PSA: control your humidity!!!!

[CryingBass]

Another learning thread for me. I think we all have different experiences in this regard. Different starting-points, different ending-points.

And yes, if I wanted to grow sprouts, I would start gardening!

Speaking of which...

 

[skygzr]

Y’all need to come down to Charleston. The Humidity Festival cranks up in May and runs through October.

 

[Thumpr]

Low desert of Socal is usually single digit to teens humidity until Santa Ana’s kick up. I really have no recourse other than care and feeding of finishes. My new (to me) am pro jazz came from Jackson MS and I’ve been watching it closely but the initial setup I did seems to be stable. That said the neck changed quite a bit from where they said it was at and it did need some love. I left it alone for a few days while it acclimated. Wood does not love the desert.

 

[Element Zero]

I suppose all the folks bragging that they never need to do a truss rod adjustment are keeping the humidity & temperature the same in their instrument storage space year-round.

Depends on the neck. I haven’t had to touch the truss rod on my ATK in 10 years. Solid as a rock.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

ATK & BTB necks are probably fine, but do you humidify?

My BTB300 had a neck like a Precision & was fine all Winter.

 

[Element Zero]

ATK & BTB necks are probably fine, but do you humidify?

Nope.

 

[Toolmybass]

All of my basses live in thier case with a humidifier and hygrometer. I keep them @ 49 percent, year round.

 

[Rojd]

I keep a music nomad humidifier and digital gauge in each of my cases. It's been working great.

 

[ErikP.Bass]

All of my basses live in thier case with a humidifier and hygrometer. I keep them @ 49 percent, year round.

Can you please share what you use? Does this treatment only work with a hard shell case?

 

[Fender_Bender]

Yeah, that's very similar to the ones I have, actually. Mine have 4 gallon capacity, which lasts about a day and a half. I agree on the heating element, also avoid ultrasonic "cold mist" humidifiers because of the "white dust" (hard well water here).

Interesting, that explains the white dust that started showing up about a year and a half ago when I switched to an ultrasonic because of the power savings vs conventional type.

 

[Curtbass]

Years ago had a roommate run a dehumidifier in the house .... came home to my Spector that the neck was now a ski ramp !! I was sick to my stomach .. Had it sent out to my repair shop and the truss rod broke ! BUT Stuart Spector took the bass and put a new truss rod in it - set it up like new and shipped it back to me for NOTHING! .... now THAT is customer service the bass never played or sounded so good so hats off to you Stuart and I’ve aleays played them since

Off topic but this pretty much sells me on Spector.

 

[Toolmybass]

Can you please share what you use? Does this treatment only work with a hard shell case?

This is how i make them, but only use distilled water. You get used to the amount you wring out/leave in to aquire desired %
As far as something other than a hard case?...the difference would soley rely on how the “case” holds air/allows in.

 

[GIBrat51]

I suppose all the folks bragging that they never need to do a truss rod adjustment are keeping the humidity & temperature the same in their instrument storage space year-round.

Nah... I just let the Mojave Desert do it for me. Humidity here varies from "stupid low" to "very low". Doesn't seem to have harmed any of them much; I've had a couple of them here for...27 years, now. And, a couple of them (hollow body bass and guitar) were here before I was... OTOH, there's no telling what might happen to them if they got moved to, say, Portland, Oregon all of a sudden. They might just swell up and explode...

 

[Blankandson]

Not having any issues but this post has brought up a question. My solid-body bass is made of three different woods all glued together. (Maple, Ovangkol, and Wenge) Do different woods react differently to hi/low humidity or temps? One wood pulling and another wood pushing at the same time? Just curious.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Do different woods react differently to hi/low humidity or temps?

Yes, & so does the direction of the grain pattern. Think of all the grain of wood as long straws. They dry out from the ends inward & depending on the way the grain lays it will pull in different directions.

 

[Thumpr]

Nah... I just let the Mojave Desert do it for me. Humidity here varies from "stupid low" to "very low". Doesn't seem to have harmed any of them much; I've had a couple of them here for...27 years, now. And, a couple of them (hollow body bass and guitar) were here before I was... OTOH, there's no telling what might happen to them if they got moved to, say, Portland, Oregon all of a sudden. They might just swell up and explode...

^This^
I wonder what would happen in the exact scenario. Potentially bad bad
I sent a guitar to my brother back in central IL during the summer a few years ago and it did not go well.

 

[Richard Martin]

I've never given humidity a thought and never had any of the problems that some of you describe. We generally have a good bit of humidity year round. Only occasionally in the winter does the humidity drop far enough to where you can get static electricity shocks from walking over a carpet and then touching something metal like a door knob. I only have trouble with neck stability on one guitar (I have a variety of guitars being basses and 6 strings, acoustic and electric) and that's a low end Squier bass. It seems to be a problem of rapid temperature changes affecting the intonation. It can go from nearly perfect intonation to wildy out if the temperature changes too fast, too far.

 

[Frndmoretti]

Where I live the temperature doesn't vary as much as in the US, for example (from 5 °C to 37 °C, normally), and there's never been any problem. It's never even been a topic of discussion between me and my friends.

Subtropical is nice.

 

[fauxtoe]

I suppose all the folks bragging that they never need to do a truss rod adjustment are keeping the humidity & temperature the same in their instrument storage space year-round.

Or have have basses with carbon fiber necks. Well most of them, anyways.

Every wood neck responds differently to temperature and humidity changes. Quartersawn necks, if I remember correctly, have the grain running perpendicular to the strings instead of with them. That makes quite a bit of difference with strength and other factors that can cause it to move.

 

[Mili]

I realized the real enemy is "Sudden Change" in every parameter. Temperature, humidity, speed.....