KSB - Ken Smith said:
Run both a Humidifier and dehumidifier all year long. If the humidity is over 60% and then drops to 20%, this is where the trouble starts. With a de-humidifier you can take out moisture and maintain it at maybe 45% tops and the humidifier set at maybe 35%. With doors and windows opening and closing, your Bass is in no way protected by a bubble. I wouldn't try to pamper it too much because when you take the Bass out to play, ALL bets are off!
Yeah, you are one funny guy. Sure, operate a humidifier and a de-humidifier at the same time. Just in case you were not kidding, here's the plan I actually follow and I've become quite expert at this. During the winter and spring, I run an evaporative humidifier in the room where the bass lives. During the winter, this is supplemented by a central heating, whole-house humidifier. I am able to maintain the humidity in the mid-40% range quite nicely. There's certainly no need for a de-humidifier in the winter and spring! During the summer, the central A/C in my home does a fine job keeping the humidity just where I want it.
There is no season or condition or circumstance where I have found it necessary to have a humidifier set to the lower bound and a dehumidifier set at the upper bound simultaneously. In the winter and spring, I'm always trying to add humidity. In the summer, I'm trying to reduce it. In the interim, nature takes care of it.
With doors opeining and closing, my bass IS protected by a nice bubble, thank you! Even though the room where the bass lives is open to the rest of the house, my evaporative humidifier easily maintains 45+% humidity even during this season where the rest of the house is sitting in the low to mid 30% range.
As far as "pampering" goes, I have only once had to acclimatize my bass for a gig. That was last summer and I had an outdoor gig. I cracked the windows in the room with the bass and slowly let the humidity rise. All went well.
Now, in almost all cases when I take the bass out, all bets are NOT off. Putting the bass in my thickly padded case ensures that changes in temperature/humidity are quite gradual. In the dead of winter, I'll occasionally throw in a very well wrung out damp-it (in general I hate them). I've never had a problem. Yes, I realize that had I not done any of this, I may still not have had a problem. Then again, it is cheap insurance and it makes sense to control humidity.
