Double Bass Portable/Battery humidifier

[bassmastan]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a small portable and/or battery operated humidifier for my bass locker at school. There aren't any plugs, just an old school wooden bass locker.

I am nervous about Dampit use, because of the horror stories I've heard and of the high mold removal bills, however I understand that if used correctly can work fine.

I'm willing to spend a little more money to just "do it right", having purchased a hygrometer and air sponge (i was worried about others in the studio who carelessly humidify with dripping dampits)

Let me know what you think!

 

[MostlyBass]

What about something simple like a large sponge on a plate? In the winter I use a nasal spray mister... A few puffs in the f hole. No dripping.

 

[bassmastan]

Seems like a good idea, just worried about direct water on the bass. I don't want the condensation dripping. I don't have experience with the nasal sprayer

 

[MostlyBass]

With a sponge or mister there's no direct water. The mist is very fine. Place a damp sponge or two on the floor of the locker. I've had those types of lockers at two different colleges and there's plenty of space.

 

[bassmastan]

I'll give it a try, with the sponge/mister, case or no case?

 

[MostlyBass]

Probably no case

 

[bassmastan]

Works for me I'll give it a shot! Thank you so much!

 

[MostlyBass]

No problem!

 

[kdrabbit]

The best homemade humidifier that I used for many, many years was a sponge in a plastic travel soap holder that had a few holes punched in it and then I kept the bass in it's case/bag and put the soap holder in there with it. Or I would also put it in the travel hard case as well. That worked for my bass, I also used it with other instruments (guitars, cellos, violins, etc.). Worked great, never had any problems with humid/dry-related issues with any of my instruments over many, many years.

 

[bassmastan]

was the sponge damp, or saturated?

 

[kdrabbit]

Saturate the sponge just enough to be a little wetter than damp, but not enough to squeeze drops out of it. Where I lived at the time, humidity was generally 30% or less, so typically had to re-wet the sponge about once/week or every couple weeks.

 

[kdrabbit]

Soap holder: Coghlan's Soap Holder from REI, $4.95
Sponge: 3M O-Cel-O sponge, 4/pack for $1.58

For less than about $25, I made enough of these to fit in the cases of about 5 or 6 instruments in my collection.