Question About Humidity Devices

While reading a few threads here, the point was driven home that humidity control is important in maintaining a uke properly.

Which humidifier? Music Nomad makes several that are sold on Amazon.com. (The HumiReader & Humilele) Also eBay sells the same humidifiers for $1.00 that are sold elsewhere for $9.95, etc. What should I be looking at as far as this goes?

I camp a lot which lend itself to changes in temperature/humidity. Right now I have one solid top and 3 laminates if that matters at all.

Thanks, and I hope my question isn't too broad in scope.

Wood

I've had good luck so far with Herco ($5) and Planet Waves ($10) but others will swear by Oasis ($20) or a wet sponge in a ziplock bag (freeish). There is some debate whether laminates need it but can't hurt, especially in SoCo.

As far as what to take camping, I'd say take a laminate that you still enjoy, but if the solid is your favorite, go ahead and take it. Life is too short to play crappy ukes.

I use both the MusicNomad's Humilele and DIY humidifiers. Both work equally well in keeping the uke humidified in its case, but the humilele is a tad easier and lasts a little longer. Mind you, with our dry winters here in Sweden, I need to re-wet the humidifers every 1-2 days.

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...midor!&highlight=cheap+ukulele+humidification

One option, Wood. I still use the method to this day. For me, the little jobbers required too much fuss in every-other-day fills, and they ruin the case with mold. ymmv cheers!

There's been a lot of discussion about humidifiers. Here's a link to various discussions on this site:

https://www.google.com/webhp?source...TF-8#q=humidifier site:ukuleleunderground.com

Personally, I use Oasis humidifiers for both of my solid wood ukes. They're easy to use, they clearly indicate when they need to be refilled and they are very effective. I started with some home made sponge humidifiers in prescription bottles but they were less effective and needed re-wetting much more frequently. I still use those in my laminate uke case which some will tell you is unnecessary. I'd disagree. It might not be as vital, but a laminate uke has a solid fretboard which will shrink in low humidity as well as solid wood bracing in the interior. I'm not as persnickety about monitoring the humidity levels with my laminate as I am my solids but I still put those humidifiers in there as a precautionary measure.

I always have several pill bottle options with a multiple piercings from a pair of tiny sewing scissors. I use better quality paper towels such as Scot brand and soak, squeeze out, and insert in the pill bottle. I loosely wrap a dry paper towel around the outside - the tear-a-size are good for this and are about half the size of a regular paper towel. The bigger size bottle can even do double duty as a neck rest in a gig bag. The smaller size can lay beside the neck in a hard case or go beside the upper bout and the neck rest. These are in my all solid Brueko, all solid Silvertone, and laminate Harmony ukulele cases.

I take my Martin OXK camping and it is my go-to ukulele in winter in my house. The OXK is high pressure laminate outside, but has wood bracing and a wood fretboard. I use a cello humidifier from Musician's Friend - it is the long rubbery tube type. I lay it the length of the Morado fretboard.

My solid spruce top Luna concert came with the Herco humidifier and it has been fine for three years.

I got the Oasis upgrade for the all solid KoAloha Opio. That has been a great humidifier, too. I have to be careful in the Oahu case that the lining does not get too moist/humid. It was affecting the ability to slide on the neck of the ukulele when fretting. I now always lay the neck of the uke with a paper towel between it and the neck rest. I had read about periodically using a hair dryer on the inside of cases with humidifiers, so that is an option too, but the piece of paper towel seems to keep the neck from having issues.

coolkayaker1 said:

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...midor!&highlight=cheap+ukulele+humidification

One option, Wood. I still use the method to this day. For me, the little jobbers required too much fuss in every-other-day fills, and they ruin the case with mold. ymmv cheers!

Click to expand...

This! Coolkayaker posted this thread shortly after I got my first wood uke. It is extremely low maintenance! I check the humidity level when I pull out a uke to play and just re-wet the sponge when I notice the level start to fall out of range.

Jim Hanks said:

...Life is too short to play crappy ukes.

Click to expand...

Aye! Amen to that brother!

Thanks for all the input - I bought these:

Forgot to mention that too much humidity can be a problem when I go camping, living within a small space with sometimes uneven temperatures. Think of cold morning inside a car (Travel Trailer) Too much moisture in the air would be the problem then. I have purchased some "DRY & Dry Silica Gel Desiccant" packets - Is this the preferred method to combating too much moisture in the air or is there a better, preferred method?

Thanks again

Cool let us know how they work. The hygrometer looks interesting. I've never had one.

As far as too much moisture, hmm, I dunno. See what the hygrometer tells you. A little too much is better than not enough so I'd be hesitant about dehumidifying unless you are sure that is a problem.