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Cold Temperatures & My Rick 12
Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:32 pm
by drumbob
The thermostat has been broken for a couple of weeks in my basement and it's been cold. Last night on the gig, my 330-12 was being temperamental as far as maintaining tuning. I couldn't keep it tuned and had trouble getting in tune in the first place. Could it have been negatively affected by the cold weather? I'm having the thermostat replaced this week. I usually keep my guitars at around 65 degrees in winter.
Re: Cold Temperatures & My Rick 12
Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:37 pm
by tennis_nick
drumbob wrote:The thermostat has been broken for a couple of weeks in my basement and it's been cold. Last night on the gig, my 330-12 was being temperamental as far as maintaining tuning. I couldn't keep it tuned and had trouble getting in tune in the first place. Could it have been negatively affected by the cold weather? I'm having the thermostat replaced this week. I usually keep my guitars at around 65 degrees in winter.
Maybe, I find my guitars go out of tune a lot when they're in my room, because the temperature varies a lot, from very hot in the morning, to very cool all afternoon, and back again.
Re: Cold Temperatures & My Rick 12
Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:24 pm
by Janglyman
Bob,
I feel your pain. I have an '88 360-12 that I used on a gig 12/20 in Chicago. You are correct. Ricky's are notoriously temperature sensitive. I assume yours was out of the case. However, at 65 degrees you should be okay. The guitar can adjust to gradual temp changes. The real problem is humidity. Cold winter air is dry and can cause necks to shrink or bow (check yours) and can be responsible for tuning and intonation problems. A furnace humidifier is helpful, but again, you don't want to expose your guitar to too much moisture.
Sometimes, the temperature changes from cold to hot from playing will cause the strings to go out of tune. That's what happened to me.
But Rics are resilient and a minor adjustment is probably all that's needed.
Janglyman