As an acoustic guitar player, you are probably aware that wood is a vital component of your instrument. The wood is a living material, and it reacts to changes in temperature and humidity. The wood’s physical characteristics determine the sound quality and playability of your guitar. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how humidity affects your acoustic guitar and how to maintain an optimum humidity level to keep your guitar in perfect condition.
How Does Relative Humidity Affect Guitars?
Wood tends to equalize with its surrounding air, in temperature and humidity. If wood becomes too moist, it will swell, while if it loses its moisture, it will shrink. These are physical characteristics of wood. Since wood is a primary component of acoustic guitars, changes in humidity levels can affect the guitar’s sound quality, playability, and overall condition.
What Is the Desired Level of Humidity?
To prevent any potential damage, you must maintain the optimum relative humidity for your acoustic guitar. Typically, experts recommend maintaining a humidity level ranging from 45% to 55%. This level minimizes the risk of damage to your instrument.
What If My Guitar Has Been Subjected to Excessive Humidity?
Excessive exposure of your guitar to humidity can result in various issues. Firstly, the guitar’s seams may separate, causing it to come apart. Additionally, the bridges may loosen, impacting the tuning and sound quality of the guitar. Lastly, excess moisture may cause the action to become unplayable. In such cases, it is advisable to use a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity level to the optimum level and prevent any further damage.
What If My Guitar Has Been Stored in a Dry Environment?
On the other hand, low humidity levels can be equally damaging to your guitar. When the wood dries, it shrinks, causing the top to lower, and the strings to come with it. This creates stress on the wood, leading to cracking. To solve this problem, you should invest in a humidifier and a hygrometer to measure the humidity level.
How Does Different Humidity Levels Affect Your Guitar?
Humidity levels below or above the optimum range can cause damage to your guitar. Here’s what happens to your guitar at different humidity levels:
At 60% Humidity – Your guitar may show signs of tarnished frets and strings, corrosion to nickel, chrome, or gold plating on tuning machines, swelling of the top, high action, and loose braces and bridges.
At 50% Humidity – Your guitar is in good condition.
At 40% Humidity – You may see sharp fret ends. This is the area of the fingerboard that extends over the body that may begin to crack slightly from the 12th or 14th fret toward the soundhole.
At 35% Humidity – Firstly, the top will begin to shrink, causing the soundboard to look and feel rippled or dried in. Additionally, the sharp fret ends, which are already visible at 40% relative humidity, will become even more evident.
At 30% Humidity – Cracks may start to appear on your guitar. Even if you do not see a crack, the guitar has lost moisture, and the top has begun to sink. To make your guitar playable, you may need a higher saddle.
At 25% Humidity – More cracks are visible, and fret filing may be needed.
Conclusion
The humidity level is a critical factor in maintaining the sound quality, playability, and overall condition of your acoustic guitar. To achieve this, a humidity level of 45%-55% relative humidity is optimum, as maintaining this level will minimize the risk of damage to your guitar. If, however, your guitar has been exposed to excessive humidity or stored in a dry environment, it is crucial to invest in a humidifier to regulate the moisture content.
Source: http://www.maurysmusic.com/humidity___acoustic_guitars
