Severe Dryness at Guitar Center

[Omega Monkey]

Seriously?!?!? Well. I mean if it's serious. Surely I should heed such demands!

Lighten up bro.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Seriously?!?!? Well. I mean if it's serious. Surely I should heed such demands!

Lighten up bro.

Just don't put words in my mouth. Easy.

 

[Omega Monkey]

So easy I already didn't do it!

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Click

 

[Omega Monkey]

Sorry, didn't mean to upset the super cool master of the thread by taking his words at face value and then subtly mocking them. I guess he'll never see my tear stained heartfelt apology that I'm not making. Oh well.

 

[electracoyote]

I started doing it about a year ago & right away I noticed that it seemed warmer when the humidity was up around 50%, as opposed to below 35%.
That was enough benefit for me to buy into it, because running my heat at a lower setting more than makes up for the electricity the humidifier uses.

Yeah, I have a humidifier attached to my central heating, but it only gets the humidity up a little bit in the entire house during the winter. I guess I meant to say I don't store them in a specially humidified room or put humidors in the cases of my guitars.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I probably should have added the whole house humidifier when we had out new furnace put in. Not for instruments, but so I don't wake up in the morning with dry mouth. I'm ready for summer.

 

[Iridescentone]

I expected the clerk to do exactly what he did. Give a mindless, almost unintelligible answer.

Some of the instruments ARE damaged. Your saying they aren't makes absolutely no difference. The shrinking and expanding of wood can cause damage to the bindings, and the finish. It could contribute to warp. It can cause glue joints to come apart. They can crack. Just because some instruments are NOT damaged doesn't make a tiny bit of difference to the fact that some instruments ARE damaged.

As for your instruments surviving for hundreds or thousands of years, a small MINORITY of instruments that are of that age are still playable and undamaged. The much larger MAJORITY of them were destroyed.

Here's Gibson's official take on this:

The most important consideration is keeping your guitar safe during the summer in very low or high humidity. Low humidity is the biggest enemy of guitars, especially acoustics. If you’re touring, be aware of the relative humidity or RH levels of the regions you’re playing. In the U.S. the Rocky Mountain area, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada and Arizona all have very low relative humidity year ’round, which, when combined with high heat, can be extremely rough on acoustic guitar tops, side and backs, and all guitar necks, causing a host of problems, but primarily cracking and warping, and, with prolonged dryness, a susceptibility to fractures.

High humidity is especially rough on solid-body guitars. States with high RH ratings in the summer, like Florida, Louisiana and Alabama — as well as, thanks to climate change, locations along the Eastern Seaboard — are the major trouble spots. Small bags of silica gel placed within guitar cases will help. But the best solution is to keep your guitars in a temperature-controlled environment, like an air conditioned home, hotel room or vehicle, as much as possible.
Too much humidity can cause the tops of solid body guitars to swell, creating high action, and can alter an instrument’s tone. If the swelling is allowed to continue unabated, the binding and glue joints can separate from the guitar’s body. Watch for any slight warping on your six-string’s surfaces. If you notice warped spots, get the guitar to a safe environment or, if swelling doesn’t cease, consult a luthier as soon as possible.

I realize you take a lot of pleasure in thinking I'm an idiot, but I most certainly am not. Martin also agrees.

Fret sprout may be common, but it is a symptom of potentially bigger problems. When you have an entire wall full of wooden instruments, and forced air heat, you are asking for trouble. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?????

I love how Gibson attributes high humidity conditions on the Eastern Seaboard to "climate change", apparently oblivious to the fact that the Eastern Seaboard is located.....wait for it....right next to the Atlantic Ocean. lol

 

[guy n. cognito]

I'd sure not want to have my frets re-dressed every January.

That's not the way it works. One time usually fixes the issue.

I think the point has been totally missed by most of you.
You're paying for a quality instrument, made by a reputable company. It is a used instrument by any definition (yes, it is remove from packing, hung on a wall and played by who knows how many people), and you still pay new price (maybe a slight discount because the wiggle room is built into the pricing).
You're perfectly happy to have to make repairs to it because the dealer neglects proper care of this investment built to last a lifetime, and likely generations. I'm not talking a setup to get it to your comfort specifications. I'm reiterating negligence!
When you buy a car from a dealer, do you notice the loose bolts and think "That's ok, I have wrenches and sockets, I'll just tighten them up when I get it home", or smudges and scratches that you can just buff out?
And the Walmart reference is just ludicrous. Nothing there is made to last, to be a lifetime investment.

Vastly over dramatic...... Akin to screaming negligence! if the tires of a car in January aren't filled to the specified pressure range due to temperature shift. And I won't even touch the "if it's displayed, it's used" argument as that been claimed and refuted many times on these forums over the years.

 

[MicRidley]

Seriously though, its better 'not' to have fret sprout than to have it.

 

[Hounddog409]

I think the point has been totally missed by most of you.
You're paying for a quality instrument, made by a reputable company. It is a used instrument by any definition (yes, it is remove from packing, hung on a wall and played by who knows how many people), and you still pay new price (maybe a slight discount because the wiggle room is built into the pricing).
You're perfectly happy to have to make repairs to it because the dealer neglects proper care of this investment built to last a lifetime, and likely generations. I'm not talking a setup to get it to your comfort specifications. I'm reiterating negligence!
When you buy a car from a dealer, do you notice the loose bolts and think "That's ok, I have wrenches and sockets, I'll just tighten them up when I get it home", or smudges and scratches that you can just buff out?
And the Walmart reference is just ludicrous. Nothing there is made to last, to be a lifetime investment.

so no one buys new cars as well? I mean by definition they are unwrapped and parked in the lot and test driven, sat in, etc by many.

 

[elgecko]