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Guitar Humidity

1/31/2019

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Day 19. Brrrr!  We're back in a cold spell, so another chance to see the effects of reduced humidity on the testing. It's supposed to warm up a bit beginning tomorrow. Humidity in case with 2 Dampit style humidifiers is at 43% RH in soundhole.  Currently, ambient humidity is at 19% RH.  
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Guitar Humidity

1/30/2019

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Day 18 with little change since yesterday. Humidity in case with 2 Dampit style humidifiers is at 44% RH for 3rd day in a row.  We're back in a cold spell, so we'll get another chance to see the effects of reduced humidity on the testing. Currently, ambient humidity is at 24%. 
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Guitar Humidity

1/29/2019

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Day 17 with little change since yesterday. Humidity in case with 2 Dampit style humidifiers is down 1% RH.
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Guitar Humidity

1/28/2019

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At 16 days into the testing, the 2 Dampit style humidifiers are down 6% RH from their high of 50% RH in the last 9 days. The case has not been opened since inserting the second humidifier, so as not to interfere with the testing. I suspect both humidifiers are now fairly dry, and that the humidity reading is from moisture absorbed inside the body that's now being released. I'll allow the humidity to reach 40% RH before I open the case and check the humidifiers. Can't wait to play my 414CE again.
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Guitar Humidity

1/27/2019

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At 15 days into the testing, the 2 Dampit style humidifiers are down 5% RH from their high of 50% RH 8 days ago.
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Guitar Humidity

1/26/2019

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The 2 dampit style humidifiers may be showing signs of drying out after 2 weeks.
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Guitar Humidity

1/25/2019

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The Dampit type humidifiers are down by 4% RH from their high of 50% RH, so we may be seeing a decline in humidity already.  
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Guitar Humidity

1/24/2019

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It's a rainy, unseasonably warm day in Pennsylvania. Ambient humidity increased back into the 31% RH range. I keep tweaking the Musik Tent humidity toward 50% RH in the soundhole. Will likely leave as-is now.
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Guitar Humidity

1/23/2019

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Humidity in room is inching up as the outside temperature increases
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Guitar Humidity

1/22/2019

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Guitar Humidity

1/21/2019

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Second update: Adjusted Musik Tent humidity up slightly this morning. Now reading 46% to 50% RH. Try that with a sponge humidifier.
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First update: As expected, the humidity plunged to 20% RH with the outside temperature in the teens.
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Guitar Humidity

1/20/2019

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Essentially no change from yesterday. Cold front is expected to move in later today.

Here are current indoor humidity levels for the USA.
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Below are some references for maintaining instruments at the proper humidity.
  • Martin recommends 45% to 55% RH ( https://www.martinguitar.com/media/9615/2018-care-feeding-guide_web.pdf).
  • Taylor prefers 47% RH (https://www.taylorguitars.com/support/maintenance/symptoms-dry-guitar)
  • Guild recommends 45% to 55% RH (https://guildguitars.com/product-care/)
  • Premier Guitars recommends 40% to 50% RH (https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Fighting_the_Humidity_Battle)
  • Fender recommends 40% to 50% (https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10002/2011%20Fender%20Acoustic%20Guitar%20Manual.pdf)
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Humidifying Guitars

1/19/2019

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Ambient humidity increased 3% since yesterday, and is currently reading 29%. Case is reading 1% higher for all 4 probes (see summary table below) and continues to vary by 19% RH across the case. The testing is at 1 week since adding the initial dampit style humidifier. We're still expecting a sharp temperature drop in the next few days, with Monday's high expected to be around 15 Deg F. The heat will be running constantly, which should really drop the ambient humidity.

The Musik Tent continues reading 46% RH at the soundhole and varying by 3% RH across the length of the guitar.  The first photo shows probe readings of headstock (top at 46% RH) and neck/body connection (bottom at 45% RH).
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Humidifying Guitars

1/18/2019

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In summary, the case humidity with 2 dampit style humidifiers is holding steady with the soundhole reading 49% RH. The overall variation from highest (soundhole) to lowest (headstock at 30% RH) reading continues to be 19% RH.  FYI, I have not opened the case since inserting the second humidifier.

The plan is to leave both humidifiers in place to monitor their behavior during the upcoming cold front - and to see how long they last before drying out in coming weeks. 
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The Musik Tent is currently holding at 46% RH at the soundhole and varying by 3% RH from highest 49% RH reading at strap button to 46% RH at both the neck/body and soundhole, since adjusting the filament yesterday to increase the humidity slightly.  The first photo shows probe readings of headstock (top at 47% RH) and neck/body connection (bottom at 46% RH). See updated summary table below. More to come.
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Humidifying Guitars

1/17/2019

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Dataset is starting to build, so I created a table to capture everything observed to date. Current conditions are 26% RH for ambient.  

In summary, the case humidity with 2 dampits continues to creep up with the soundhole now reading 49% RH. The overall variation from highest (soundhole) to lowest (headstock at 30% RH% reading is  19% RH.

The Musik Tent is varying by 1% RH. I adjusted the filament to increase the humidity slightly and plan to check tomorrow.  The first photo shows the two additional probes measuring the headstock (top) and neck/body connection (bottom). Everything is proceeding normally. Can't wait to see what happens early next week when the cold front moves into Pennsylvania. More to come.
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Humidifying Guitars

1/16/2019

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Musik Tent at about 12 hours after setup, in the upper 30's when I checked this morning. So, I increased the amount of exposed filament about 1.5 hours ago and humidity has increased into the 40's. Will check after work and report. Target is between 45 and 50% RH. Photo on right (below) shows reading of 41% RH at top of the body near the strap button/output jack and 40% inside soundhole. Two additional probes at headstock and neck/body connection, also reading about 40%, so a reasonable comparison is made with the guitar case study.
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Humidifying Guitars

1/15/2019

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Day 4 since inserting dampit style humidifier (day 3 since adding a 2nd humidifier). The soundhole reading continues creeping up from 43% to 46% over a 20 hour period without opening the case. Probe 1 in headstock area increased from 29% to 31%, probe 2 near neck/body connection increased from 32% to 35%, and probe 4 on top of the body near the strap button/output jack increased from 31% to 35%. Ambient room has decreased from 30% to 27%. I'm noticing the outside temperature seems to be about a 1/2 degree C (about 1 deg F) higher than inside the guitar case.  
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The weather forecast is claiming next Monday's high will be a frigid 13 degrees. With the home heater working overtime, the humidity should drop considerably. This will give me a chance to see how these soundhole humidifiers work under pressure, and how such a humidity drop will effect the other areas inside the guitar case.  Also, setting up a Musik Tent with a second guitar to see how these two methods compare in the same room.  
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Humidifying Guitars

1/14/2019

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Checked humidity levels the next day and results were essentially the same as the day before for two dampit style humidifiers in the soundhole. Probe 1 in headstock area read 29%, probe 2 near neck/body connection read 32%, and probe 4 on top of the body near the strap button/output jack read 31%. Probe 3, inside the soundhole, crept up slightly to 43% RH. Ambient room read 30%. Plan to leave these humidifiers in place to see how long they take to dry out. 

I also checked hygrometer accuracy by performing a salt test on the probes, and found they're reading a few percent higher than the expected 75% RH. While I might get truer readings by subtracting these amounts from the readout - at least in the 75% range, it's not so clear how this offset scales to lower humidity levels since the relationship may not be linear. For the sake of this testing, and not to over complicate findings, I will report the same values as on the readouts, recognizing the actual values may be a bit lower. 
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Humidifying Guitars

1/13/2019

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Are case humidifiers good enough? I decided to find out for myself. Reluctantly, I drilled holes in one of my Taylor cases, so I could feed hygrometer leads inside with probes placed at various positions in the sound hole and around my guitar. The goal was to allow the case to close tightly, without pinching the leads or having the case cracked partially open.
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I placed my 414CE, that I normally maintain at 45 to 50% relative humidity inside a Musik Tent, into the case and inserted a wetted, dampit style, humidifier inside the soundhole. Next, I placed hygrometer probes in the headstock area (1), near the neck/body (2), inside the soundhole (3), and on top of the body near the strap button/output jack(4). I placed a another probe outside as a reference. I then latched the case shut and left this setup to stabilize overnight. 
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The next day, I noted the outside probe measured the ambient room at 32% RH. Normally, this time of year the inside humidity in our home located in Pennsylvania would be below 20%, but we're experiencing a mild winter as of Jan 13, 2019.

The initial results were a bit unexpected. Most of the readings inside the case were at about the same humidity as the room. Probe 1 read 29%, probe 2 read 32%, and probe 4 read 31%. Probe 3, inside the soundhole, read 40% RH. I'd expected this value to be considerably higher. 
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I added a second dampit, which after a few hours increased the humidity to about 41% RH. This meant the overall variation in the case measured 11%, lowest at the headstock and highest inside the soundhole.  My preliminary observation is that even a fairly high quality, original Taylor case, does not offer much of a seal with the outside ambient relative humidity. Additionally, two dampit style humidifiers are unable to achieve a 45 to 50% RH target inside this case when the room is around 30% RH. It will be interesting to see if the difference in case and ambient humidity continues throughout Jan and Feb. More to come.  
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    Author

    Damon DeBusk is a multi-patented product designer, process and quality engineer, project manager, author, and inventor of Musik Tent Instrument Humidors and HumiForm Cigar Humidifiers.

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