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Humidifiers for acoustics


tommy p

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I've had a Martin D-28 and Guild 12-string acoustic for about 20 years, bought the same day in a "I need to have a couple of acoustics" frenzy.

I have one of the Planet Waves case humidifiers that you inject with water and then hang down in the sound hole between the strings, but I've only put it in the D-28 case maybe 10 times in the whole time I've owned it.  I've never put ANY humidifier in the Guild case.  That guitar has literally lived in that case almost the entire time I've owned it.  I've taken it out every 2-3 years, restrung it, played it for a few days and back in it goes.  I've got a whole house humidifier system but in the winter it struggles.  Today it's reading 33%.

My question is: is it too late to start keeping a humidifier in both case.  It doesn't appear that either guitar has suffered any from not having a humidifier in their cases consistently.  Unfortunately it also seems I've lost the syringe thing to refill the Planet Waves one I've got.  Any humidifier that you would recommend that is relatively long-lasting given my tendency to forget all about refilling them?

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My opinion - fast changes in temp/humidity should be minimized. If you live in a dry place, it’s winter time, probably a good idea to humidify in the case some if you don’t humidify your house.

I use a cellulose sponge in a ziplock baggie that has holes punched in it. Doesn’t take a big sponge, you can cut strip from a standard kitchen sponge. Wet and squeeze out the water. It doesn’t take much. You can easily keep check by pressing the sponge. Too much humidity can be bad. Especially if the guitar is over humidified and opened in a really dry room.

You can also not worry about it too much. Think of all the old fantastic sounding Martins that survived trips in cars in all seasons, Bluegrass festivals, house with floor furnaces and no AC.

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I can’t speak for case humidifier but I recently got a vornado evaporative humidifier for my guitar room. ($79 Amazon).  Other than having to watch and refill the water,  I’ve been really happy with it.    

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I've gotten up to enough acoustics that it no longer makes financial sense to try to keep humidifiers in each case, so I bought a large pedestal style humidifier and have been sending about 4 gallons of water into the air daily since buying it back in November.  As long as I can keep real relative humidity at least 35%, I'm happy.

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I've been hit and miss with case humidifiers, mostly miss inasmuch as I forget to keep after them and I have enough acoustics that keeping after the humidifiers to be a chore.  I wound up using several "console" humidifers, essentially buckets with a pump and fan, that get the job done.  It's less of a chore to fill them and besides, they cover the whole house.

 

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This year has been a cold and dry one (humidity wise) in the north, so the humidifiers have been in full operation.  Used these for a long time - Cheap and works.  

https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Accessories-GH-Acoustic-Humidifier/dp/B0002D0COE/ref=sr_1_5?crid=31RUG8Y3R28R7&keywords=acoustic+guitar+humidifier&qid=1644857120&sprefix=acoustic+guitar+humidifie%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-5

Found the ones from Music Nomad a couple years ago.  a bit more expensive, but they hold a lot more water which allows for fewer refills over the season.

https://www.amazon.com/MN300-Humitar-Acoustic-Guitar-Humidifier/dp/B00DKAQGTG/ref=sr_1_8?crid=31RUG8Y3R28R7&keywords=acoustic+guitar+humidifier&qid=1644857165&sprefix=acoustic+guitar+humidifie%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-8

Not only for protection of the guitar, I can hear a real difference in their tone when properly humidified.

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21 hours ago, Teh said:

This year has been a cold and dry one (humidity wise) in the north, so the humidifiers have been in full operation.  Used these for a long time - Cheap and works.  

https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Accessories-GH-Acoustic-Humidifier/dp/B0002D0COE/ref=sr_1_5?crid=31RUG8Y3R28R7&keywords=acoustic+guitar+humidifier&qid=1644857120&sprefix=acoustic+guitar+humidifie%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-5

Found the ones from Music Nomad a couple years ago.  a bit more expensive, but they hold a lot more water which allows for fewer refills over the season.

https://www.amazon.com/MN300-Humitar-Acoustic-Guitar-Humidifier/dp/B00DKAQGTG/ref=sr_1_8?crid=31RUG8Y3R28R7&keywords=acoustic+guitar+humidifier&qid=1644857165&sprefix=acoustic+guitar+humidifie%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-8

Not only for protection of the guitar, I can hear a real difference in their tone when properly humidified.

Those are just like the Planet Waves one I've got, except I canNOT figure out how to get the top off of mine.  There are no catches or hooks that I can see.  I feel like if I keep pulling on it to get the top off, I'm just going to break it.  One thing I noticed for one of those is it says to used distilled water which I had not been doing.  Maybe I'll switch to that.

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3 hours ago, tommy p said:

Those are just like the Planet Waves one I've got, except I canNOT figure out how to get the top off of mine.  There are no catches or hooks that I can see.  I feel like if I keep pulling on it to get the top off, I'm just going to break it.  One thing I noticed for one of those is it says to used distilled water which I had not been doing.  Maybe I'll switch to that.

Squeeze the sponge chamber at the top on the ends.  That will compress the hooks that hold the lid on so you can remove it.

Re: Distilled water - I've used regular tap water for years without an issue.  Unless your water is insanely hard and you overfill the sponge causing it to drip on the inside of the guitar and leave mineral deposits, I don't think you'll have a problem.

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On 2/18/2022 at 7:11 PM, pesocaster said:

Living in CO ….. it is DRY here…… installed a whole house humidifier…… best grand I’ve spent…… adds more than enough to the air that I can keep guitars out of the cases! 

Yeah, I have one too but it struggles in winter.  The other day when I posted it was at 33% and it's dipped down to 28% since.  Today it's at 31%.

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