Laminates and Humidity

AndrewKuker

AndrewKuker

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I have addressed this in some of our materials and will continue to re think how we deal with these issues and educate our customers, but I just wanted to post it here as well for those that do not know.

During the winter time, if you heat your house, it gets extremely dry. While a laminate will not crack, it will warp. The top will sink in and the neck will bow back and you will get buzzing and other problems. If you are either in an extremely dry area, or heat your house during the winter, keeping it in a case with a humidifier is the only way to prevent this. In these extreme circumstances even laminate ukes need a humidifier.

We have taken back and replaced numerous instruments for customers long after they bought it, but they are still stuck paying shipping to us, and it’s no fun for them to be without their instrument as they wait. Save yourself the hassle and play it safe through the winter especially. Aloha!
 
Yes Andrew you are quite generous to take them back even in negligence or if they were not aware
I am glad you posted this for those who need to know. .. this is why you are highly respected as a dealer
And a person and friend to many.. way to go bruddah :shaka::shaka:
 
I've gone shopping for a uke in one of the big box stores, the only music store in the area I found that had uke's, and played all of the laminates they had on display. All of them had sharp fret ends. This was in the southwest where very low humidity is common.

"Don't believe everything you think" is a great tagline.

Jeff
 
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mm stan said:
Yes Andrew you are quite generous to take them back even in negligence or if they were not aware
I am glad you posted this for those who need to know. .. this is why you are highly respected as a dealer
And a person and friend to many.. way to go bruddah :shaka::shaka:
Click to expand...

Stan, you couldn't have said it better.
 
I have a Lanikai that was my first uke. All laminate. Worked fine until I put it in a humidity case and then it started to buzz. :p
 
What has worked for my wall of Ukes here in New England is to run a room humidifier year around. It automatically keeps the humidity between 45 and 50.
 
Icelander53 said:
I have a Lanikai that was my first uke. All laminate. Worked fine until I put it in a humidity case and then it started to buzz. :p
Click to expand...

Too much humidity!

String instruments like 40-50 percent humidity. Less than that and they crack, shrink, cave in, get sharp fret ends and the action rises. More than that and they swell up and the action gets lower (thus the buzz). Only way to regulate it is with a calibrated hygrometer.
 
Icelander53 said:
I have a Lanikai that was my first uke. All laminate. Worked fine until I put it in a humidity case and then it started to buzz. :p
Click to expand...

If it gets extremely humid, like if your humidifier is leaking and you are constantly refilling it, then you can get a tongue rise at the body causing some buzz in the area right before the neck/ body joint. Other than that, this just doesn’t happen.

You should have your instrument at the least at 40% humidity. Most laminates are made where there is no climate control. Somewhere like Jakarta is almost always over 90% humidity and most of the instruments made there are not climate controlling the factory. Then we put these instruments in a heated home, which is the extreme opposite. Here is an example of what happens when you heat your home-

"If the outdoor RH (relative humidity) is 70% and outdoor temperature is 10°F, when this air is brought into the home and heated to 70°F, the indoor RH drops to 6%. To put this in perspective, the Sahara Desert averages 23% humidity!”

Everyone can do whatever they want but I’m just trying to help those that care about their instruments.
 
Hey Andrew, I live in Singapore where it's between 80 and 90 percent humidity all the time. Would it help my solid wood instruments if I were to keep them in an airconditioned room overnight? I cannot run the AC all day long, cos it's gonna cost a bomb in electricity bills, not to mention be terrible for the environment.
 
Andy Chen said:
Hey Andrew, I live in Singapore where it's between 80 and 90 percent humidity all the time. Would it help my solid wood instruments if I were to keep them in an airconditioned room overnight? I cannot run the AC all day long, cos it's gonna cost a bomb in electricity bills, not to mention be terrible for the environment.
Click to expand...

Yeah well, if you do that then mine as well run it during the day, and put it on some kind of economy saver and temp control. Or a dehumidifier is cheaper. You'll get buckets full to dump. Just monitor your humidity. Too little is almost always a bigger problem, and sudden changes can be too.
 
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This thread has really brought me down, Andrew, if I may call you that. I've played lots of instruments through the years, but they've all been made of brass or silver. I have lots of wooden flutes and whistles, but none of them have cracked or warped yet. However, I know that they sometimes do. But I thought I had gotten around all the bother and angst of solid Uke care by buying plywood ones, but now you say that plywood is just as susceptible to humidity as solid ones.

I know that keeping them in cases with humidifiers and checking them every few days is not back breaking labor, but what's the use of having beautiful instruments, if one has to keep them in cases under the bed and worry about them all the time? And the more Ukes a person has, the more trouble and worry he/she has. I think one would be wise to sell off all his/her Ukes and buy a Clara or Blackbird. I really loved and wanted a Boat Paddle, but I'm certainly not gonna buy one now. I also shopped around for something like a National Steel, but even they have wooden necks, so they're out too.

I never heard of any of these humidity problems in all my very musical life, but maybe I just didn't. I was planning on buying an 8 string next month, but maybe you've cured my UAS.

". . . all day I faced the barren waste without a drop of water . . ." :eek:ld:
 
I hear you bro. And I never like to disagree with Andrew but I'm guessing that it's a rare laminate that's going to have these issues. I had two that just sat in a closet for years at 20% or even less humidity for the summers. (high desert climate) They've never had issues and I've never seen anyone elses have serious problems. Now that's not to say nothing happens because my fret wires do poke out a little bit but nothing bad.

But my disclaimer for the above is that I'm not very picky in some ways and humidity is not the huge monster that it gets made out to be. Not in most cases IMO. I hear of a lot of folk who have solid wood and don't pay any attention to little things like humidity and manage to get by ok. But of course no one wants to have a cherished instrument crack so I try and walk the middle path on this. I don't freak out but do provide a case with some humidity for my ukes. But I don't lay in bed anymore and worry about it. And with all the ukes I own there is no way I'm going to humidify 10 ukes in cases and then try to take them out to play on a whim. I often pull out a uke and just play one song. In a case that would rarely happen. So I just made a simple display case with some humidity so I can just grab and play on a whim.
 
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I live in Hawaii..where the RH is perfect for ukes(solid wood guitars.and other instruments too) but I leave my ukes in their cases when not being played....just like my car...I rather leave it a garage then outside in the weather I think it has a better chance to stay in good shape that way..... real car collectors keep their cars in a heated garage when they have major temp changes.........but that is just me.....:)
 
hawaii 50 said:
I live in Hawaii..where the RH is perfect for ukes(solid wood guitars.and other instruments too) but I leave my ukes in their cases when not being played....just like my car...I rather leave it a garage then outside in the weather I think it has a better chance to stay in good shape that way..... real car collectors keep their cars in a heated garage when they have major temp changes.........but that is just me.....:)
Click to expand...

Ahhh, yes, but a Uke is not a car. People don't usually have nine or ten cars, and, if they do, they have a big, fancy garage. Let's face it: No one needs more than one ukulele. We buy more than one to show them off, or to one-up other people. Why don't we cover and humidify our nice, expensive wooden furniture? Wouldn't that be a pain? And I have heard of beautiful wooden tables cracking. I guess there is no good answer, and that's why the thread brought me down.

I don't do well with frustration. :eek:ld:
 
Down Up Dick said:
This thread has really brought me down, Andrew, if I may call you that. I've played lots of instruments through the years, but they've all been made of brass or silver. I have lots of wooden flutes and whistles, but none of them have cracked or warped yet. However, I know that they sometimes do. But I thought I had gotten around all the bother and angst of solid Uke care by buying plywood ones, but now you say that plywood is just as susceptible to humidity as solid ones.

I know that keeping them in cases with humidifiers and checking them every few days is not back breaking labor, but what's the use of having beautiful instruments, if one has to keep them in cases under the bed and worry about them all the time? And the more Ukes a person has, the more trouble and worry he/she has. I think one would be wise to sell off all his/her Ukes and buy a Clara or Blackbird. I really loved and wanted a Boat Paddle, but I'm certainly not gonna buy one now. I also shopped around for something like a National Steel, but even they have wooden necks, so they're out too.

I never heard of any of these humidity problems in all my very musical life, but maybe I just didn't. I was planning on buying an 8 string next month, but maybe you've cured my UAS.

". . . all day I faced the barren waste without a drop of water . . ." :eek:ld:
Click to expand...

Down Up Dick said:
Ahhh, yes, but a Uke is not a car. People don't usually have nine or ten cars, and, if they do, they have a big, fancy garage. Let's face it: No one needs more than one ukulele. We buy more than one to show them off, or to one-up other people. Why don't we cover and humidify our nice, expensive wooden furniture? Wouldn't that be a pain? And I have heard of beautiful wooden tables cracking. I guess there is no good answer, and that's why the thread brought me down.

I don't do well with frustration. :eek:ld:
Click to expand...

How much do you heat your house in winter, since you live in Southern California? I wouldn't worry about it. And who cares if other people want to humidify one uke or dozens? I certainly don't. No, nobody needs more than one uke. Nobody needs even one uke, unless your job is a ukulele player.
 
We buy more than one to show them off, or to one-up other people.
Click to expand...

Well yes, so true, but they are not the only reasons. I play alone mostly and rarely show off my instruments. But one of the things I really enjoy is admiring them myself and the fun of playing them with their unique attributes and issues. But I won't argue many of our motives in life are petty.
 
Down Up Dick said:
This thread has really brought me down, Andrew, if I may call you that.
Click to expand...

Of course you can. That's my name.

Down Up Dick said:
But I thought I had gotten around all the bother and angst of solid Uke care by buying plywood ones.
Click to expand...

Which is why I brought up the topic. And have told many people something similar, that they might get sharp fret ends but it's not really necessary to humidify a laminate because they don't crack, which is what I was taught. But each year around this time I get a handful of laminates back with sunken tops and back bowed necks. And they all come from Canada and Maine and places like this because heating your house dries your air in an extreme way.

Down Up Dick said:
but now you say that plywood is just as susceptible to humidity as solid ones.
Click to expand...

No I didn't. But it does affect them. And I want people to be aware. The real bother and angst is having a uke that no longer plays well. What's more trouble, putting on a coat when you go outside, or getting sick from not putting on one? If you don't have any issues then just disregard this. Some people don't get sick and some laminate ukes don't warp. I've just seen it happen plenty of times and I want people to know that it can happen.

I hang up lots of custom ukes in my home office. It's not to show off or one up anyone. Life is too short to hide away the things you love, imo. But if I had to, I would keep them in a closet with a bucket of water, like Icelander's partner told me she does. Don't worry about things. Just take proper care of them and enjoy playing them for many years. I can't afford to spend much time here so I'll leave you with that. Aloha~
 
wayfarer75 said:
How much do you heat your house in winter, since you live in Southern California? I wouldn't worry about it. And who cares if other people want to humidify one uke or dozens? I certainly don't. No, nobody needs more than one uke. Nobody needs even one uke, unless your job is a ukulele player.
Click to expand...

I think you're perzactly right! I have mulled this gloomy thread over, and I've decided to leave my Ukes right where they are in my music room. I do have one in its case in a closet, but only because I'm running out of room. It's a heavy banjolele and too heavy to hang on the wall I think. Anyway, que sera, sera!

Damn the humidity! Full tunes ahead! :cheers: :eek:ld:
 
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AndrewKuker said:
Which is why I brought up the topic. And have told many people something similar, that they might get sharp fret ends but it's not really necessary to humidify a laminate because they don't crack, which is what I was taught. But each year around this time I get a handful of laminates back with sunken tops and back bowed necks. And they all come from Canada and Maine and places like this because heating your house dries your air in an extreme way.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm in Ohio and it's plenty cold here, but when those Alberta clippers blow down from Canada--brrr! I live as far north as I can stand, I think. But who knows, maybe some nice warm air will move up north from the Gulf of Mexico and give us a break. (Yeah right!)

Down Up Dick said:
I think you're persactly right! I have mulled this gloomy thread over, and I've decided to leave my Ukes right where they are in my music room. I do have one in its case in a closet, but only because I'm running out of room. It's a heavy banjolele and too heavy to hang on the wall I think. Anyway, que sera, sera!

Damn the humidity! Full tunes ahead! :cheers: :eek:ld:
Click to expand...

Exactly! (And must I say I'm jealous you're in CA--it's 22 degrees here!)
 
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