How are you humidifying?

[SSgt93]

Originally Posted by newton

Enjoy living in Colorado. (those who know envy you)

So very true.

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by XYRN

Plastic soapbox with holes and a damp sponge.

What you wonderful people in Maryland, New Jersey don't understand is that we live in the high-desert. We have NO humidity so what works on the East Coast, Missouri and other humid states doesn't do anything here. Nothing. You need to have a dedicated, sealed humidified room or do it in the case.

OP you'll be best served by humidifying your cases for constant humidity and, as stated above, this has worked for me for 20 years. Simple, cheap, fool proof. I use a combination of zip-lock bags with holes punched in them and soap containers with holes punched in them. They are far better than any commercially available products - and last forever.

[Gizmot]

I'm probably the victim of shameless commerce, but I'm using the Planet Waves humidity control endorsed by Bob Taylor. They claim it will keep the humidity at 45%.

It's too soon to tell but it seems like a worthwhile solution that works. The price is a tad high but if it works then I'm okay with it.

[epaul]

I used to use various "soundhole" types, (PW, Oasis, Dampit). I got tired of all of them. Now, I just use a sponge in a soap dish. It is simple, cheap, safe, and effective. As others do, I keep the sponge case in the peghead compartment. I keep my guitar wipe cloth on top of the sponge case, just to provide some cushioning in the unlikely event of case jostling. The cloth keeps the case cushioned and securely in place.

Some folks put in big holes and some use small holes. I like a couple big holes as I can easily check the sponge's moisture with a peek or a quick finger poke (rather than pulling the case out, opening it up, and then poking the sponge). OK, so, I'm not saving all that much work, but it is nice to be able to quickly eyeball the sponge's condition and check it with a quick poke. And it's easy to drill large holes. And, if you don't like drilling large holes, drill small holes in a circle, and then use an exacto knife or utility knife to connect the dots (if your cutting is ragged,you can always file or sand the edges smooth).


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[dhalbert]

I made a sound hole humidifier out of a zip-close sandwich bag with two wide slits cut in one side. I dampen a folded paper towel or thin sponge and put it in the bag under a food container lid or upside-down cottage cheese lid . The lid is just thick enough so that the whole thing is held in place by the strings. This is all inspired by a few Youtube videos.

I don't have a case: only a heavy gig bag. Right now I have a Caliber hygrometer attached with stick-on velcro inside the bag underneath the neck. I may use velcro to hold a soap-dish humidifier in the same region.

[clintj]

I live in eastern Idaho, and it can get shockingly dry here. I've seen it at -25F and car windows still not starting to frost over. I have the benefit of a well sealed house with four people living in it, and the humidity stays around 45% in the winter so I just hang them up. You can get a DYI installed whole house bypass humidifier at Home Depot starting at about $200 depending on the size you need. I looked at the directions online and they appear well within the skill level of a homeowner on the handier side. Looked about as hard as an icemaker in the freezer. Other options that work here are to close off a small room with a humidifier or even take over a large closet for all the guitars. I am really intrigued by the water bead idea that someone mentioned, I may have to try that in a basement room and see how it works. For us desert dwellers, keeping the indoor humidity up makes a world of difference in how you feel. Too dry and you get the random nosebleeds and cracked skin, and are more susceptible to sinus infections and the like. One lady I worked with keeps a crock pot full of water in the living room and turns it on when the house needs more moisture.

[newton]

Originally Posted by DaveKell

...went to a Hobby Lobby and bought several packages of inexpensive "water beads" to put in vases with a blue LED light at the bottom for table decoration. They are clear hard beads the size of a pea that swell to a large marble size when soaked in water. We dumper all of them into a new 5 gallon plastic bucket ... the beads haven't even lost half their size yet and it feels wet when you run your hand through them but no water gets on you. The hygrometer hasn't dipped below 55% since a few days after I placed the bucket in there.

What are the "water beads". Inquiring minds want to know. It sounds like something that might just be very practical.

[clintj]

http://waterbeads.net/
Amazon and others sell them as well. This looks like it has the potential to make a really long lasting humidifier.

[XYRN]

Originally Posted by Wcso909

I feel the need to put all my questions in one posting now.....

Where do you put the soap dish in your case? Do I also need a hygrometer in there as well? And finally what if its a soft case like the one that case with GS Mini?

Others have suggested putting it up near the headstock, but I just don't see that there is enough air circulation in a closed case to allow the humidified air to reach the body of the guitar - which is what matters.

Here's my solution:

In this case it fits but needs to be held in place with a microfiber cloth jammed in next to it.


In this case it fits snugly on its own:


Plenty of clearance under the neck, never touches any part of the guitar.

[mdutr0]

Minor hijack here - but any tips on DE-humidification?

I live in Mississippi. If anything I have the opposite problem, too much humidity.

What's the best way to combat that?

[DaveKell]

Originally Posted by newton

What are the "water beads". Inquiring minds want to know. It sounds like something that might just be very practical.

go to hobby lobby's website and search water beads. they come in a variety of colors as well as clear. they absorb over 100 times their weight in water and take forever to dry out. using a vase with a wide opening at the top in every room with one of the variety of colors they come in is a nice decoration as well as a constant source of humidification.

[sleepyEDB]

I live in Metro Detroit, so we have pretty wild swings in humidity from summer to winter. We have a whole-house humidifier on our furnace, but I still keep my guitar in its case and I'm using ljguitar's damp sponge method with a slight modification in terms of placement. I use a single sponge and push a bread bag twisty through one of the highest slits in the bag so the ends protrude out on both sides. Then I push the bottom of the bag through my D and G strings and into the soundhole of my guitar until the bread twisty hits the strings. Then I loosely curl the ends of the twisty around both the high and low E strings just enough to support the bag. Now the sponge hangs freely inside my guitar. It's like a $2 DampIt...thanks Larry!


sleepy

[epaul]

Originally Posted by XYRN

Others have suggested putting it up near the headstock, but I just don't see that there is enough air circulation in a closed case to allow the humidified air to reach the body of the guitar - which is what matters.
....

This is one of those "Yes, No, and Maybe" sort of things.

Water vapor will move to equilibrium within a guitar case. The case fabric, and the case itself, may slow, but can not stop, the water molecules from seeking equilibrium. (equalibrium is one of those 'always sought but seldom found' things)

If you need to get moisture to the guitar body quickly, then placing the moisture source inside the guitar body (rather than in a more remote location) is a good idea. But, if you have established a "guitar safe" humidity level within your guitar case, then the entire interior of your guitar case becomes, in effect, a sponge that will keep your guitar at a safe humidity level. The lining holds moisture, the wood of the case holds moisture, the guitar itself holds moisture; and, regardless of where it is located, that sponge in the soap case is an engine slowly releasing water vapor that will, slowly but steadily, diffuse throughout the entire interior of the case, keeping it at a safe humidity level.

(this is why it is recommended, in a dry environment, to keep your guitar case closed when it isn't in use, so that you don't overly dry the case itself out).

Three or four years ago, several of us from another guitar forum decided to do a little testing. We had guitars, cases, sponges, Oasis's, and all kinds of hygrometers (several with remote sensors). In a nutshell, we noted that placement of the moisture source can matter in the short term, but not in the long term.

(the following is a loose summation, as I no longer have all the numbers we wrote down)

In one test, I placed a placed a moist sponge and hygrometer in the peghead region of a cased guitar. Prior to the placement of the sponge, a second hygrometer I had placed in the interior of the guitar had recorded a reading of 36% RH (which was also the reading I got from the interior of the empty case itself).

When I popped the case open five hours later, the hygrometer I had placed in the peghead region next to the sponge read 54% RH while the hygrometer inside the guitar body had only gone up to 37% RH. When I checked the next day, the peghead hygrometer was at 52% RH and the hygrometer inside the guitar body was at 42% RH. When I checked again the following day, the peghead was at 49% and the guitar interior was at 45%.

I'm supplying these numbers from memory, and they are a synthesis of a couple different tests, but the long and short of it was, while it took awhile for the moisture in the peghead compartment to circulate, after a couple days it did, and once it did, the guitar case, and the guitar within it stayed in a good, stable, safe, humidity range.

I also tested a dry guitar and case with the Oasis. As you will likely guess, the Oasis did kick the humidity level in the guitar interior up right away (and, as you have also likely guessed, it took a while for it to get to the peghead region). But, again, after a couple days, the entire case was at a safe and stable RH.

If you need to get humidity to a dry guitar right away, then place the moisture source inside the guitar itself (or better yet, put the guitar and the case in the bathroom and turn on all the hot water spigots. Get that bathroom as steamed up as you can and let your guitar have a nice sauna).

But, if you are following a humidity maintenence regimin, a slow but steady approach of keeping the entire guitar case itself within a prescribed humidity range, one that is maintained with a moisture source equaliberating away inside the case itself, the particular location of that moisture source won't matter. Put it wherever it fits best.


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[Steve Berger]

I have two ClimaStand wall display cases from Acoustic Remedy Cases. They are beautiful, very well made and most importantly provide great climate protection for my guitars via their sealing technology and use of Humidipaks. And Ryan and Adam provide Great Customer Service. Highly Recommended!

Here is a link to the site:

http://acousticremedycases.com

[newton]

Originally Posted by mdutr0

Minor hijack here - but any tips on DE-humidification?

I live in Mississippi. If anything I have the opposite problem, too much humidity.

What's the best way to combat that?

HumidiPaks do both. They soak up humidity until they get up to approx. 45% and then they give off some humidity. Basically, a humidipak tries to achieve some sort of equilibrium somewhere in the 40 -50% range.

I have a digital hygrometer in my case with a history function. It hit 38% once. I've never seen it hit 50% inside any of my guitar cases.

(I doubt that they would be very effective inside a gig bag.)