Humidifying in the SF Bay Area - Alameda to be exact.

Hello,

I am wondering how many local people keep their solid wood ukuleles out and hanging. I have a stand and would prefer to look at them if not playing them. Ukes look nice but cases don't in my opinion.

My Pono is the first uke I've kept in a case with the HMS included humidifier. As of today I also own a Sonny D and have a case on the way.

At the shop in Orinda I was told not to worry unless we use a lot of AC or there are lots of environmental changes. We don't. I will probably get a hygrometer just to see what our ambient environment is and go from there.

So I know a lot of people have horror stories of cracking ukes, but what about local people who live in our nice consistent weather?



Thanks!

I'm not local to you but am down in SoCal. I agree with your position and also prefer to have my ukes out to admire and in easy reach. I use a whole room humidifier (a Vornado) and only put them in their cases if I'm out of town longer than my humidifier can remain operating without running dry. On a side note, I like having the humidifier even if I didn't have my cherished ukes to care for.

I also live in the Bay Area -- near Point Richmond on a big boat, and I'm a luthier. Here's a quick primer on cracking:

Properly dried and selected wood left to its own devices rarely cracks. However, to make a uke you have to glue the thing together, thus trapping the wood into a specific shape. If the uke was made in a humidity controlled shop cracking will be a rare occurrence. However, imagine that a uke is built in a place where the ambient humidity in the shop is around 80% -- now you've got a problem. Ship that uke off to the Mojave Dessert -- where the average daytime humidity ranges between 10% to 30% and the wood is going to start shrinking. Because it's locked into the shape of the uke it can't move, and the odds are pretty good that it will crack.

Pono (I've got one too) is built in a shop set-up by Koolau, and they fully understand this sort of thing, so the odds are very good that yours was built from wood with the correct moisture content in a shop with humidity control. Given our Bay Area weather, I'd not worry about keeping your ukes out -- unless (as your shop suggested) you've got the AC running a lot. AC dehumidifies the air pretty efficiently. If you've got your AC cranked up high in Alameda the odds are good that you were born in a freezing climate and haven't adjusted well

Do, however, keep ukes out of the sun whenever possible. Prolonged direct sunlight is a pretty efficient way to heat something up, and heat will drive humidity out of wood. Sunlight also tends to darken some of the more colorful species of wood used and kill the bling.

What is the humidity in your house? If it is high, you don't need to humidify, if it is low, you do.

Rob - Haha I grew up in San Jose so I'm in a hoodie a lot. No AC! I think Pono gets it but not sure about Sonny since I've heard he does his own thing - like odd (to me) plastic nuts and saddles.

But yes I need to get a hygrometer if we don't already have one. Too bad there's no iphone app for that. Wait. There are! I don't trust them! (Edit: It's just outdoor relative humidity. That makes more sense but is not useful)

I live in west Marin, and although I now keep my ukes in humidified cases, for years I didn't and never had an issue. Luthier Marc Silber of Berkeley told me years ago that we don't need to worry here in the Bay Area (when I was inquiring about humidifying my Silber-designed Frisco Uke). But seeing as this is earthquake country and I have my ukes in cases, I decided to put humidifiers in each one.

Mark Silber's advice is spot on. We are lucky to live in the Bay Area. Tom's Earthquake preparedness is wise as you may have to vacate the premisses because of fire after the "big one".

The Bay Area has microclimates. While those living in SF Oakland and Berkeley might be in a cold ocean fog, while we in San Jose are basking in sunshine.

I have my ukes hanging on their String Swings with a digital hygrometer in their midst. Today, the humidity where they are hanging is 50%. In the winter, when the dry heat furnace comes on, I use a couple of vapourisers when the humidity dips below 35, which isn't often.

The precautions I took in case of earthquake are rubber bands taughtly stretched over the String Swing forks and fake leis hanging behind them to cushion any blow against the wall or each other. Probably not adequate in a 8.0 quake, but if we had one that big, I wouldn't be thinking about my ukuleles.

The wooden instruments I've owned the longest (20-30 years) date from my time in the North Bay, mostly in the Russian River Valley just a few miles from the foggy coast. Dulcimer and mandolin from Michigan; acoustic guitars from Connecticut, Quebec, Mexico, Japan, and Korea; banjo and bass guitar from Japan -- all bought around sunny Santa Rosa. A Chinese dobro and two Turkish Cumbus o'uds bought in foggy coastal Mendocino. Many of these, besides living in that Wine Country zone ranging from cold wet winters to blistering summers, also followed me to mile-high (and dry) elevations from southern Arizona to Guatemala for extended periods. None have had any form of humidity control. None show any sign of cracking anywhere. Should I be paranoid?

Ideally the humidity for a ukulele shouldn't go that much above 60% so I'd think you'll have more of a problem with too humid versese too dry living on an island in the bay like you do... I live in the South Bay and the humidity here this summer has been between 50% and 65% with the lower number from running the A/C.

Gary

This information is as I thought. I pulled the Pono out and it's on the stand with the Sonny D and Eleuke. U Bass is looking lonely.
I will get a hygrometer soon but am feeling even better about things.



Thanks.

I live on the other side of the Alameda bridge and we essentially share the same microclimate. I too was told by Edgar at Aloha Warehouse (R.I.P. Edgar) that we don't need to humidify here. He had all the Ponos out on the wall but S.F. is foggy. The Mainland has been out in the elements for 5 years with no problem. However I acquired a Koalana (Koaloha brand) from Hawaii Music Supply and was told I must humidify -- so I did. I too prefer to have my instruments out and not in a case. However with the Koalana, the wood began shifting. It is very very sensitive to climate change. When it's hot the wood shifts. When it rains the uke is happy. After all it was built in Thailand. So I keep it humidified. This particular uke is known to be sensitive. The final verdict -- ummm --- it depends. If it's really HOT and a heatwave prevails might be good to humidify. A hgrometer is a good idea but I'm told the cheap ones are iffy. So I share your concern and glad you asked the q. I'll watch this thread to hear of any new developments.

rubykey said:

A hgrometer is a good idea but I'm told the cheap ones are iffy.

Click to expand...

I have three of these in three different rooms.

http://www.amazon.com/AcuRite-00613A1-Indoor-Humidity-Monitor/dp/B0013BKDO8/

Just to compare, I put them all next to each other in the same room for a couple days. There was no more than a difference of 2 degrees temp or 3 percentage points humidity between them.

They're pretty cheap, and for me they seem to work. They also show you the high/low in both temp/humidity for the last 24 hours.

Personal choice, but I believe in putting my ukes away in their cases when not in use.

I will reiterate what's already been said about keeping them out of the sun, which is likely to happen if you hang them on the wall where sunlight comes in thru a nearby window. Even ambient light can dry/damage the finish after a while.

I just ordered the same hygrometer. Thanks and yes I put the blinds up since my ukes were getting ambient sunlight.

Ruby - you live right over the Park Street bridge? Great! There is sometimes an Alameda uke jam. I also just started going to the one at DaSilva in Berkeley. Very low key.


I will try to remember to let you know about events.

I'm in SF and I bought a cheap Radio Shack hygrometer when I started playing guitar five years ago. Our humidity is always between 40 & 60 percent. That said, I keep all my ukes in cases almost all the time. No worries about sun, accidental dings and scratches, etc