Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I live in the northeast and with winter bringing the humidity levels in our home fairly low, its raising havoc on my 4003 necks. What should the right humidity levels be percentage wise? Before I started running the humidifier it was 40% and now it is 50 percent which has calmed down neck reacion to the dryness.Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.....

50% is good. Actually, 45%~55% is the appropriate range, IMHO.
How do the necks react to low humidity?
I have to tighten my truss rods for a 1/4 turn when it gets wet and hot in the summer and back off in the winter when it's dry and cold, to maintain my neck relief.

Oh, welcome to the forum, Bill.

I live in Michigan and the humidity in my house goes way down in the winter even though I use a humidifier and it goes way up in the summer even though I have AC.

What does this do to a bass?

In the winter the wood shrinks but the metal doesn't ... so your frets can protrude from the edge of the neck and the truss rods will need to be tightened ... I like ric necks with binding because the binding covers the edge of the frets ...

In the summer the wood absorbs moisture and expands the rods then need to be loosened ...

For older 4001 models with the old truss rods I would just adjust the bridge height and not mess with the rods ...

45% is absolutely perfect as that translates to 6.5% moisture in the wood. However, it's preferable to err on the high humidity side than low as the dryness is what kills guitars. Even an entire summer of 75% RH days won't affect the guitar as much as one day of 20%.

Well keeping along these lines, what would you recommend for those who live in areas where the humidy can swing quite a bit season to season? Do those humidifiers I see that are supposed to be regulated actually work? My old roommate had one that just pumped out moisture, which caused some pretty nasty effects in the space he was in.

A Google search on "humidistat" brought up a zillion units available in all price ranges which would work fine to turn a basic device on and off. But even many small, self-contained humidifiers often have built-in humidistats.

The main thing is to have one of proper size such that it can put enough water in the air for the given cubic volume if you want it to have any useful purpose.

"For older 4001s with the old truss rods, adjust bridge height and leave the rods alone"

True, a case in point being my 1970 21 fret 4001.

For an average size room, I have found that you can purchase a humidifier with a humidistat for under $100. A reasonable price to pay for keeping an expensive instrument, or two, in a comfortable environment.

Kept in this environment, I find there is little requirment for much adjustment, string height being adequate, for the most part. Sergeo makes a very good point here.

When I play out in the winter, I make the sacrifice and take along an ol' clunker that can face the abuse of the enviroment, high winds, essentially no humidity, and -40 below Celsius. Alas, sadly, my Rickenbackers have to take a back seat in such weather.

I run 2 humidifiers in my house ... but that may not be enough ...

my old 1968 4001 that I used to have got its only truss rod adjustment in 1973 and was gigged a lot and stored in a house without AC or humidfiers and it was strung with rotosound strings ... and through all of that it never had another truss rod adjustment ... I just adjusted the bridge once in a while ... and through all of that it was fine ...

Living in the Southeastern U.S., we have pretty wide swings in humidity. Does it help to leave my guitar in the case all the time, or will it make that much difference?

Greg, I keep my basses in their cases all the time here in Fla. I try to keep the interior of the cases at around 50% humidity with the aid of small silica gel packets that I rotate between them. With the cold front here today it's only around 30%, but knowing Florida next week will probably be a different story....

I have to admit that adding 20% humidity to my music room has helped out the basses. These upstate NY winters are so dry. I am going to get a better humidifier with a stat. Like Peter said a small price to pay for keeping the guitars happy. You also had a good idea Ive been toying with. Buying a ol cluncker to take out on gigs in the winter. I would certainly miss that great Ric tone but it might be worth it when its -20 outside. Maybe a Geddy Lee Jazz or something.

Also Thanks to John Hall and all you others with all the great advise.

I wouldn't recommend the Geddy Lee in harsh weather. The necks are skinny and will likely warp easily. A P bass might be a better option, or better yet a Modulus.

Also, the GLs have their truss adjustment under the pickguard at the body, making adjustments a PITA.