Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hey! That looks like my spare room, my office, my dining room, and my bathroom.. Well, maybe not the bathroom yet.

Waiting for the humidity-control equipment, eh Don?

You got that right Gary. Maybe we can have rooms built like Mr Freeze and control the climate with a touch of a button.

John, are you sure that is not a pic of a small shop's back room?

One thing that no one's mentioned is whether to loosen the strings when a guitar is stored and not played for a length of time. I like to loosen them to keep the neck from having tension on it all the time, since I don't have a climate-controlled storage area! Opinions?

I read a quote straight from John Hall recently that said to keep tension on the neck at all times - including when the guitar is being shipped or stored. The neck is designed to have tension on it and the loosening/tightening will make the neck "rubbery".

Really?? I've never heard that. Interesting. I wonder if that applies even when moving to different climates. In the last year, I moved from a relatively damp environment to a pretty dry one.

JH has posted that several times on the company forums, and IIRC here also, but don't hold me to that one. I would think if the instrument is moved over a short time span through extremes like that, it would be wise to keep an eye on it for a few days.

I recall a conversation that ultra dry environs is really bad for wood guitars. Too dry is worse than to damp. If you can, humidify to around 50% relative humidity if you're in the arid climes.

You are absolutely correct Paul, although the ideal is closer to about 35%, which translates to about 6.5% moisture content in the wood. Keep 'em tuned up at pitch at all times and err on the side of too much humidity.

We had quite a few extremely dry days earlier this year in SoCal. I was concerned to take any of my basses out their cases that were in a closet that I tried to keep the humidity up in.

Like above I always thought to keep the strings tightened and to take out the guitars once in a while to make them breathe. I too don't have a climate controlled room and I almost screwed up a Custom Shop Strat because of it. The neck was so bad that I had to have it heat pressed to straighten it out again.

There are too many Johns here (no joke intended) but to the John with about 50 guitars stacked up and to all of you, I have a funny story. If I’ve mentioned this before, please stop me.

My wife was giving a tour of our house to a couple of our friends. They eventually came up to my studio and saw several guitars lying around and in cases. One of the friends said to my wife, “It’s very nice of Mark to let the other fellows in his band keep all of their instruments here.”

Well I've built my cupboard for the guitars and they've all been extracted from under the beds and in one place.

Considering the tone of the above posts and the fact that we look like being in for a long hot dry summer over here, are there some simple ways to keep the humidity up in a room. Apart from occasionally putting the garden sprinkler on in the middle of the room (thought I'd get in first with this one)

Also, is there such a thing as a cheap device to measure relative humidity. A Google search found plenty in the $200 - $300 range, but is this overkill?

You can get a humidity guage that looks similar to a temp. guage(looks like a clock/round face) at most hardware stores, around $25.00 for a good one. Also, if you live in a very dry climate like Arizona, invest in some humidifies for your guitar cases, or get some very small soft plastic containers, poke 1/8 inch holes in the lid, slice a potato that will fit in the container(about 1/4 will do) place inside the case and you have a humidifier. You can also use a small sponge instead of a potato.