How Important Is Humidity For Vintage Instruments?

[Blue in VT]

Howdy all!!!

So I'm just starting down the slippery slope of getting into guitar repair and have purchased a couple of old Harmony's to work on first. One of them is a nice Soveriegn 1203...but it has some issues. The center seam on the top has seperated a little and there is a considerable dip at the end of the fretboard...in front of the sound hole. Fairly typically Dryness damage right? I guess I'm wondering if these "older" guitars ever stabilioze to the point where humidity is no longer a huge issue....I'm hopping that a couloe of days in a "humidity chamber" will do some good....I'll keep you updated.

Cheers,

Blue

[pariah223]

i am not an expert when it comes to humidity.. but my sense is that guitars will always be effected by humidity. I dont see any reason why an old guitar would be more immune to the effects of excessive dryness.. which is the problem you have. I recently posted about this and here is a great link to re-humidifying a guitar.. assuming its not beyond hope.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/contact/customerservice/ and go to videos there are a few humidity vids

[Blue in VT]

Thanks for the links...looks like some good info.

here are a couple of pics to illustrate my situation:

Over all shot...nice looking eh?

Fretboard dip:

Neck angle:

Center seam split:

Thanks for all the advice!

Blue

[pariah223]

yeah thats pretty severe... poor instrument, im not sure if that taylor trick will work here, but give it a shot!

[erikbojerik]

To answer the question YES - do everything in your power to minimize temperature and humidity changes when caring for vintage instruments.

@ your specific guitar - all that stuff is pretty typical for a cheaply made acoustic guitar with some years on it, even if you did keep it well humidified (maybe the only exception is that you don't have too much bridge lift going on). You're looking at a neck reset here in addition to re-joining and cleating the top's center seam.

Those photos make a good case for loosening the strings on your acoustic when its not being played every day.

[canoeroller]

Wood is always subject to humidity changes, unfinished wood, like you find inside a soundbox will absord and loose moisture at a faster rate then finished wood.

If you take a freshly cut board, and let it dry in an attic, testing it every day for a few months with a moisture meter, you are being rather anul. You will also see that the moisture content of the board will drop quickly the first couple of weeks, then level out somewhat, but continue to increase and decrease a percent or two with changes in humidity.

Even if you test a very old hunk of wood, you will see that it absords and looses moisture with changes in relative humidity. In addition to building guitars, I also like making primitive archery tackle, where moisture content is critical to the success of a project, and I am anul.

[Jeanguitar]

i am not an expert when it comes to humidity.. but my sense is that guitars will always be effected by humidity. I dont see any reason why an old guitar would be more immune to the effects of excessive dryness.. which is the problem you have. I recently posted about this and here is a great link to re-humidifying a guitar.. assuming its not beyond hope.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/contact/customerservice/ and go to videos there are a few humidity vids

I like the videos on humidity. Really they are awesome.

Thanks for that.

Jeanguitar

[Hector]

Howdy all!!!

So I'm just starting down the slippery slope of getting into guitar repair and have purchased a couple of old Harmony's to work on first. One of them is a nice Soveriegn 1203...but it has some issues. The center seam on the top has seperated a little and there is a considerable dip at the end of the fretboard...in front of the sound hole. Fairly typically Dryness damage right? I guess I'm wondering if these "older" guitars ever stabilioze to the point where humidity is no longer a huge issue....I'm hopping that a couloe of days in a "humidity chamber" will do some good....I'll keep you updated.

Cheers,

Blue

the crack on the top may be the result of low humidity, all the other stuff you mentioned is caused by the string tension.

and humidity will always be entering and leaving wood. no matter how old it is.

if you place the guitar in a moist place, the top crack may get its edges closer together, but it will not fix the problem. you need to fill this gap with a little strip of spruce.