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February 2010
Posts: 72
Location: UK | I've been asked to play a few performances with a choir out in the cold. I'm pretty concerned how the guitar will handle and the aftermath of it. With any sign of rain, I think I'll be out (not just for the safety of the guitar but for myself!). I'm in England, so the air will be pretty cold and moist. Being on the seaside doesn't help either. Does anybody have any experience with this type of situations? |
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | What guitar would you be using? Will you be plugged in? Will you be under cover? |
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February 2010
Posts: 72
Location: UK | I'll be playing my Standard Balladeer; plugged in, no cover as far as I know. |
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | Is it worth possibly ruining your guitar? I would not take any of my wood topped guitars out in the rain. If your preamp gets wet, you can ruin it. Then there is the cold... how cold? |
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February 2010
Posts: 72
Location: UK | I definitely won't be out playing in the rain! How cold? It's anybody's guess. Maybe 5C? Hope it won't be freezing but you never know what will happen with the weather here. |
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December 2004
Posts: 1673
Location: SoCal | 5C/41F... I usually leave an Academy KA17 out on the hammock. It's plastic with a wood neck. I keep the neck waxed. When it gets down around 10C/50F, the strings start to get uncomfortable for me. Sure, we'd bring guitars camping in the cold or out to the beach, but they were guitars that you didn't mind them showing the use and abuse. Then after a little while playing and sitting around the fire, the neck and strings get comfortable. Once acclimated to temperature, you tune an Ovation and it stays in tune. The colder it gets, the "duller" acoustics sound to me. Probably because elasticity diminishes with temperature (surely remembering Physics class would explain it better). Exposure to extreme temp changes runs the risk for finish cracks. So even if you slowly acclimate the instrument to the temp you're going to play in, the older/thicker finishes (how old is your Balladeer) are more prone to finish cracks and I think it's safe to say, the colder the guitar, the easier it is to induce a finish crack by physically striking it... maybe a wedding ring hitting the top of a 0C guitar? I am not going to try it. I'd feel more comfortable with a Adamas. I would do it in a heartbeat if I had an all graphite acoustic. Maybe there will be others that will chime it. |
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February 2010
Posts: 72
Location: UK | Now you are scaring me! Could someone lend me your Adamas please? lol
Seriously, apparently there will be a 'grotto' for all the electrical equipment to go in (which includes me), so I'm trying to find out about it. My Balladeer is 16 years old now. |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I play out in the cold... Not recently, tho'.
Well, I have been playing-out it the 50's°F.
Cool enough that I wear fingerless gloves.
But I have gone out in 40°F damp weather with Ovations.
I have had to use a Feedback Buster to keep the raindrops out of a center-hole guitar.
Just be sure to allow the guitar to acclimate to the temp...
Don't take it out of a 75°F room right out into Zero weather.
Also, put the guitar into a cold case outside before bringing it inside to warm-up.
I carry my guitar out in a case, or a gig-bag, and by the time I get to my playing spot the guitar has cooled off to near the outside temperature.
Usually I will have to re-tune because cold shrinks the strings a bit.
By the time the temperature is all evened-out both me and the guitar are happy.
If the temperature is truly uncomfortable for you, it will be uncomfortable for your guitar.
But you can play outside. See my old fall-back photo...
I am wearing a coat and fingerless gloves. This was taken near Christmas-time, cuz the photographer made a militant-Santa joke when he published it.
-edit for spelling-
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2012-11-17 3:29 AM
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Joined:
February 2010
Posts: 72
Location: UK | Ah, that's more encouraging! Which do you think is better in your experience for acclimating the guitar, Ovation hard case or well-padded gigbag?
Still trying find out about the 'grotto' I'm supposed to be in!
Edited by Gemm 2012-11-17 3:26 AM
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I don't think about it much, but a hard case would take longer to warm-back-up.
And that is what you want it to do... Warm-up Slowly.
So, you would take the guitar out to your performance space while you are setting-up.
Hopefully it will have cooled-off a bit by the time you need to play.
Then you would put the guitar back into the case and bring it inside.
How long it would take to acclimate would depend on the temperature differential.
When I say "gig-bag" I mean a Zero Gravity Ovation case... which is insulated like a regular Ovation case.
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January 2007
Posts: 137
Location: Massachusetts | I personally wouldn't make a habit of it, but if I did I'd look into a Rainsong. |
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November 2002
Posts: 3666
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Got a KA-17, with the urelite neck. It's fearless! |
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August 2009
Posts: 381
Location: Miami | +1 on Arthur's point about giving it time to acclimate, but I'd take it one step further and I would not take my (woodtop) Adamas out below, say, 55 degrees. Not because that's any threshold for wooden guitars that I'm aware of, but because of my own personal comfort level, both finger-wise, throat-wise, and just knowing that cold is even worse than heat for guitars.
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Playing outdoors in winter........