I have 2 humidifiers running in my house, one in the music room. Only thing that sucks is having to constantly buy distilled water
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I feel you, kinda sucks but at least it saves a lot of trouble when adjusting and not worrying about anything breaking and/or warping
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Yes get a humidifier or 3 or 4 and get a humidistat ... I live in a big house in Colorado. In the winter I run 5 humidifiers in the house. They put about 6 or 7 gallons of moisture in the air per day. I try to keep the humidity levels around 25%. Many instrument manufacturers will say 35% to 50% is optimal. Even with the humidifiers I have to adjust my basses truss rods twice a year. Also I adjust the neck the number of turns it needs. I have never broken anything that way. High humidity is not a problem unless it is 100% and your bass starts to rust. Low humidity can literally destroy wood.
So Denver is fairly dry all year, but more so in the winter. When I lived in Michigan the swigs went from very humid in the summer to very dry in the winter. Again I compensated with humidifiers and dehumidifiers.
Humidity in the winter can help keep you healthier as well.
Super cold in Toronto today - sitting at -3F right now and with our commercial space, we aren't running humidification. This is good and bad when you're building instruments, in that the dry cold forces frets to sprout on tons of our necks/basses, allowing us to address the issue and make for smooth necks when they go out and maybe prevent sprout down the road. The bad is, well, fret sprout. It sucks. We're finishing up our NAMM basses now for shipping next week and probably half of them need attention.
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i have a small humidifier near the main furnace/AC return duct ... ad some moisture to the whole house ...
but ... i also make sure my un-finished necks are well oiled up ... helps seal in the woods natural moisture ...
for a very long time i use a variety of lemon oil type stuff ... but true ' lemon oil ' dries out to fast ...
the last few years i've been happily using ... " F-one oil " ... a cleaner/conditioner from Music Nomad ... all natural oils ( no lemon ) ...
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Nomad-MN105-Fretboard-Conditioner/dp/B006WPGZAG
but ... i also make sure my un-finished necks are well oiled up ... helps seal in the woods natural moisture ...
for a very long time i use a variety of lemon oil type stuff ... but true ' lemon oil ' dries out to fast ...
the last few years i've been happily using ... " F-one oil " ... a cleaner/conditioner from Music Nomad ... all natural oils ( no lemon ) ...
https://www.amazon.com/Music-Nomad-MN105-Fretboard-Conditioner/dp/B006WPGZAG
As an Amazon Associate, TalkBass may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via links on this site.
cool mist humidifiers are the way to go. i have two of the ones that are about $30 from amazon.
i keep them plugged into a hydrogometer outlet, aka they turn on and off automatically to getulate 45% humidity. this time of year i'm filling both 1 gallon tanks just about every day. (aka 2 gallons of water into the air a day to regular that humidity!)
definitely a good idea.
as an aside, i'm weary of the steam type humidifiers when left unattended. i had one stay hot after the tank emptied years ago, and nearly burnt down my old house. just an FYI, though i know many people use them succesfully, the cool mist works 100%.
i keep them plugged into a hydrogometer outlet, aka they turn on and off automatically to getulate 45% humidity. this time of year i'm filling both 1 gallon tanks just about every day. (aka 2 gallons of water into the air a day to regular that humidity!)
definitely a good idea.
as an aside, i'm weary of the steam type humidifiers when left unattended. i had one stay hot after the tank emptied years ago, and nearly burnt down my old house. just an FYI, though i know many people use them succesfully, the cool mist works 100%.
My neck relief on two of my basses jumped from .3mm to .5! I'm definitely looking at humidifiers, and maybe a dehumidifier for the summer (when our indoor humidity can reach 60% or more).
While I think this is important for box guitars, violin-family instruments, mandolins, etc., I think Bob Taylor turned this into a far bigger concern than it actually is. Techs will tell you they see the other end of this, guitars that have actually had problems as they're almost soggy.
I think as long as you don't leave guitars anywhere YOU would not be comfortable, hot cars in the summer or the 'I was too buzzed when I came home at 3AM and I left in the (10 degrees F) car overnight!' and a few other situations, for solid bodies it's not a real concern with modern instruments, save for dark wood fingerboards. Alembic leaves their ebony unfinished and suggests a lemon oil wipedown once or twice a year, which I think is a good idea for just about any fingerboard.
I think as long as you don't leave guitars anywhere YOU would not be comfortable, hot cars in the summer or the 'I was too buzzed when I came home at 3AM and I left in the (10 degrees F) car overnight!' and a few other situations, for solid bodies it's not a real concern with modern instruments, save for dark wood fingerboards. Alembic leaves their ebony unfinished and suggests a lemon oil wipedown once or twice a year, which I think is a good idea for just about any fingerboard.
Just put together a new Warmoth build. It's so dry right now that the neck is at the end of it's adjustment. It won't get any straighter and I'd really prefer just a tiny bit of less relief. Not worried about it though. I know once it warms up a bit the humidity will rise in my house.
I'd like to get a large humidifier but worried about cleaning, buying distilled water, etc.
I think I'll just buy a case and use some Planet Waves humidpaks. I have an acoustic guitar that I use those with. Only have to replace them about once a year and they keep the case around 40-45% all year round.
I'd like to get a large humidifier but worried about cleaning, buying distilled water, etc.
I think I'll just buy a case and use some Planet Waves humidpaks. I have an acoustic guitar that I use those with. Only have to replace them about once a year and they keep the case around 40-45% all year round.
weird, i'm in LA and my neck shifting usually comes with the higher humidity and intense heat, during this extremely dry spell i've had really good neck stability
Get a humidifier. keep basses in their cases. and also get a device to measure the humidity. I wouldn't keep your room closed up with humidifier inside. It will probably get too much humidity unless you get a humidifier that you can set to shut off at set levels.
Funny you mention about keeping them in cases...I used to always, but found I played them less often, so I got in the habit of leaving 1 or 2 out on a stand. How does the bass being in a case vs out in the same room, benefit here? Im just curious.
Living in Florida, I haven't had any major issues (at least, major to my playing abilities!)!- until the last few days...
We've had a few days of serious (to FL at least) cold snaps and I was a Big Dummy and left my bass (in gig bag) right beside the front door...
Add the obvious fact that our heating is strictly electric; not only does it suck the humidity out of the house, almost everything fabric has that "static snap". shirt off- cling-crackle-crackle-crackle! That's pretty dry (and something I hadn't had issue with since leaving Canada 5 years ago, save for a short time in KS).
So yup, you guessed it- neck has done a bit of a bow as a result. I can leave the instrument sitting around for a day after I've tuned and it'll be noticeably out to my ears; probably at 15-20 cents sharp or flat when I check it with my tuner (there is no pattern to this- I can tune it perfectly, and one day it will be sharp, next day flat or sharp again)...
Also, this weather makes the action shift JUST enough so that my strings (Rotos) don't get the zing I'm used to- I like my strings just at the point of buzz when you pluck/pick hard, but they quiet down with a lighter touch. Grit before the dirt, as I like to say...
We've had a few days of serious (to FL at least) cold snaps and I was a Big Dummy and left my bass (in gig bag) right beside the front door...
Add the obvious fact that our heating is strictly electric; not only does it suck the humidity out of the house, almost everything fabric has that "static snap". shirt off- cling-crackle-crackle-crackle! That's pretty dry (and something I hadn't had issue with since leaving Canada 5 years ago, save for a short time in KS).
So yup, you guessed it- neck has done a bit of a bow as a result. I can leave the instrument sitting around for a day after I've tuned and it'll be noticeably out to my ears; probably at 15-20 cents sharp or flat when I check it with my tuner (there is no pattern to this- I can tune it perfectly, and one day it will be sharp, next day flat or sharp again)...
Also, this weather makes the action shift JUST enough so that my strings (Rotos) don't get the zing I'm used to- I like my strings just at the point of buzz when you pluck/pick hard, but they quiet down with a lighter touch. Grit before the dirt, as I like to say...
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I live in largest northern city in North America and it is extremely dry here. I have a humidifier that is constantly running! Totally worth it.
Yeah, I'm in Syracuse - and have been filling my humidifier daily for several weeks now... It's been running pretty steady, but has kept my home in the 30-40% range, so it's doing it's job...
I never have to tweak necks during the winter, though the bass does have tuning issues after transported in a cold car. As little as 15 minutes is enough to throw it out of tune. It usually goes quite a bit flat (sometimes as much as a half step), so I tune it ASAP and then tune it again (it's usually sharp now) just before playing the first set.
All my BGs and DBs do this except my all-graphite Steinberger L2.
All my BGs and DBs do this except my all-graphite Steinberger L2.
