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Double Bass humidity control
- Thread starter Beeboss
- Start date
Do a search here for dampits. My opinion is that you should stop using it and never use it again. Without going into the detail in the threads, this is my take:
1) A dampit, moistened so that it has any chance of helping, will drip in your bass.
2) A dampit is useless unless the bass is enclosed in a bag or case. Otherwise, you're effectively trying to humidify the room with it.
3) If you want to control humidity, then get a good evaporative humidifier and a good humidistat.
1) A dampit, moistened so that it has any chance of helping, will drip in your bass.
2) A dampit is useless unless the bass is enclosed in a bag or case. Otherwise, you're effectively trying to humidify the room with it.
3) If you want to control humidity, then get a good evaporative humidifier and a good humidistat.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
35% to 50% is optimal.
low humidity is harmful
Store the bass in a humidity controlled room.
What about high humidity? The room where I store my carved basses was at 80% last night. Is it time to buy a dehumidifier?
The killers are the extremes in temperature and humidity and rapid swings in those parameters. Conventional wisdom seems to be that the rapid swings are the most dangerous and that high humidity is less harmful than low humidity. My dehumidifier is my central AC. Between that and my humidifier, my bass remains happy. Of course, ply basses are far more impervious than are carved basses to changes in climate.
Rapid swings in temperature and high humidity are the order of the day in here next to the Mississippi River. It can literally be 60 one day and 90 the next Your instrument can sound beautiful one day, and awful the next after it inhales all that moisture.
Ric
Thanks for your replies everybody. I guess if the dampit is useless it makes no difference if I use it or not ;-)
I will have to look into getting more moisture into the room during the long British winter. Do any UK bass players out there try to humidify their rooms?
I will have to look into getting more moisture into the room during the long British winter. Do any UK bass players out there try to humidify their rooms?
Ah, but it does make a difference!
IMO, it is essentially useless (if not enclosed in a case/bag) and dangerous.Well it may be a little dangerous, but is it more dangerous than leaving the bass in a room with humidity less than 20% for 8 months and then having 50-60% humidity for a few months without doing anything at all?
The thing is in the uk controlling the humidity at the room level is virtually impossible (especially where I live, right by the sea) and out of the pro musicians I know I don't know any who even try.
Maybe if my bass was worth 20k I might be considering a full on industrial humidity controller but in the absence of this I need to try to find something to do to stop my bass cracking as badly as it did last winter. I am prepared to try the dampit for another year to at least see what happens, at least unless anyone has any better suggestions.
The thing is in the uk controlling the humidity at the room level is virtually impossible (especially where I live, right by the sea) and out of the pro musicians I know I don't know any who even try.
Maybe if my bass was worth 20k I might be considering a full on industrial humidity controller but in the absence of this I need to try to find something to do to stop my bass cracking as badly as it did last winter. I am prepared to try the dampit for another year to at least see what happens, at least unless anyone has any better suggestions.
First of all, IMO, it is more than a "little dangerous." Second, the question is not whether it is better than nothing at all. Actually, as I've explained, using it is pretty darn close to doing nothing at all unless the bass enclosed in a case or bag. I don't understand why you believe that, during the dry months, it's "virtually impossible" to control humidity in the room. A good tabletop or, even better, console evaporative humidifier can be extremely effective for humidifying a room. The room need not even be kept closed, although it's more effective if it's kept that way. As for what "pro musicians" do, when it comes to care of their instruments, I've seen pros do some inadvisable things.
You don't need an industrial humidifier or an industrial control. If you really feel the need to do something effective to protect your bass, then perhaps you should take the good advice offered in response to your question. If you are fighting 20% RH, then using a dampit without enclosing the bass in a case or bag is tantamount to doing absolutely nothing except increasing the potential for damage via dripping. Even enclosing it with a dampit will likely not do the trick (then there's the dripping again).
So, someone has a better suggestion and it was given to you. As for high levels of humidity, those will ramp up gradually and, as you describe, persist for a few months. Levels of 50-60% RH, reached gradually and held relatively constant are unlikely to damage your bass.
So, in the end, you posted that you're using a dampit and asked for suggestions. You got a suggestion based on some well-established principles and experience (read the other threads on this topic if you wish to evaluate that statement). Then, despite all of that, you decided to simply continue doing what you planned. Hey, it's your bass. It's just not clear why, if you're already so knowledgeable, you asked in the first place. No skin off my back if your problem isn't solved and I certainly don't get financial kick-backs based on worldwide humidifier sales.
My motivation is to help you solve your problem.One more time: A dampit in a bass left open to the room does essentially nothing for humidity control. It is likely to damage your bass. Forewarned is forearmed. Do as you wish. Oh, and beware of experiments with small "n." If you use a dampit and your bass doesn't crack this year, you won't really have evidence that the dampit worked. That's the nice thing about TB. You can get advice based on years of experience with different methods. Most people seem to take it. I know I have!
Thanks for your reply, I do appreciate it.
I am hoping you are right, but I am a bit dubious. The reason I am dubious is not that I doubt your expertise but just that I know a lot of people with expensive instruments and none has an humidifier, and this despite the rather extreme swings in humidity that we have here in the uk. There is likely to be a reason for this, and I suspect the reason is that a small/medium size humidifier will make no appreciable difference in the British conditions, and a really big and serious humidifier will cost an arm and a leg to buy and run. My piano tuner, for instance, said that it is impossible to even out the humidity over the different seasons by any beneficial amount and that I would be wasting my money even trying. Even so I am prepared to buy a humidifier if I hear from anyone who has had at least some success at measurably increasing the humidity in the British winter. Especially as there doesn't appear to be anything that I can do that will help.
I am hoping you are right, but I am a bit dubious. The reason I am dubious is not that I doubt your expertise but just that I know a lot of people with expensive instruments and none has an humidifier, and this despite the rather extreme swings in humidity that we have here in the uk. There is likely to be a reason for this, and I suspect the reason is that a small/medium size humidifier will make no appreciable difference in the British conditions, and a really big and serious humidifier will cost an arm and a leg to buy and run. My piano tuner, for instance, said that it is impossible to even out the humidity over the different seasons by any beneficial amount and that I would be wasting my money even trying. Even so I am prepared to buy a humidifier if I hear from anyone who has had at least some success at measurably increasing the humidity in the British winter. Especially as there doesn't appear to be anything that I can do that will help.
I still think you're missing something. You don't need to even out the extreme swings over the year. As I mentioned, during the months of high humidity, you really don't have to do anything but let the bass naturally acclimate to the gradual change.
Let's focus on the months in which the humidity is 20%. It doesn't matter whether you're in the UK, the USA, Canada, Germany, etc. There's nothing special about 20% RH in the UK. In a reasonably sized, semi-enclosed room, an evaporative humidifier will be effective. Physics takes no account of borders.
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
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- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
I still think you're missing something. You don't need to even out the extreme swings over the year. As I mentioned, during the months of high humidity, you really don't have to do anything but let the bass naturally acclimate to the gradual change.
Let's focus on the months in which the humidity is 20%. It doesn't matter whether you're in the UK, the USA, Canada, Germany, etc. There's nothing special about 20% RH in the UK. In a reasonably sized, semi-enclosed room, an evaporative humidifier will be effective. Physics takes no account of borders.
+1 A small humidifier is absolutely necessary to protect your instruments in the dry periods and a dehumidifier or air conditioner is useful when its really humid, too.
Any luthier will have these devices in the shop to keep wooden parts at the right size while they are being re-assembled.
Jake, what would you consider "really humid?" The unfinished basement where I keep the carved basses has been at around 75-80% since the weather down here jumped into summer with both feet. The humidity has swollen the doorjambs, and the basses are certainly in the same boat. The last thing I need right now is a costly repair.
Yeah, I'm thinking along those lines. Just curious to know what the tolerances are, i.e. 40% on the low end, XX% on the high end...
In these hot summer months, my bass is kept in an air conditioned room. Since the AC reduces the humidity in the room, would it be advisable to use a small cool mist room humidifier in the corner next to where I store my good bass?
Jake deVilliers
Commercial User
- May 24, 2006
- 6,349
- 607
- Disclosures
- Owner of The Bass Spa, String Repairman at Long & McQuade Vancouver
Wooden instruments seem to survive okay anywhere from 20% to 90% RH. That's not to say that those extremes are ideal, just that they'll survive them.
Most of my guitars and basses sound better at 30-40% RH than at 60-80% and if I'm fitting joints or plates it needs to be around 45% so that the parts can adjust either way.
If it was my basement, I'd use a dehumidifier or air conditioner to draw that down a little to keep mould from growing on the hide glue inside. The growth of a solid spruce top plate is pretty formidable and it can stress the glue joints.
Dave, I'd recommend a good hygrometer like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Temperature-T...&sr=8-5&keywords=honeywell+digital+hygrometer
If you have a reliable data source you can make a better decision.
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Any time the relative humidity exceeds 60% indoors you run the risk of promoting mold growth. In my basement I have a dehumidifier that supplements the air conditioning because it's often below the temperature that the thermostat is set at, but the humidity can be over 75%. I try to keep the area below 60% in the summer. I have a whole house humidifier that keeps the humidity over 30% in the winter.
