# Which affects guitar necks more, temperature or humidity?



## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

Whenever we get a cold snap here in Calgary, my guitars necks seem to warp a bit. I usually get a lot more buzz than normally. My guitars normally reside in my basement which is completely finished. It is a bit colder there, but not much. It isnt super damp or anything down there either. Is this due more to humidity or temperature?

Btw, the guitars necks have a very thin finish. Very fast.


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## Coustfan'01 (Sep 27, 2006)

Probably humidity . I had the same thing happen to me when I kept my guitar in my room in the basement .


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## auger (Apr 23, 2006)

hey..guitarz....
I have to do a seasonal adjustment to my guitar necks....due to changes in the relative humidity....
I dont leave my guitars in my finished basement due to higher humidity levels...than on our main floor
but it will help to run a dehumidifier.....as long as you dont dry it out too much.....

I find temperature will affect the strings more.than the neck....and therefore the tuning....

Auger


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## Xanadu (Feb 3, 2006)

Not only does humidity affect the necks, but its also the main reason acoustics crack, and the bridges lift..


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Xanadu said:


> Not only does humidity affect the necks, but its also the main reason acoustics crack, and the bridges lift..


That happened to my shitty acoustic I got from Sears... "Mirage" or something like that. I wasn't too angry since I rarely played it and it's cheap, but I definetly learnt my lesson, lol.


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## rsfilms (Apr 4, 2007)

Is there anything I should know before getting a dehumidifier? Such as - are there ones made specifically for guitars - or would any dehumidifier do the job 
etc.

thanks


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

rsfilms said:


> Is there anything I should know before getting a dehumidifier? Such as - are there ones made specifically for guitars - or would any dehumidifier do the job
> etc.
> 
> thanks


You should get a hygrometer to measure the room's relative humidity. Acoustics should be kept at approx 45%

Here is some info I found

Is humidity control important for a solid-body, electric guitar?
Yes, humidity control is an important issue for any wooden instrument – even a solid body. When a solid wood guitar dries out, the wood can shrink across the grain. The fingerboard can also shrink, causing the fret ends to poke out from the sides. The fact is, that the vast majority of costly guitar repairs are caused by a lack of humidity control. The Ameritage® Humidity Control System was designed for this very reason. It allows you to easily manage the humidity level within your case, helping you to preserve and protect your investment.

Back To Top 





What is the ideal humidity level for my guitar case?
50% relative humidity + or - 5%.

Back To Top 





What is the ideal temperature for my guitar case?
68°F + or - 5°


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## rsfilms (Apr 4, 2007)

Thanks for the info - I'm going to have to look into this a little further, as it gets pretty humid here in the summer. (When i lived in Alberta, it was the other way around and I use to have one of those little case humidifier things - not sure how much it really helped though.)

later

:food-smiley-015:


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

I've never heard of too much humidity causing a problem with guitars, unless there are mold or mildew problems. 

Especially at this time of year. I would think humidity would be at it's peak in the summer months.


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

Temperature has little to no effect on wood movement. We think it does, as when the temperature drops, the air has less humidity and wood dries out, and in the summer months the air contains more moisture and the wood swells.

If the humidity remained consistant, temp wouldnt change anything.

AJC


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## Lemmy Hangslong (May 11, 2006)

I live in Airdrie the City to the north of Calgary...

I find temperature and humidty changes to have an effect on most my guitars but it seems that humidity effects the ebony fingerboards most... in that I mean that the ebony fingerboards expand and contract the most.

I usually have to adjust relief twice a year.

Khing


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## droptop88 (Aug 25, 2006)

Yep, definitely humidity. I took a 52' reissue back home to Muskoka in August one year. After a week or so, the strings were lying on the frets, neck was backbowed (is that a word?) so much so as to be almost unplayable.

My main strat has quite a large neck and I find it hardly moves all winter. Most other guitars I have to adjust twice yearly, as per King. The Steinberger necks I've had - well, you could leave them in an ice hut all winter, then come spring breakup paddle an ice floe to shore, bolt it up, and the guitar would play like a dream.


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## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

those steinberger guitars sound pretty good right now lol


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## valen (Oct 3, 2006)

Definitely get yourself a hygrometer. I use a good quality digital one from the hardware store. It has temperature and humidity so I can monitor my guitars environment. I use a dehumidifier in the basement during the summer months. In winter I should use a humidifier but I am too lazy to keep adding water to it.

I have two guitars and my 20 year old BC Rich Mockinbird is like a rock. Nothing affects it. My 2004 50th Ann. Strat however is all over the place with temperature changes. I have to tweak the rod twice a hear in spring and fall.


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## Old Gibson (Jan 31, 2021)

It's the changes in relative humidity and temperature that should be monitored and controlled. Rapid changes in temp or relative humidity are especially bad - the swelling and shrinking of the wood fibres. Yes, long-term extremes of either can also pose problems, but it is the fluctuations that we really need to keep and eye on.


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## Powdered Toast Man (Apr 6, 2006)




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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

ajcoholic said:


> Temperature has little to no effect on wood movement. We think it does, as when the temperature drops, the air has less humidity and wood dries out, and in the summer months the air contains more moisture and the wood swells.
> 
> If the humidity remained consistent, temp wouldn't change anything.
> 
> AJC


quoted for the truth 🌝


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

We may need to adjust truss rod with season. It is normal.


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

I have encountered guitars that go sharp as you play them. They are more sensitive to temperature changes. Humidity levels are the main thing though- just like it was way back in 2007.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

zztomato said:


> I have encountered guitars that go sharp as you play them. They are more sensitive to temperature changes. Humidity levels are the main thing though- just like it was way back in 2007.


Drier air lowers action, or the other way around?


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

tomee2 said:


> Drier air lowers action, or the other way around?


Generally the other way around.
Increased humidity usually results in back-bow.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

temperature affects humidity which affects the wood in the neck. When temp goes down humidity goes up, when temp goes up humidity drops....


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

knight_yyz said:


> temperature affects humidity which affects the wood in the neck. When temp goes down humidity goes up, when temp goes up humidity drops....


Not really.
When it's 35 degrees here in the summer, humidity is around 70%.


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## screvans (Jun 5, 2018)

Relative humidity is a function of the drybulb temperature. So for a given absolute amount of humidity in the air, the relative humidity will be higher when the temperature is lower. So if your basement is a couple of degrees cooler than your main floor, the RH will be higher.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

knight_yyz said:


> temperature affects humidity which affects the wood in the neck. When temp goes down humidity goes up, when temp goes up humidity drops....


Humidity goes up in the summer and dries out in the winter, here in Ontario anyway.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

The OP lives in Calgary. 45% is an unreasonable expectation. I am in Alberta as well. I have 3 humidifiers in my house. The one permanently attached to the furnace, which I inspect a couple of times a year when I change filters and two additional Honeywells that run 24 hours a day. I struggle to maintain 30%. I do use sound-hole humidifiers on my acoustics as they are much more sensitive to humidity than a solid body.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I believe it is the heating systems that dries out the air in our houses. I have a large humidifier on my HVAC system, and when it gets cold outside (-20 or less) it struggles to maintain 40%. Right now it's snowing lightly and the RH is 82% outside. Inside is 39%. My water bill actually goes up in the winter, and we've got gardens and planters and plants all over the place that get watered daily all summer. It takes a serious amount of water to keep a house at 40% RH in the winter.

Edit: The fan on my furnace runs all the time, and so does the humidifier. Not just when it's heating. That's the only way I found to keep it up.


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Lincoln said:


> I believe it is the heating systems that dries out the air in our houses. I have a large humidifier on my HVAC system, and when it gets cold outside (-20 or less) it struggles to maintain 40%. Right now it's snowing lightly and the RH is 82% outside. Inside is 39%. My water bill actually goes up in the winter, and we've got gardens and planters and plants all over the place that get watered daily all summer. It takes a serious amount of water to keep a house at 40% RH in the winter.
> 
> Edit: The fan on my furnace runs all the time, and so does the humidifier. Not just when it's heating. That's the only I found to keep it up.


I agree with this, the humidity in the home matters.
I'm in ON, rh outside now is 80%, which makes it feel really cold even though it's only-10C. Warm up that air and the inside of the house is at 30% rh, and I've got a humidifier going.
In AB, where I grew up, outside rh in winter was very low...maybe 50% or less. Inside air was very dry. We'd hang laundry out in -30C and it dried out in a few hours in the sun.

In the summer the outside air is humid, AC drops that but I still run a dehumidifier in the basement to keep it at 45% rh. Without the dehumidifier it creeps up to over 55% pretty fast.

Since I started running the dehumidifier in the summer, and humidifiers all winter I haven't had to adjust a truss rod in the spring or fall.


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Nobody took science in school.... Your guitar is sitting in a room at 20C and 40% humidity. The temp goes up by 5 degrees. the humidity is no longer 40%. Warner air can hold more moisture, but since we are not adding moisture the humidity goes down.... Warping is cause by UNEVEN moisture content in the wood. Which can be affected by the temperature. Higher temps reduce moisture and lower temps increase moisture. That's why your Ac drips water all day long.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

knight_yyz said:


> Nobody took science in school.... Your guitar is sitting in a room at 20C and 40% humidity. The temp goes up by 5 degrees. the humidity is no longer 40%. Warner air can hold more moisture, but since we are not adding moisture the humidity goes down.... Warping is cause by UNEVEN moisture content in the wood. Which can be affected by the temperature. Higher temps reduce moisture and lower temps increase moisture. That's why your Ac drips water all day long.


I did take science, try again.

"You already know that air conditioners work by removing heat from existing air, exposing it to cold evaporator coils, and blowing the newly-conditioned air back into the home, business, or vehicle they’re attached to. *However, it’s important to know that air conditioners also work by removing moisture from air.

One reason why air conditioners make us feel more comfortable is that they reduce the temperature of the air in spaces that we work or live in. Another reason is that air conditioners reduce the humidity of air.*

Humidity, if you didn’t already know, is a term used to describe moist air or to quantify exactly how much water vapor is in the atmosphere or in a closed-off sample of gas."









Air Conditioner Water - Why Does The AC Produce Water | AC Unit Costs


Learn why your AC unit leaks water and why do air conditioners produce water?



www.acunitcosts.com


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## screvans (Jun 5, 2018)

knight_yyz said:


> Nobody took science in school.... Your guitar is sitting in a room at 20C and 40% humidity. The temp goes up by 5 degrees. the humidity is no longer 40%. Warner air can hold more moisture, but since we are not adding moisture the humidity goes down.... Warping is cause by UNEVEN moisture content in the wood. Which can be affected by the temperature. *Higher temps reduce moisture and lower temps increase moisture.* That's why your Ac drips water all day long.


The point is, fluctuations in humidity can cause necks to move. To the OP's question (in this 14 year old thread....), humidity is a bigger factor than temperature.

I don't even know if this is worth clarifying this next point, but higher temps do not reduce moisture, that's just false. Warmer air can hold more moisture, that's true, but warming up air doesn't magically reduce moisture, it only reduces the _relative_ humidity since the moisture in the air is now a smaller fraction of what that air is capable of holding. Relative humidity isn't a very useful metric.

And air conditioners work because the A/C coil is below the dew point - the point at which air reaches its saturation point and water is condensed out of the air. I don't even see how that is relevant to this discussion.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Rapid changes in humidity and temperature, as well as extreme ends of the spectrum, more specifically.


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## Analogman (Oct 3, 2012)

rsfilms said:


> Is there anything I should know before getting a dehumidifier? Such as - are there ones made specifically for guitars - or would any dehumidifier do the job
> etc.
> 
> thanks


Pick up a hygrometer and a humidifier (not dehumidifier).


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

Analogman said:


> Pick up a hygrometer and a humidifier (not dehumidifier).


Just a heads up, this is another necro thread. The post you quoted is 14 years old.


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## Analogman (Oct 3, 2012)

GuitarT said:


> Just a heads up, this is another necro thread. The post you quoted is 14 years old.



My bad, didn’t see the date. Thanks for the heads up!


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## PeterLeyenaar (Nov 26, 2020)

Quote by a well know and respected Luthier ," More instruments have been destroyed by over humidifying
than by not humifying"


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