hot and humid. best way to take care of guitars

[boof]

Today it became summer here in Tokyo. (and on my birthday of course) It gets humid here in a real bad way and today was the first day that the humidity really kicked in. Of the 4 guitars I have I keep them in a rack stand on the side of my desk *not in a case* in a closed room with the air con on at 25C when I'm home and I keep it on while I am at work at 27C. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips or tricks for the best way to maintain and store your guitars in a humid climate?

 

[realityescapes]

If its humid its definetly better to keep them in there case. Also you can get a de-humidifier at a hardware or department store. Should keep them happy .

 

[eecamichael]

Here is the answer I got from PRS when I asked...

Hi Michael,



Thank you for writing to Paul Reed Smith Guitars. We keep the factory temperature at 74 degrees and the humidity level between 40 – 45%. We find these conditions to be optimal and recommend storing your PRS guitars in a similar environment.



Thank you for your continued support of Paul Reed Smith Guitars. I hope you find this information helpful.



Shawn Nuthall

Paul Reed Smith Guitars

Mgr. Customer Support

380 Log Canoe Circle

Stevensville, MD 21666

410-643-9970

 

[rsm]

Actually guitars prefer more humidity especially acoustic guitars. Most guitar manufacturers keep the shop humidity up.

Acoustics are much more susceptible to a lack of humidity than electrics. (notice how all the good guitar stores have a humidifier in the acoustic section).

Not just acoustics. Hollow body and semi-hollow bodies need humidity. I keep my guitars cleaned and in their cases when not being used. I have mostly hollow/semi-hollow bodies, Rickenbacker (most all my guitars are Rics) recommends 35-40% humidity as ideal with a temperature around 70 F. I keep my practice room at around 45% humidity, but that is tough in winter. The other thing is to avoid quick drastic changes, like 70F to 32F or 40% humidity to 20% or 80%, etc.

 

[boof]

All,

thanks for the feedback. I also looked up some info on this as well. In a but shell I read that the general idea is:

1. Keep the relative humidity to around 45% give or take 5%
2. Keep the temperature around 70 to 75 F
3. avoid rapid temp changes of more than 20 degrees an hour.

some various links.
http://www.daddario.com/Resources/JDCDA ... rature.pdf
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/aco ... ired/19033
http://www.schneiderguitars.com/guitar_care.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygrometer