Humidifier all the time?

Lapyang

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I live in West Virginia. 4 seasons weather. I keep all my ukes with Oasis humidifiers at all time. Can I cause trouble by giving them too much moisture? I don't want to put a hygrometer in all the cases, it could be costly, I have 12 ukes at last count and growing.
 
I am in West Virginia as well.

I used to humidify year round. All of my ukes are cased. Some are in a thick padded gig bag, and others are in foam cases, with my "best" ones in hard cases. I use the Oasis, the Herco clay type, but mostly I use a re-purposed pill bottle with small holes pricked in the sides/top/bottom and a moist paper towel.

I found the necks of my ukes were affected with humidifiers, especially the Opio in an Oahu case with an Oasis humidifer. I now put a microfiber cloth - usually a small eyeglass cloth - under the neck of cased ukes when humidifying.

This is the first year I did not humidify in the summer. My ukes seem perfectly fine. I set up all my humidifiers with the advent of cold weather a few weeks ago.
 
I live in West Virginia. 4 seasons weather. I keep all my ukes with Oasis humidifiers at all time. Can I cause trouble by giving them too much moisture? I don't want to put a hygrometer in all the cases, it could be costly, I have 12 ukes at last count and growing.
I would say yes. I'm not going to get into all the discussion about how many hygrometers you must have in and around your ukulele case to assure proper humidification, My classical guitar friend takes everything to extreme, and humidifying was on of those things. This summer, while the outside humidity was plenty high, he kept two oasis humidifiers in his guitar case and grew mold inside and outside his expensive guitar. When it comes to humidity, you can get too much of a good thing.
 
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I'm in Los Angeles. I converted a bookshelf into a humidity controlled cabinet with lucite doors and weather stripping on all the inside seams. I have a digital and analog hygrometer and two water trays on the bottom with lids that I slide open and closed as the prevailing humidity requires. The humidity stays between 45 to 55% all the time.

Shelf 7 ukes 800.jpg
 
I live in MN so I'd say we experience extreme 4-season weather. If you don't want to go the case hygrometer route (which I can understand given how many ukes you have) I'd recommend getting a room hygrometer for the room(s) where you keep your ukes. I use an Acu-Rite hygrometer I bought from Walmart for less than $10. It's currently reading a humidity level of 51% so I'm not worried about putting hydrometers in my ukes yet. My hydrometer season is roughly Nov. through Apr. When the room hygrometer starts reading below 45% I put the hydrometers into my ukes until the readings come up again in the spring.
 
Thanks for the tip. When you said the neck is affected, how so? Did it warp?

Never have had warping on the neck, although the Martin OXK HPL body dishes in when it is not humidified. All but one uke has satin necks. The necks got sticky/more resistant and would not slide easily.
 
Short answer: Yes, too much moisture can cause trouble.
 
I'm in Ohio, so very similar weather. I use hygrometers to tell me when to humidify. I keep them in the case. When it says it's below 40%, in go the humidifiers. It should be soon for me, it's getting colder and the furnace is on.
 
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