Humidification at music school?

emilio g · #1 11-26-2008, 05:03 PM

Recently bought a carved bass from Kolstein's shop and love it.

I was told not to use dampits because I'll be risking water damage on the inside if they drip. Instead I just bought a room humidifier and that's been working out well...when the bass is at home.

At school, there's a bass room with a humidifier that gets the room to about 40-45% humidity when its on full blast. A little low, but I generally don't store my bass there for long periods of time.

But, a few days a week I've got back to back rehearsals, a 40 minute commute each way, and classes that have my bass out in the low humidity world for up to 12 hours at a time.

Its there anything I can do other than risk it with dampits?

Jake deVilliers · #2 11-26-2008, 05:39 PM

Dampits are fine - just squeeze them out and wipe off any drips. And 40 - 45 % is perfect.

adbass · #3 11-26-2008, 05:42 PM

I've talked to luthiers about this and when it comes to humidity consistency is key.

It's when the bass experiences drastic shifts in humidity that you risk opening seams, etc.

IMO, IME, etc

Eric Hochberg · #4 11-27-2008, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Dampits are fine - just squeeze them out and wipe off any drips. And 40 - 45 % is perfect.

The man knows what he's talking about.

arnoldschnitzer · #5 11-27-2008, 11:11 AM

I hung a hygrometer inside a bass in a dry-ish room. It read 35%. I installed two wet dampits and waited a few hours. The hygrometer then read between 35 and 36%. Not exactly a scientific experiment, but in my opinion dampits are nearly worthless for stabilizing a bass' humidity, especially as they do nothing for the moisture content in the wood of the neck. And the neck changing shape at the heel accounts for a major difference in string height and angle. Perhaps dampits are a bit more effective if the bass is left in its cover.

Dbassmon · #6 11-27-2008, 11:27 AM

Emilio, I have been told by Bill Merchant, my luthier, that 30 -35% is probably a relative humidity level you want to keep your bass at if you are taking it to rehearsals, gigs, lessons etc.

While that is somewhat low amount of humidity, it makes a much less drastic drop in humidity when you take the instrument out to a place without any humidification and dry heat. Gigs, lessons, etc.

It is quick and drastic changes to temp and humidity that will cause seams to open.

If your bass just stays in your home or studio, keep the humidity higher.

Jake deVilliers · #7 11-27-2008, 11:58 AM

Thanks for that piece of hard data Arnold. I guess the volume of a DB is just too much for Dampits. Did you test a cello?

Eli_Upright12 · #8 11-27-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

I hung a hygrometer inside a bass in a dry-ish room. It read 35%. I installed two wet dampits and waited a few hours. The hygrometer then read between 35 and 36%. Not exactly a scientific experiment, but in my opinion dampits are nearly worthless for stabilizing a bass' humidity, especially as they do nothing for the moisture content in the wood of the neck. And the neck changing shape at the heel accounts for a major difference in string height and angle. Perhaps dampits are a bit more effective if the bass is left in its cover.

You should try the same thing while the bass is in a bag, I wonder if the results would be different, it seems like they would be more effective if the area was small, more isolated and more enclosed.

Mark Perna · #9 11-27-2008, 01:01 PM

Mike Shank once told me pretty much what Arnold said: dampits are pretty worthless. He told me to go with the room humidifier.

From personal experience, I used to travel with my DB by car. The bass (fully carved '32 Juzek) would be in my car in a PA winter for up to 12 hours and sometimes more. I NEVER had any trouble with cracking or seams opening.

The only time I did have a problem was 2 winters ago when our home humidifier went into reset mode during a major cold snap and the humidity in the house plummeted from 35% or so to about 19% in about an hour. A seam opened on my '28 Juzek ('32 was at the shop being worked on at the time) and the fingerboard on my Kolstein Travel Bass warped requiring a redressing.

mark

emilio g · #10 11-28-2008, 01:40 PM

Thanks for the tips. I'm now keeping the humidity at home around 40% because the idea of a less drastic change makes LOTS of sense.

Part of the issue might be that I'm just paranoid about the new bass having problems. I just upgraded from a plywood bass to a mid-range carved instrument about 3 months ago and I'm in heaven!

pdbass · #11 01-08-2009, 06:44 PM

I thought I'd revisit this thread because of my bass being in the shop this week.

Long story short, I've been humidifying since I started playing a carved instrument. I don't over-humidify, and the driest it seems to get in my apartment is about 25-26% on a very cold day, but it will stick around 28% humidity for the winter season. I follow David Gage's advice, which is keeping the bass somewhere in between 30-40%, which basically means that the humidifier keeps it somewhere above 30%. Since I play regularly throughout the season and my bass is in and out of the house, that's been a perfect guideline for me. Never an open seam, and my instrument has never, ever had a crack since I've owned it.

This summer, I was recommended another luthier (by the local symphony's principal bassist) to have a new fingerboard installed. This new guy did a great job, and we did a lot of talking while he got things right where I wanted them. I told him about my 30% guideline and immediately he was like, "don't EVER use a humidifier! I've never used one. You should never use one. If you do, your bass will crack the minute it gets too dry!" This guy did such good work on my fingerboard, I took heed. This winter, out went my humidifier. . . I should have been nervous.

This past weekend, while practicing I noticed the corner of one of my seams open--just a bit. I called my 'old' guy and he said he could get me right in. I brought the bass over and not only did I have a couple of open seams, but I had 2 cracks!! One was an old crack that opened up, and one was brand new! ***?! I kinda feel like I learned the lesson on humidifiers the HARD way. It seems to me that the 30% guideline I was living with before was a good one. Using a humidifier didn't hurt my bass, but NOT using one did.

What I want to know is this: there seem to be 2 distinct camps on this whole thing. One group advocates using a humidifier, one group says humidify as little as possible. Is somebody right? Is a bass that wants to be humidified always going to want to be humidified (or not humidified)? This whole experience has taught me a couple of things: living in Pittsburgh means I should always have a humidifier, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe if you humidify (even a little) and your bass is fine, then don't stop, and if you don't humidify and your bass is fine, then don't START. Make sense?

Thoughts?