Humidity meter ?

TimmyO · June 2017

Are the inexpensive little ones that say they are for leaving in a violin case reliable?

If not any recommendations?

I've had my Martin out for the last few days for convenience but it's been a bit muggy and I have no idea how humid the house actually is.

richardhomer · June 2017

I got one for about £15 from Maplins - small enough to go in a case.

Lewy · June 2017

The Caliber III is inexpensive and accurate. Think they're intended for humidors originally.

In in this latest round of rainy summer weather my house got up to 81% RH.

AliGorie · June 2017

u'r overthinking it Tim, here we build to 45% and where I live runs 70 to 92 with fluctuations - sealed house with central heating on or open doors / windows.
In ovr 50years of owning flat tops and Spanish guitars I've NEVER had a humidity related problem with my guitars.

CloudNine · June 2017

Poor advice, unless you know what the humidity is in his house, how lightly built the guitars are etc.

I have a number of hygrometers around around my house, and on a cold winters day with the heating on, will regularly go below 25%. On a humid summers day, regularly over 75%.

Probably best to take some basic precautions with fluctuations like that.

TimmyO · June 2017

Lewy said:

The Caliber III is inexpensive and accurate. Think they're intended for humidors originally.

In in this latest round of rainy summer weather my house got up to 81% RH.

Amazon fail : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caliber-Hygrometer-Thermometer-Western-Humidor-x/dp/B00M3CV2BY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1497172331&sr=8-4&keywords=caliber+hygrometer ;

:-)

Lewy · June 2017

WTF??!

AliGorie · June 2017

CloudNine said:

Poor advice, unless you know what the humidity is in his house, how lightly built the guitars are etc.

I have a number of hygrometers around around my house, and on a cold winters day with the heating on, will regularly go below 25%. On a humid summers day, regularly over 75%.

Probably best to take some basic precautions with fluctuations like that.

just my experience CN - sure in uk things swell n shrink some - dont think Tim has light built guitars - like F1 cars - on the edge of cracking up so generally for factory builds last in the UK quite well.
When ya get into Spanish /classical's with 2 / 2.2 mm soundboards well yeah them take precautions.
I got 'small shop' flay tops and 12 strings, a couple of Spanish lying around my house for years - no issues.
thats all.

AliGorie · June 2017

Lewy said:

WTF??!

yeah Tim - what IS THAT.

BigLicks67 · June 2017

AliGorie said:

CloudNine said:

Poor advice, unless you know what the humidity is in his house, how lightly built the guitars are etc.

I have a number of hygrometers around around my house, and on a cold winters day with the heating on, will regularly go below 25%. On a humid summers day, regularly over 75%.

Probably best to take some basic precautions with fluctuations like that.

just my experience CN - sure in uk things swell n shrink some - dont think Tim has light built guitars - like F1 cars - on the edge of cracking up so generally for factory builds last in the UK quite well.
When ya get into Spanish /classical's with 2 / 2.2 mm soundboards well yeah them take precautions.
I got 'small shop' flay tops and 12 strings, a couple of Spanish lying around my house for years - no issues.
thats all.

I'm inclined to agree I've had humidity up into the high 70's in the house and 5 acoustics out of cases on stands and have had no problems at all.

CloudNine · June 2017

It's the low humidity you want to watch, sub 30%, along with fluctuations, has the potential to damage a guitar, end of story.

It's not that hard to take some precautions, so no idea why you guys are so against it. And saying that you haven't had problems with your guitars, is not really a solid reason to advise someone else not to bother. So I stand by my original assessment of 'poor advice'.

I haven't had a serious crash in my car during the 25yrs I have been driving, but it could definitely happen, and I still wear a seatbelt.

Lewy · June 2017

BigLicks67 said:
I'm inclined to agree I've had humidity up into the high 70's in the house and 5 acoustics out of cases on stands and have had no problems at all.

I think it depends on what you consider to be a problem. I seldom have to deal with low humidity but I do have to deal with periods of consistently high humidity and my guitars don't sound as good when over humidified. That's enough of a problem to me to warrant sorting it out. My preferred acoustic set up also involves a nice tall saddle and healthy 1/2" string height over the top at the bridge, so I like to take precautions to keep bellying to a minimum (whilst accepting it's a naturally occurring phenomenon with a properly built acoustic).

richardhomer · June 2017

I've told this story before - but my ex-wife cranked the heating ridiculously in the Winter. My D28 ended up with frets sticking out of the side of the fingerboard and a badly sunken top. Fortunately no cracks developed - but low humidity is very dangerous to solid wood acoustics.

BigLicks67 · June 2017

All - Fair enough, I have a hygrometer in the house and if the humidity went below 40 then I would probably move a couple of the lighter built guitars back into cases. So, I'm not saying don't keep an eye on it but don't let it take over where you are frightened of taking a guitar out of it's case.

AliGorie · June 2017

TimmyO said:

I've had my Martin out for the last few days for convenience but it's been a bit muggy and I have no idea how humid the house actually is.

'muggy' in my language means higher humidity and generally guitars can take a bit of swelling - yeah we know the action may increase a mm or so etc, etc but as pointed out - it's LOW rh that cracks guitars up literally and we just don't get into that danger zone under normal natural conditions in the uk.

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