31% RH today here

TimmyO · February 2021

...look after those guitars

FreddieVanHalen · February 2021

Yep, bought humidifiers for both my guitar rooms last week!

jhumber · February 2021

31% here too, I noticed a little bit of fret-sprout on my main acoustic this week. Bring on spring....

Ricjo · February 2021

RH inside my acoustics cases is always around 10 units higher than my room RH. So if cased up, it could be they’ll be OK.

Epsilon · February 2021

Oof, bit of fret sprout on my OM too. How annoying.

richardhomer · February 2021

Clearly I’m a pedant - but the term ‘fret sprout’ really annoys me (perhaps because it’s an Americanism?)

The reason that frets stick out in dry conditions is because the wood which they are set in has shrunk due to drying out, not because the frets have some how ‘grown’. Whilst ‘fret sprout’ is the most easily identifiable manifestation of a guitar that’s too dry, the real risks are of cracked tops and other structural problems.

I always think the term makes the issue sound more benign than it is.

Epsilon · February 2021

richardhomer said:

Clearly I’m a pedant - but the term ‘fret sprout’ really annoys me (perhaps because it’s an Americanism?)

The reason that frets stick out in dry conditions is because the wood which they are set in has shrunk due to drying out, not because the frets have some how ‘grown’. Whilst ‘fret sprout’ is the most easily identifiable manifestation of a guitar that’s too dry, the real risks are of cracked tops and other structural problems.

I always think the term makes the issue sound more benign than it is.

I don't think anyone actually thinks fret sprout is a result of metal frets growing. Feel free to come up with a more suitable term - I think "shrinking wood" might be a little suggestive, though it certainly doesn't sound benign!

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