[RIFF WRATH]

My GK bass (china?) is in to the luthier for repair and set up.
Turns out that it is so dry and the neck is forward due to lack of humidity.Action is way high and needs to the neck bent back.
I recall reading a couple of threads re: how do you store your guitars, and being a dumb noob I have mine sitting out of tripod stands so that i can enjoy looking at them. DUH.
Al, who is doing the work for me through L&M Waterloo, read me the riot act this morning.
He advised buying "Dampit" or Trophy (available at most music shops) to humidize (new word ?) my guitars and suggested I also keep them in their respective cases when not being played with the dampit inside the case(s).
I do recall someone stating that they stored their guitars in a humidified cabinet.Sure would like some more info about that.
For all you Noobs, this might be something to consider, both for electrics and accoustics, if you didn't know already.
Mods: Didn't know exactly where to post this.
cheers
RIFF

 

[nine]

Good question. I'm interested in the answers as well.

 

[Jeff Flowerday]

What's the humidity level in your home? If you keep it around 35-40% in the winter you shouldn't have problems with a bass or any solid body guitar really. That said, I think you are dealing with normal seasonal humidity change.

45% is perfect for acoustics, which are really humidity tempermental.


Does you bass not have a truss rod? It's there to deal with seasonal humidity changes. I'm constantly tweeking my electrics between winter and summer.

 

[Gilliangirl]

For acoustics you really need more than keeping your house humidified, particularly in the winter. It's not feasible to keep your house humidified at 45% in the winter, as the chart below will attest to. It might work for the guitar, but will damage your house. Here's the chart with maximum humidity levels for your house, according to the experts....
Outside Temperature- Indoor Humidity Level
C __________________ Humidity %
-29...........................15%
-23...........................20%
-17............................25%
-12............................30%
-6............................35%
-6+..........................40%


This means that, if you don't want mold growing inside your walls, you need to find another way to humidify your acoustic guitars. There's the keeping-them-in-their-cases solution or this....
http://www.acousticsaver.com/index.htm

Isn't that grand? Just as soon as I come up with $6000 US dollars...

 

[RIFF WRATH]

#1 problem is probably because my little music room has an insulated chimney going through the corner and is also above the wood stove. I do not run oil heat until the temp goes below 60.It is usually cooler and damper "feeling" generally up stairs but obviously now I will be picking up a humidity guage of some sort to hang on the wall and some of the "dampit" units when I pick up the bass by monday latest. Guitars go back in the cases tonight when i get home.

#2 problem, per Al the repair guy, the truss rod has little or no play and the access is poor. As mentioned, the GK bass is an el cheapo, and not well made. Al assures me that when he is done i will have a nice guitar. Overall the guitar looks beautiful finish wise but poor quality control in general.

I may not be a player yet but one thing for sure, joining this site has taught me an immense amount of very very good information in a short time and am completely overwhelmed by the help and sincere interest from all the good fellow Canucks.
cheers
RIFF RATH

 

[torndownunit]

I found out about humidity the hard way this winter. I have been in a couple of different houses, and never had any serious humidity issues with my guitars. I kept them out on stands and had no problems. So when we got into this house, I kept my guitar out stored on stands and had no humidifier or anything. I started having some really bad problems with the necks on all of my guitars. Bad enough that I had to get full setups done on all of them (simple trust rod adjustment wouldn't work).

Anyway, the lesson is now learned. I have a humidifier in the room my guitars are stored in, and I keep the guitars in their cases. Keeping the guitars in one mid sized room, I can keep the humidity under control fairly well. I bought a really good humidifier with a built in humidistat that controls itself. As others have mentioned, it's pretty tough to keep a room humidified to the suggested amounts though. It will just be too damp. I find I can keep it at about 34-40% and be ok. When I first got the humidifier though, the level was at 12% believe it or not! It's no wonder I had issues.

I saw a tip on another forum that if in the cold weather you see any moisture on the inside of your windows, you have too much humidity.

 

[faracaster]

I keep quite a few of my guitars out on stands during the winter. They are in a room the is approx. 18'x20'. I have been through a dozen or more humidifiers and the best ones are the old rotating drum ones. Big and ugly, but extremely powerful. They can keep a room of that size at a level of 40-50% (which is where I like to keep the level) for a couple of days without refilling the dish in the bottom. The trouble is....they don't make them any more. You have to search for them at places like Goodwill. The one I have has got elastic bands holding it all together. I got a similar type of sized one at Sears last winter. Big and ugly, it does not have a drum, but has two large resevoirs for water and that thing pumps it out too. really the only modern one I've had that can do the job. The only down side is it needs more frequent refilling in very cold weather. If not for these machines, My guitars would be in their cases.

 

[RIFF WRATH]

Just did another humidity post under accoustics.
turns out my problem was guitar specific, and $130 later, the bass is better than new thanks to Al (through L&M Waterloo.)
Bass received a heated neck press; I didn't feel a thing - LOL. Fret ends were reset and ends filed, action was never that low before, awesome job.
I put my accoustics in cases with little bowls of water asa precaution. Humidity floats between 30 and 40% in the room.
Thanks for everyone's imput. Know I know a little more about guitar maintenance now.
cheers
RIFF

 

[Luke98]

All I have for storage of my strat is a tripod stand and softshell case... I'm going to buy a humidifier but how could I store it with it? just both inside the softshell case?

 

[torndownunit]

I keep quite a few of my guitars out on stands during the winter. They are in a room the is approx. 18'x20'. I have been through a dozen or more humidifiers and the best ones are the old rotating drum ones. Big and ugly, but extremely powerful. They can keep a room of that size at a level of 40-50% (which is where I like to keep the level) for a couple of days without refilling the dish in the bottom. The trouble is....they don't make them any more. You have to search for them at places like Goodwill. The one I have has got elastic bands holding it all together. I got a similar type of sized one at Sears last winter. Big and ugly, it does not have a drum, but has two large resevoirs for water and that thing pumps it out too. really the only modern one I've had that can do the job. The only down side is it needs more frequent refilling in very cold weather. If not for these machines, My guitars would be in their cases.

I got a fairly expensive Honeywell one that seems to work well. My brother bought the same model, but when I went to buy it I found it's discontinued. So I tried a few others and they all were horrible. I managed to stumble on one of the ones like my brothers at Walmart though still in stock. It seems to have no problems keeping the humidity at 40% in a pretty big room, and the automatic humistat works really well.

 

[cougar2]

Just did another humidity post under accoustics.
turns out my problem was guitar specific, and $130 later, the bass is better than new thanks to Al (through L&M Waterloo.)
Bass received a heated neck press; I didn't feel a thing - LOL. Fret ends were reset and ends filed, action was never that low before, awesome job.
I put my accoustics in cases with little bowls of water asa precaution. Humidity floats between 30 and 40% in the room.
Thanks for everyone's imput. Know I know a little more about guitar maintenance now.
cheers
RIFF

Riff Wrath,

Be very carefull when putting bowls of water inside your case or guitars. You can over humidify and start to swell your guitar. If you start to see the string hight comeing up get the water out! This is something that you would do for a guitar that is over dry and for a few days you would put water in a bowl with a spung in it so if it spills no water or very little will flow out of the bowl. Then the guitar is put in the case or bagged off.

I use the old drum type of humidifier to keep my guitar shop up to 40-45%. I keep the temp as close to 70 deg... I have a lot of wood that has to be stable and when building guitars it has to be as stable as possible for a great guitar.
Dennis

 

[RIFF WRATH]

Thanks Cougar

Since monitoring, my room has a constant 35% humidity, and I stopped with the water "treatment" a few weeks ago, but as mentioned i am monitoring daily. I have also picked up a small drum humidifier if I need it.Humidity is closer to 40% the past 2 weeks due to the weather and a water jug on the woodstove .(older farmhouse) My problem originated with just the one guitar.
regardless, any maintenance suggestions are appreciated.Still lots to learn, and there sure is lots of good information to be found on this site.
cheers
RIFF WRATH