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Will 55 degrees hurt my basses?

Pokerdweebz

Pokerdweebz

Oct 26, 2012
355
56
Lancaster, PA
#1
Hey guys, the house I rent has oil heat which is ridiculously expensive for poor college kids. Because of this we keep the thermostat set at 62 which means the downstairs is usually a little below 60 and the upstairs is 55. The heat does not flow well so the downstairs always gets more heat than the upstairs (not that it makes much of a difference as cold as we keep it). My music room is upstairs and I have a thermometer in there that says it is usually between 54-57 degrees and about the same or a little less % humidity.

TLDR: Will keeping my music room at approx 55 degrees and approx 55% humidity all winter be bad for my basses and guitars?

If so what are some suggestions besides using more oil?
 
#3
I think it's more a question of humidity than temperature - more particularly drastic changes in humidity. I try to keep the humidity at my place around 45% in the winter. I'd be more worried about you than your basses at those temperatures! ;)
 
#5
bass12 said:
I think it's more a question of humidity than temperature - more particularly drastic changes in humidity. I try to keep the humidity at my place around 45% in the winter. I'd be more worried about you than your basses at those temperatures! ;)
Click to expand...
I at least try to save myself from freezing to death with a couple room space heaters if I am going to be in the same room for a long time. It usually helps out pretty well. Hopefully since we aren't using that much heat it won't suck all the moisture out of the air by the end of the winter. I'm sure it won't stay at 55% humidity all winter.
 
#13
I agree that you should be fine (other than stiff fingers, maybe). And yes, it's the changes in temp and humidity, that do the damage. Although, I wouldn't advise leaving your bass out in the back yard here in Vegas; it'll look like an old, abandoned miner's shack pretty quickly if you do.

Constant, drastic changes are what killed the finish on my '78 P-Bass. It's original owner was in a Combat Engineer unit with me, stationed in England. We went all over Europe and the Middle East on construction projects, and the bass always went with him. The constant changes in temperature/humidity (and air pressure, in the back of a military cargo plane) were eventually too much for it, and the move from England to Las Vegas was the final straw. The finish was beginning to come off when I bought it; the last change, from cold and damp to hot and dry, caused it to shed it's paint completely, like a snake. Every time it came out of it's case, it left BIG pieces of paint behind. Had to have it refinished (more like finished, really; there wasn't much paint left when I took it in to be fixed); that was 23 years ago, and it's been fine ever since.
 
#15
Yeah, it does. I don't play it too much any more, though. As I started buying other basses, I turned the Fender into a "specialist". It has the pickup cover and bridge cover/mute on it; sounds and plays like a P-bass did in the late '50s. And that's the kind of music I play with it. I rotate my basses out of my herd, 2 at a time every month, to play. It comes out about every 8 months, along with a Danelectro. I think it's due to come out to play next month, in fact.
 
#17
Pokerdweebz said:
Hey guys, the house I rent has oil heat which is ridiculously expensive for poor college kids. Because of this we keep the thermostat set at 62 which means the downstairs is usually a little below 60 and the upstairs is 55. The heat does not flow well so the downstairs always gets more heat than the upstairs (not that it makes much of a difference as cold as we keep it). My music room is upstairs and I have a thermometer in there that says it is usually between 54-57 degrees and about the same or a little less % humidity.

TLDR: Will keeping my music room at approx 55 degrees and approx 55% humidity all winter be bad for my basses and guitars?

If so what are some suggestions besides using more oil?
Click to expand...

Is this furnace a big horkin' thing with a wide, cylindrical base or is it forced air? If it's the big, weird looking thing, it's called a 'gravity' furnace, which uses the principle that warm air rises, so it isn't very efficient. You can get "helper" blowers for the ducts, but they need to be wired correctly, etc. The ducts should have a small level on each, for balancing the heat- if they're missing and you see new round ducting sections, someone removed them and they should be replaced. It's your landlord's responsibility to make sure the mechanicals are in good operating condition.

In fact, I would recommend discussing replacing the furnace- he gets the tac write-off, rebates and it increases the value of the house. You should be able to determine the fuel cost difference and work out a reasonable rent increase- he's paying for the furnace, you'll use less fuel with a new furnace.

WRT temperature for your bass(es), if you go to a place that's warm and dry, leave it in the case so it can acclimate slowly- fast temperature and humidity changes are the cause of most instrument damages and if you adjusted it to work in the 55 degree room, there's a good chance that you'll need to adjust it next time you go to a warmer room. I went to a local store on Saturday and they have a new Martin D42 hanging on the wall- it's tuned to pitch, but not a single string is above the frets because the neck is bowed so badly. Another problem caused by fast, drastic temperature/humidity changes is finish cracks- the finish is somewhat elastic, but it doesn't want to move quickly.
 

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