Guitars And Humidification
We learn something new every day, don't we?
For many years, I never took the matter seriously but humidifying a guitar is an extremely crucial part of it's care. This especially applies to acoustic instruments during Winter months. I have always tried to do it as often as I could remember but had no clue I was only doing half of what was required. The long, skinny rubbery humidifiers named "Dampit" come with a shaped plastic piece which is supposed to cover the sound hole on an acoustic. It features a gauge which measures the amount of humidity the guitar has- and as it decreases- the gauge indicates it's time for a refill. I never bothered to use them- and a result- some of my guitars now have checks in the finish or need neck resets. Ugh.
What irritates me is that for years I have been getting 50,117 different suggestions on when and how I should be humidifying my instruments. Well, visiting my favorite guitar shop, Mandolin Brothers, the repairman sat me down and showed me exactly what I should do. One aspect he stressed is the proper use of the shaped plastic gauge. Whenever I would buy one, I would throw the plastic thing out, fill the Dampit with water, wring it out, dry off the excess and simply chuck it into the sound hole. This was a waste of time as there was nothing covering the sound hole and all the humidity would be absorbed into the guitar case!
Ummmmmm.........
Naturally, this logic never came anywhere near my thought process- and for years- I have been humidifying my guitar cases more than the actual instruments. A few weeks ago, this changed- and last night- I noticed a huge difference in the playability of my Martin 12-string acoustic. One of the key issues was it remained in tune much more so than when it was dry as a bone. I refill it every other day.
I could go on and on about this but I'll just post the link to the "Dampit" website. I will also add it to my regular links on the right side of the blog.
I cannot stress enough that the humidification process is one of the most important steps in the care of musical instruments.
Dampit Humidifiers
For many years, I never took the matter seriously but humidifying a guitar is an extremely crucial part of it's care. This especially applies to acoustic instruments during Winter months. I have always tried to do it as often as I could remember but had no clue I was only doing half of what was required. The long, skinny rubbery humidifiers named "Dampit" come with a shaped plastic piece which is supposed to cover the sound hole on an acoustic. It features a gauge which measures the amount of humidity the guitar has- and as it decreases- the gauge indicates it's time for a refill. I never bothered to use them- and a result- some of my guitars now have checks in the finish or need neck resets. Ugh.
What irritates me is that for years I have been getting 50,117 different suggestions on when and how I should be humidifying my instruments. Well, visiting my favorite guitar shop, Mandolin Brothers, the repairman sat me down and showed me exactly what I should do. One aspect he stressed is the proper use of the shaped plastic gauge. Whenever I would buy one, I would throw the plastic thing out, fill the Dampit with water, wring it out, dry off the excess and simply chuck it into the sound hole. This was a waste of time as there was nothing covering the sound hole and all the humidity would be absorbed into the guitar case!
Ummmmmm.........
Naturally, this logic never came anywhere near my thought process- and for years- I have been humidifying my guitar cases more than the actual instruments. A few weeks ago, this changed- and last night- I noticed a huge difference in the playability of my Martin 12-string acoustic. One of the key issues was it remained in tune much more so than when it was dry as a bone. I refill it every other day.
I could go on and on about this but I'll just post the link to the "Dampit" website. I will also add it to my regular links on the right side of the blog.
I cannot stress enough that the humidification process is one of the most important steps in the care of musical instruments.
Dampit Humidifiers
Excellence advice. I recently purchased humidifiers for my guitars based upon your experience. Previously I was putting the guitars on stands in the room with a humidifier going but that only humidifies the outside of the guitar and not the inside.
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