Humidity in the house has been consistently too low, had to crank up the humidifiers. Nighttime temps are low enough to need some heat in the vault too. Usually not necessary until November.
We dont have a low humidity problem in Texas. That would be welcomed. Right now its 56 degrees with 96% humidity and no rain.
Yeah man, my central heating is broken and is gonna cost nearly two grand to fix. It's cold and damp in England.
We normally have humidity issues no matter what time of year and temperature. I've seen the humidity crystallize in the air during winter here. Makes the winters here in KC absolutely miserable.
Minnesota... I usually have to give the truss rods a bit of a tweak in the spring and again in the late fall to get them back to feeling normal. The only thing that changes is exactly when.
we have semi tropical humidity here but we are entering our "dry" time of year when i also make a seasonal 1/10 to a 1/8 of a truss rod tweak.
We had the furnace serviced Friday and it needs a new motor at the tune of $400 Luckily I rent and the landlord is always on top of any repairs asap.
For weeks now we’ve been in a zone where the heat needs to come on at night, but then it’s off all day because it’s 70 degrees outside. Windows get opened and the humidity plummets down to 25% because we’re at the base of a big mountain range, but also near the desert’s edge. I’ve been returning acoustics to the basement after playing, but have left an electric on the wall at times. I’ve noticed a little fret sprout on a tele with a very light satin finish on the neck. Woke up to the first snow of the winter this morning though, so the heater and humidifier are both rolling. Looks like I’ve got it set just about right, showing 44% in the room where I play. Gotta go knock the snow off the shade awnings again now. I knew I should’ve taken them down yesterday!
Here in Minnesota, keeping the collection happy is a lot easier in the summer. Between the AC and a couple dehumidifiers in the lower level of my house, the RH is controlled throughout the entire living space. Set the humidistats and forget them. Well, except for having to empty the reservoir in one of them periodically. But in the winter things aren't so simple. You can't just humidify the entire house to the level the guitars would prefer. During colder weather you would have major condensation problems all over your house. So I divide the house up into zones of high, medium, and low humidity. The main storage room has been rendered fairly airtight, and has no exposure to cold outside surfaces. I keep the humidity and temperature stable in there, with no concern about what the outside temp is. The studio can be closed off, but is kind of leaky. I keep the RH mostly nominal there, but during a bad cold snap will let it drop a little. With the leaks in the room, too high an RH will spill out into the rest of the house, and cause some issues there. The majority of the house is kept at a level humans will find comfortable, when outside temps allow. I have to make sure the main humidifier is set where I won't start getting too much condensation on windows and even in walls or up in the attic. Not a real big deal though, what else have I got to do?
Humidity in the UK is measured in Inches, that is how far up your lounge wall the water reaches and if you sofa can float freely in the tidal race between your front and back doors, even when they are closed and the sandbags are still in place. If a year is very dry we just get a bit of dry rot and lot's of black mould on our walls which does save on redecorating if you like black walls, for those that like a little more colour, just smear your walls with a little pig fat and leave to fester, some fabulous colour's will magically appear within 5-6 days. Though you may have to mow it every so often
In SoCal this is actually the "wet" season. Being near the water the humidity is generally on the higher side but is also rarely gets above 90, so guitars here tend to be quite stable. I haven't tweaked a truss rod outside of the initial setup in quite a while.
Nothing. Set it, and forget it (to an extent). I live ONE STATE below you (Iowa...Northeast to be exact) and I've NEVER had a problem maintaining my guitars below ground (i.e.- basement) with a dehumidifier. Your "Minnesota" weather isn't that much more extreme than mine (just a little earlier), so I think you're being over-dramatic. My oldest guitar is a 1985 Harmony H80T Strat copy, and I've NEVER done anything special to "preserve it" in 35 years other than leave it in my basement studio with a dehumidifier that seldom even runs in the winter at 49% to 56% humidity set on "COMFORT ZONE". My acoustics have never had issues either in the same environment. I've never ran a "humidifier" in my world...because it's never been required to maintain quality and play-ability. I DO keep my all solid wood Guild in a case when not playing (instead of on display)...and I've never had problems with that one either.
Yea, I used to have to do that too. Since I started taking my environmental control advice from Even Steven, I rarely have to. And it might reduce finish checking over time.
