Humidity and the solid body ukulele

Andy Chen

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
655
Reaction score
1
Location
Singapore
Hi everyone, would I be wrong to assume that a chambered solid-body ukulele like my Pono TE would less prone to the kind of stress and damage caused by too much humidity?

(Btw, I don't have to worry about overly dry environs, since I live in Singapore, where humidity is perpetually more than 65%)
 
I live in Florida, but my ukes are kept in an air conditioned home. No humidity problems here. I have no experience with keeping them in a humid environment without AC, but have read more posts about damage from dry conditions than damp, with the exception of mold from storing them in exceptionally damp places not exposed to moving air. Perhaps a dehumidifier is called for?
 
Hi Phil, thanks for your advice.

I do keep my wood ukes in my room during the night when I turn on the AC. I was just wondering if a solid body would withstand humidity better.
 
Would depend on the wood and how well it was cured. I don't know much about how solid bodied ukes hold up. Except for storing instruments in closed damp spaces, I haven't really heard of problems in damp climates unless you are in a rainforest. I know we have many members here who live in extremely humid locations. Perhaps a few will weigh in.
 
It should swell once it equalizes to your humidity. It may be so little it is unnoticable but it also may be enough to impact intonation. Cracks are usually due to drying so you shouldn't have an issue there.
 
Less prone, yes, but it's not so much the body you need to worry about, but the neck. Dryness does several things - it shrinks the fretboard, raising the frets. This may be a very small amount but your fingers feel it, and it can wear out strings faster.

Also if the neck block shrinks, it can change the angle on the neck slightly but enough to change the tuning and throw off intonation.
 
It should swell once it equalizes to your humidity. It may be so little it is unnoticable but it also may be enough to impact intonation. Cracks are usually due to drying so you shouldn't have an issue there.

agreed with you..
I live in Indonesia, and the humiduty level in my city can reach to 70-80% at night, but theres seems no problems with my ukes, but it some times need to re-tune it when you want to play it. maybe it going to in some trouble if it takes to a drier place since it used to a high humidity level.
 
Top Bottom