English chaps (and chapettes)

The Big Kahuna

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What is our overall humidity considered to be for the purposes of looking after a solid Uke' ?
 
Not sure on the numbers, but so long as you don't stick a uke next to a radiator in the uk I'd be amazed if you needed to check on humidity.

I have had ukes and solid guitars for 30 years and never had an issue. Always keep in a case, out of sunlight and away from central heating. We have a spare room in which heating is turned pretty much all the way down.nall my instruments live in there.
 
Cheers. Pretty much the same as I've always done with my instruments. Now all I need to do is keep my dogs away from it.
 
I've more of a background in the double bass and when I was studying this was a hotly debated subject in class and at festivals. In the UK as bazmaz says it's really not a problem if you're careful where you store your instrument. Where I studied, they had a fine collection of instruments that ranged into the hundred's of thousands of pounds and none of them were in a humidity controlled environment or sported humidifiers. The hotter weather can be a worry but really it's more your central heating that will be the killer which means you should be more careful in the winter months and obviously when going from cold to hot environments with a sudden change - but that's another topic. I keep all my instruments in one room and at my piano technician's advice I keep a bowl of water under the piano which I'm not exactly enthralled with, but it gives the dog something to drink when she's taking a break at barking at the pedals! :-s
 
Unfortunately, the bowl of water isn't an option for me. The St Bernard can turn a gallon of water into egg white in 15 seconds.
 
That's when he can be bothered to get off his sofa...

george.jpg

The combined weight of him & our Pyrenean Mountain Dog is 320lbs. Not a great environment for playing Ukulele unless you want to turn your instrument into a folding Uke'

I'm going to have to be very careful where I put it down.
 
That's one big dorgie. Gorgeous though - I particularly like the burlesque style pose. We've a Border Terrier ourselves. Smaller dog. Still a big handful though.

You could understand how they might fancy a bit of a 'shred' on a uke!
 
oh i forgot to mention, i was advbised no need to use humidifer, i have economy 7 stoage brick heaters, luckily i havent had to or can offord to run them lol, i just keep my ukes in there cases and away from sunlight :)
 
Back to the original question if I may. I believe 50% humidity at 60 degrees F (15.5 celsius) is the proper number.
 
So low humidity = bad. High humidity = good (or maybe less bad) ? When talking about Ukes, that is.

well actually too much or too little is bad. Too much for too long and the wood will swell and glue seams can separate, not enough and the wood will start to dry out which will lead to cracks and also glue drying out and separating. 50% is the defacto standard. Also temp has a big factor so hence the average number. This applies to all solid wood instuments. anything made with laminates are more robust. But you already knew that! :)
 
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