My bass lives in my basement which has fairly ideal humidity year round, but back in college Damp-its and the seam repair kit were the fashion of the day. I just got an email ad from Strings By Mail advertising a sale on a D’Addario guitar humidifier thing which uses the Boveda humidity packs, which lit a lightbulb over my head. I also have a Rosin Saver that has a teeny tiny Boveda pack to maintain humidity. So my question is “Is anyone using a larger Boveda pack or similar hanging inside an F hole as an alternative to Damp-its and such.” For those that aren’t familiar Boveda is the brand name, like Kleenex, but they started as humidor packs, they somehow both add and remove humidity to a very specific percentage specified on the pack. Seems like a far superior solution to Damp-it’s. They seem to sell acoustic guitar sized packs maybe one in each F hole? Just brainstorming here.
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Double Bass Humidification
- Thread starter BassFalcon
- Start date
*just realized after re-reading I mentioned a lot of brand names. Just as a disclaimer; I’m affiliated with no one, I’m not selling anything, no one sponsors me, etc. etc. just thought those types of humidity packs may be an ideal solution for what most of us face in the winter.
I imagine these critters would work OK if the bass is enclosed in it's case, or in storage (in a nearly air-tight environment).
But if the bass is out of it's case... they're going to be trying to humidify the entire room? no?
Barrie Kolstein talks about this a bit:
On the Question of Humidification - Kolstein Music
Another factor of humidification is that it works like a bathtub. In a bath tub, it doesn’t fill from one end to the top of the tub and over, but rather the entire tub must fill at the same rate. Humidity is like that as well. For one part of the room to have a consistent amount of humidity, perhaps fifty percent, the entire room must be that as well. The point is that for one of these internal humidifying devices (even if it was not a hazard to the structure of the Bass) to work efficiently, it would have to maintain the rooms overall humidity, which is not a possibility. In other words, whatever humidity is being emitted from one of these humidifying devices, most of that humidity is being absorbed by the environment of the room itself. Thus, a false sense of security exists that these devices are adequately protecting the Bass.
I do like the video above advice about not overdoing humidity in the winter. 35-ish percent instead of 50%. But it depends upon how much your bass travels during the winter as well.
But if the bass is out of it's case... they're going to be trying to humidify the entire room? no?
Barrie Kolstein talks about this a bit:
On the Question of Humidification - Kolstein Music
Another factor of humidification is that it works like a bathtub. In a bath tub, it doesn’t fill from one end to the top of the tub and over, but rather the entire tub must fill at the same rate. Humidity is like that as well. For one part of the room to have a consistent amount of humidity, perhaps fifty percent, the entire room must be that as well. The point is that for one of these internal humidifying devices (even if it was not a hazard to the structure of the Bass) to work efficiently, it would have to maintain the rooms overall humidity, which is not a possibility. In other words, whatever humidity is being emitted from one of these humidifying devices, most of that humidity is being absorbed by the environment of the room itself. Thus, a false sense of security exists that these devices are adequately protecting the Bass.
I do like the video above advice about not overdoing humidity in the winter. 35-ish percent instead of 50%. But it depends upon how much your bass travels during the winter as well.
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Yes. Boveda > Damp-it
I use a room humidifier also, but Bovedas in every case
I use a room humidifier also, but Bovedas in every case
Me too. I have a really nice humidifier that maintains humidity in a range. Usually it can keep up on its own, but if the air gets really dry I have to close the door to the room my bass lives in. However, I also keep my bass in its case when I'm not playing, and I have Boveda packs in the case. I don't hang them into the bass like Nick Lloyd suggests, but I drape them over the afterlengths if I'm concerned about humidity.
I also have one of the handheld hygrometers that Nick recommends, and I find that it was a good investment.
