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March 2009
Posts: 715
| I live in a bi-level home. During the summer, I moved my guitar downstairs because the upstairs tends to get warm and sometimes humid. However, right now the room that I have the guitar in is on the cool side, about 62 degrees.
I want to know: How cold is too cold to store my guitar downstairs?
I bought a dampit because it has a humidity indicator on it. I can't make any sense out of the indicator. I don't see a gray area, just mostly pink areas, with blue in the 60% range. Maybe I am missing something?
Michelle |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | They say that between 40 - 70 % is good .. |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | What is it like to live in a bee-hive .. :) |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I found this, and was reminded that I already Own "Guitars for Dummies"...
Maybe I oughta read it, huh?
I don't think that 62 degrees would hurt your guitar, so long as you don't take it out into 90 degree sunshine.
If the humidity is correct in that area of you house for storage, it sounds fine.
During my search I read that Too Much humidity can cause 'bellying'...
And we all know that too dry causes cracks.
Right now my humidity gauge sez 36, but I don't think it is right.
I believe that so long as your humidity is 40-55% without sudden changes, it is cool.
Also, the temperature is okay so long as it is stable.
So if your basement is 62 degrees and you house is 80, that could be bad if you take it up by the fireplace.
Then, I've been wrong before... So wait for other answers and develop a consensus!
OH! And on the Damp-it humidity gauge, maybe what looks blue to you is what others think is gray. |
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Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Arthur , yer Killing me ...
GitZan .. perhaps yer worrying t` much .. p`ll up a chair .. so .. where ye from .. |
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Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I just bought a dampit and they said to ignore the guage because they are never right. 62 degrees should be OK. Cranking up the heat will dry them out. |
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Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Guitars, violins, pianos and other wood instruments have survived decades and in some cases at least a century or so without destruction. Much of this time period did not have central air conditioning/heating and humidity controls.
European and other worldwide instruments have survived the heat of summer and the depths of winter.
New Orleans musicians had their instruments traverse the US up through Chicago, out to the western states and back without artificial environmental conveniences of today.
What was the major key to instruments survival? May I suggest minimized temp and humidity changes and proper cleaning and maintenance.
I'm not saying that all wood instruments survived as new. But I am proposing that it's the drastic change in temp and humidity is the main cause of 'damage'.
If you want to keep your instrument pristine, then do all you can to stabilize the environment and do the proper maintenance. But I'm not gonna lose sleep if my Ovation is scheduled to head up to a higher altitude, lower temp and a hard future whoopin' as long as I can avoid the DRASTIC changes. |
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October 2009
Posts: 22
Location: Novi, MI | I keep my basement, where my guitars are around 60% humidity and it stays around 65* in the winter and 72* in the summer.
Changes in temperature on occasion will not harm the guitar, but daily shocks will. You do not want it to go below 40 on the hygrometer... but also not above 65-70. Temperature is more a fast changes issue than cold vs hot. Drastic changes are what will damage your piece... ie. 20* or more in a short period of time.
If you are really worried, keep it in a case. |
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Posts: 715
| Thanks guys for the advice.
Berto -- welcome to the OFC!
Flick -- I'm from upstate NY. The weather is actually pretty moderate compared to some parts of the US. But the room I have my guitar in was very cold last night.
OMA, I don't know why, but when you mentioned taking the guitar by the fireplace, I got an image of an exploding guitar!
I do keep it my guitar in a case. The only thing about keeping it in a case is that I seem to not play the guitar as often. I've decided to become less lazy and actually open up the case and play the guitar -- it is useless sitting case. What a shame it is to have a beautiful guitar and not play it!
I do need to get a good hygrometer, though. I didn't have one with the Walden because I was told that I wouldn't need a hygrometer because the Walden was a laminate.
It's funny to think that my Ovation has more real wood in it than my first acoustic, the Walden!
Michelle |
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April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Oregon Scientific makes good units. |
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December 2001
Posts: 57
Location: Jersey near NYC | Check with Alpep, I think he has some great little digital units that are in the $10-15 range. |
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Location: SoCal | Good to hear from you, coming out in January? |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I keep all the guitars out and in the open, then humidify the room during the winter months and dehumidify the room during the summer months. I should be changing back to the humidifier real soon. The relative humidity remains constant between 50%-55%, and the temperature remains between 62 and 69 degrees . . . unless I turn on all the lights. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | guitars are like people. If you are comfortable sitting down with a long sleeve shirt, long pants and shoes playing the guitar, the guitar will also be happy.
Generally speaking, ovations can tolerate higher humidity, that's one of the reasons people in Hong Kong and Singapore like them.
So, when not playing them, you want to keep them at 40 to 75 % humidity. And between 58 and 85 degrees. IMHO, these are the absolute outside limits.
Of course, the closer you are to 50% and 68 degrees the better.
Your best bet is to get a hygrometer for the case and thermometer |
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Right Temperature/Humidity level