Storing Ukuleles Indoors During Winter

byjimini

byjimini

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I'm in the UK and last night the outside temperature dropped to 1C; not a problem when you have the heating on, except when I go to sleep and have the heating turn off.

My ukes are on a Hercules display stand, should I put putting rugs over the stand, or storing the instruments in their cases? Or am I worrying about nothing.
 
Temperature isn't really the issue, it's low humidity. Do you have any idea of the ambient humidity there in your house? If not, you should get a humidistat...a reasonably accurate one. If your humidity is much below about 30%, you should either get a room humidifier and try to keep the place at 45% or so, or else keep the ukes in a closet or cabinet that is humidified or in hardshell cases with humidifiers.
 
Just keep an eye on it. Humidity can drop precipitously when there's no rain, it's cold, and you heat the place, and it's the fast drops that really stress wood.
 
One mistake people often make about humidity is assuming that the indoor humidity where they keep their ukuleles is the same as the outdoor humidity where they live. I live in San Francisco, and in normal winters, it rains a lot and the outdoor humidity is high when it rains (although it drops a lot when it's dry). However, the heating in my apartment dries out the indoor air, so it's dry indoors even when it's humid outside. That's one reason why, as Rick said, it's important to have a device that measures indoor humidity.
 
Does anyone have a recommendation or link to a reasonably accurate humidistat for measuring room humidity?

Not case humidity, but for a whole room...

I see analog-dial type ones from Herco, and digital units from other makers, priced anywhere from $19 to $69, but am not sure if the more expensive units are really any better than the cheaper ones...

please advise - THANKS :)
 
Booli said:
Does anyone have a recommendation or link to a reasonably accurate humidistat for measuring room humidity?

Not case humidity, but for a whole room...

I see analog-dial type ones from Herco, and digital units from other makers, priced anywhere from $19 to $69, but am not sure if the more expensive units are really any better than the cheaper ones...

please advise - THANKS :)
Click to expand...

Check out my calibration hygrometer thread here if you haven't already - I just picked up a caliber IV which by my research is the most accurate one of the cheaper more common consumer models.

Someone on a guitar forum measured its accuracy at different RH points and found it to be pretty spot on. In the same thread I also link to David Burgess who sells a calibrated Caliber IV.

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?102280-Calibrating-a-hygrometer
 
Google the word. Both seem to be acceptable, though "humidistat" is more often used when the device is connected to a switch that triggers a device to either raise or lower humidity.
 
Yeah, like the difference between "thermometer" and "thermostat." Hygrometer measures, humidistat controls.
 
If the room gets cool at night, make sure that the case is stored out of direct morning sunlight. Those black cases are solar collectors and rapid temp changes (especially in lower humidity) can be bad
 
Rick is right, humidity control is really your main concern. But, it would be best if you avoid freezing and thawing your instruments. The inter-cellular moisture in the wood can freeze (at what temp. and after what duration??), causing unwanted expansion and contraction usually associated only with humidity fluctuations (which cause expansion and contraction by adding and subtracting extra-cellular moisture).
By the way, blankets are really intended to keep body heat in. Your ukulele has none. Benefit? Probably none.
 
Last edited:
Another thing to keep in mind is that cold air has the ability to hold very little moisture while warm air can hold a lot more. Home heaters can dry the air out as well but better warm than cold. I find the oasis in-case humidifiers to be very effective.
 
I find that keeping an open container of water near my radiator helps with the indoor humidity generally. But I use Oasis in-case humidifiers (and in some instances, the Oasis humidifier that goes in the body of the instrument) to be safe.
 
Interesting thread about humidity. Although, when I read the title of the thread I thought that the OP was storing his ukes outside, and had to bring them in for the winter. Even though I have a laminate ukulele, and not an expensive one at that, I bought a humidifier for it. No use not to. They aren't that expensive. My sister-in-law plays the mandolin, and has for as long as I have known her. She has two or three. He daughter plays the violin. They live out in the country and they live this sort of Mother Earth type life style out there. They heat with wood all winter, and it gets cold here in the winter. I asked her about cracking and humidity, and she said that she tries to keep them from drying out, which she did not elaborate on how she does that, but she also thinks that extreme temperature is as bad as dry air for wooden instruments. She said that in sub zero weather the wood can contract so much that it will break the glue joints and sometimes crack the bracing. Anyway, someone mentioned temperature changes, and I thought that I would add to that.
 
If I could chime in seeking advice for my own...I have 30 mahogany mainlands in my music classroom, and are harsh winters are upon us, which means the heat is blasting away. Do people have experience with room humidifiers and can comment on their effectiveness? My music classroom is a normal sized classroom, maybe I can experiment with a tub of water by the heater or even a cheap mist humidifier.
 
In the winter I "winterize" my shop for this very reason! Ukes are off the walls and stored in a room upstairs with 2 different whole house humidifiers in one small room (a little overkill, but one is set to only come on at a slightly lower humidity than the others, so in other words it is designated as the back up in case the other one goes empty and I did not notice it). It is that important! And in case the power goes out, it is easy to start the generator and keep that room all sorts of cozy. I have a bunch of humidity gauges, but the digital one I got from Wal-mart that measures humidity and temperature and is about $8 has served me well. And a good in-case humifier is worth every penny. But heck, my uke has a baggie and a damp kitchen sponge in it. I throw the humidity gauge in there to make sure it is doing a proper job from time to time!
 
I ended up putting a humidifier in my furnace (~ $400) which really helps, but my freind has a couple of large indoor zenny trickle waterfall fountains as swears by them. He said that he adds a gallon of water to it over the course of a week.

I guess the main thing is that anything is better than nothing and you need a hygrometer to see if you have a problem
 
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