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Joined: September 2003 Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | Okay.....(1)The same flyball hit in Tiger Stadium acts differently depending on temperature and humidity.
(2) My boat seemed to have a bit more pep in the spring and fall when the air was crisp and cool.
Now....Is it me or is it possible that my guitar sounds different on a humid, 90 degree day?
Somebody take note that on this day the OFC board has officially Jumped the Shark! |
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Joined: February 2002 Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | I don't know about Tiger Stadium or your boat, and I don't know what kind of top is on your Ovation, but if it is wood and it is humid, the wood would absorb moisture which would effect the ability to vibrate which would effect the sound, etc. |
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Joined: April 2004 Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | With the temp changes here in Colorado, while my O's will stay almost perfectly in tune, that tuning will vary 1/2 step flat or sharp. Didn't really notice it since the guitars appear to be in tune, but when I go to fine tune them, I find them to be off quite a bit. |
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Joined: May 2005 Posts: 19
Location: Texas | Every Saturday night I play in an outdoor bluegrass jam, and three or four weeks ago I started having a buzz on my high E string on my '72 Balladeer. This guitar has never buzzed, but Sunday I dutifully sat down in my air conditioned house to figure out the problem, and I couldn't make it buzz even if I tried. The next week at the jam, outdoors, 90 degrees and 80% humidity, it buzzed again. Sunday, no buzz. I decided to raise the action a little, and looked at the Ovation owners manual from their website to make sure I knew which way to turn the nut to adjust the truss rod. There it says "as the humidity in the air increases, the fingerboard will swell slightly, creating a slight backwards bow. This will result in fret buzz ..." |
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Joined: May 2002 Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | BigRed1951
Absolutely the right answer, I have played many Bluegrass jams in many types of weather. Hot and humid is the worst on wooden instruments as tops, which have the most stress and are the thinnest part of the instrument tend to give a little. To those of you with collectable instruments I would recommend a plywood cheapie for the jams in thunderstorm like conditions, I always had one to use where theft and climate were unfavorable. They sound OK and let you participate without damaging a valuable instrument, and they force you to use talent instead of depending on your gear for sound, I even smirked as the multithousand dollar Martins warped and buzzed while I was wailing on my plywood boombox.
I tried to restrict my paying gigs to climate controlled venues, that never worked out either so I had to take my good instruments home a few times and carefully dry them out.
Bailey |
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Joined: March 2002 Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | As far as the first two go:
I'd suspect that high degrees of humidity would have a SLIGHT effect on the rawhide skin and internal windings of a baseball making it a bit "spongier" than on a cool crisp night where things might be a little "tighter" & "harder" (shut up, Witko!).
As far as the boat goes, your carburetor's gonna run a bit more efficiently when it's suckin' down nice cool, crisp air with less moisture in it to mix with the gas . . . .
Then again, . . . . .
. . . . maybe you ARE crazy! ;) |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | you're crazy |
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Joined: December 2004 Posts: 1116
Location: Keller, TX | Originally posted by alpep:
you're crazy You beat me to it. |
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Joined: February 2004 Posts: 171
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma | My '76 Balladeer only buzzes during the winter when it's cool and dry here in Oklahoma... Now that it's hot and humid it has no buzz.. Go figure... |
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Joined: May 2005 Posts: 19
Location: Texas | It has always been my observation that things are a little backward in Tulsa ... :-) |
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Joined: July 2003 Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Take one of my babies out into 90 degrees and humidity????? AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! :eek:
Roger |
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Joined: September 2003 Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | But remember Roger.....we own Ovations!
My guitars stay out on a stand in my living room all the time. Because I have hot water heat the air does not get to dry in the winter. No air conditioning so in the summer it is what it is. No problems. |
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Joined: January 2005 Posts: 167
Location: Waxahachie, Tx | It's liken to when Jet aircraft operate in 100% humidity (rain), they sound so much louder. And why is that? of course you know that. |
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Joined: May 2004 Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | Mechanical properties of the wood aside, as ambient temperature and humidity levels change, the propagation of sound waves through the medium will be altered. So, even if you were using, for arguments sake, a CA all graphite job, the perceived sound would change. In theory, anyway.
Then again, in theory, the difference between theory and practice is smaller than the difference between theory and practice in practice. |
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Joined: February 2003 Posts: 2177
Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | ...and to become a better guitar player you have to practice, practice, practice!!(and study your theory too!) |
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Joined: May 2002 Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Frigggin thread!!
I'm setting here with pieces of great triple A spruce guitar top, tangled up with some medium GHS Boomer strings, that I tested with all the reccommendations here. It looks like a shipwreck. |
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Joined: May 2004 Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | Ah, so you have a Gibson Hummingbird, then? Or is the Martin 000 the shipwreck model? Couldn't be a Taylor, those are more like trainwrecks. Hrmm...don't keep us guessing, inquiring minds want to know!
:D |
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Joined: May 2002 Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Just Joking!!
I wouldn't risk a triple AAA top if I had one, I play plywood when the fog sets in.
The best plywood is that in a Morgan sports car. A co worker bought one in the 70's with a TR-6 engine, the funniest front suspension ever designed in the 1930's and all kinds of plywood supporting the body. But it was fast as hell, and cornered like a racer that it was. We used to go for a ride at lunch time from our plant in Sorrento Valley out through the Mafia's Rancho Santa Fe on a cement road and the thing would start bouncing like a rowboat in rough water it had such tight suspension. He took it over to Del Mar and went through the SCCA training course at the racetrack parking lot, got his license, and stooped to racing formula Vees in southern California.
Plywood never was so romantic as in a racing Morgan, or on a guitar in a thunderstorm.
Bailey |
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