Double Bass Climate adjustment

[pklima]

Don't know if this is the best forum to post this, but I'm moving from Texas to Poland in a few days with my bass, a 1958 East German carved one. It's got a few repaired cracks that have been stable for at least the past 3-4 years.

Other than keeping it humid in wintertime and checking whether any of the cracks reopen, what do I need to do to keep my bass healthy once it gets there? Should I expect it to need any adjustments to the soundpost, bridge, fingerboard etc? Should I wait a few weeks or months for it to reacclimate before taking it to a luthier for a setup?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Damon Rondeau]

What's the humidity regime like in Poland where you're going? Here I am assuming where you're coming from in Texas is dry, but I suppose it could be as humid as Hades depending on where you're at...

Your bass is used to your current humidity regime. It's gotta get through the flight and all that -- where there could be some upset -- but once you get to the other end it's gotta get used to a new humidity regime. It's the changeovers between humidity regimes that really screws over wood products. Going from very dry to very wet -- or vice versa -- is pretty much worst case scenario for wood movement.

 

[pklima]

You're right that the specific locations matter, a lot depends on whether I'm moving from Midland (desert) or Galveston (very humid coast). My part of Texas (College Station) is fairly humid but it's not as bad as the coast. Poland is probably slightly drier but not by much. Both places are reasonably temperate when it comes to humidity, I guess, so there shouldn't be any massive shock.

I guess another big difference is that we have air conditioning here and in Poland only heating for the winter.