a consistent humidity, one just needs to adjust wick the first time to your needs. If you can make one of these with better quality materials.... The room which the Musik Tent is stored has a humidity during the winter of about 20%. This does not affect the humidity within the tent. Note the dimensions well; as if you have a couple of guitars especially to size the guitar stands needed.


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## Mark Trites (Aug 12, 2016)

Bought this warm air humidifier from bibles for missions for $6 bucks. Nice and quiet, keeps office nice 40-50% humidity. Plus my office feels warmer than the rest of the house


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