Unusual RH%

[Hank]

We are having the coldest few days in the last number of years and the RH in the house is 39%. Most of The Ramuda are in the American Music Corral and enjoy 50% RH.

I rotated some out this morning an let them “Dry Out ” for a few hours…….Man Do they sound great…..I can really hear the difference that 10% drier makes……I may lower the RH control to 40% in the corral….at least for awhile.

[iim7V7IM7]

Hygrometers are notoriously inaccurate. When you see 39% RH, I would always interpret that as somewhere between 35-45% RH. Anywhere between 40-60% RH and you’ll should be fine typically. Even with transient dry conditions (< 24 hours) in the 30-40%RH range and I would be surprised if you’d encounter a stability issue. I keep a large analog and digital hygrometers in my guitar room. They never fully agree but are usually within 5% RH of each other. I haven’t done a salt solution calibration in too long. I have a 5-1/2 gallon evaporative humidifier in my 10’ x 20’  guitar room set at 45% RH hoping to keep it in the 40-50% RH range. With the doors closed that lasts about 5 days in the cold Northeast winter. To me, my guitars sound best slightly dry at 40% RH.

[tadol]

Boy, am I glad I don’t have to worry about that – its bad enough having to change the strings and keep them in tune!

[haasome]

During the cold months of December, January, February and March I keep one (guitar) room humidified to 42%RH, while the rest of the house hovers around 35%. The house is new and I built it airtight & energy efficient, so I don’t have the RH challenge I have had with some of my “vintage” homes. The RH in the entire house is controlled during the summer months at 50%RH. Hank, I agree, my guitars sound better during the drier winter months. I find that guitars at >50% seem to lose something, but it’s always fun.

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– Paul –

[Chrisakadigdog]

There are those few times here on the central coast of California that we’ll drop to 20-30% rh and man do the acoustic sound glorious. Especially if your burning the fireplace on cold days.

[iim7V7IM7]

Back east you need to constantly stay on top of managing the guitar room environment. I like to keep my guitars out on a rack so they get played. There are three guitar seasons:

– Late October to End of April – Run humidifier to Augment the Room (+, or crack season)

– May to Mid June & Mid September to Late October – No Supplemental Adjustment Required

– Mid June to Mid September – Run AC to reduce % RH out of the air (-, guitars sound bad season)

Since we are likely to retire out west where it is dry, I will invest into one of these…

https://www.aprilaire.com/whole-house-products/humidifier

A luthier friend of mine uses one of these to humidify his 2,000 sq. ft shop.

[Matt Hayden]

Mine seem to do ok here – the rh is mostly pretty reasonable, and the house is 40-45% most of the time.

If I take the instruments where it’s dryer, like the desert, they do get louder and open up.

Time to go play now 😀

[Author]

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