Humidity matters
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 5:35 pm
So: I have a guitar on my workbench, a new build, and I notice that, behind the bridge, the top is no longer domed or even flat. It was braced with 40' radius top braces.
I keep the shop at 40%-50% humidity according to my digital hygrometer.
I brought the hygrometer in the house and did the following test:
1. Got together a bottle cap from a large Pepse, some table salt, water, and a ziploc bag.
2. filled the cap with salt, and added a few drops of water to make a slurry, not enough to dissolve the salt.
3. put the cap and the hygrometer into the ziploc and sealed it, leaving some air in there so that the bag did not block the hygrometer.
4. Left it for 6 hours.
Repeated because I could not believe it.
But in fact, whereas the test should result in exactly a 75% humidity in the ziploc, my hygrometer reads -
55%. In both tests.
So, I built this guitar in perhaps 70% humidity without knowing it.
I don't really have a question here, but thought I'd share.
I keep the shop at 40%-50% humidity according to my digital hygrometer.
I brought the hygrometer in the house and did the following test:
1. Got together a bottle cap from a large Pepse, some table salt, water, and a ziploc bag.
2. filled the cap with salt, and added a few drops of water to make a slurry, not enough to dissolve the salt.
3. put the cap and the hygrometer into the ziploc and sealed it, leaving some air in there so that the bag did not block the hygrometer.
4. Left it for 6 hours.
Repeated because I could not believe it.
But in fact, whereas the test should result in exactly a 75% humidity in the ziploc, my hygrometer reads -
55%. In both tests.
So, I built this guitar in perhaps 70% humidity without knowing it.
I don't really have a question here, but thought I'd share.