Relative humidity and ukuleles?

Pete F

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
137
Reaction score
1
Location
Western Sussexshire, England
Hi, I've no real knowledge of scale regarding humidity and ukulele storage and use. It feels a particularly 'muggy' day here in the UK and a quick check of the BBC weather forecast suggests a relative humidity of 78%. This seems high? and it does feel quite humid today.

I had a quick play of my ukes and they do sound a little flat today, maybe it's me I don't know.

Anyway, what's your thoughts on 78% relative humidity and ukuleles, and should or do I need to take any action in the care of my ukes? They are all stored in their hard cases.

Thanks, I wait with interest ........
 
Solid woods tend to change shape slightly in varying humidity, as they absorb and shed moisture. In some cases, this can cause changes in setup, tone, and in the worst cases, cause the wood to crack. This is far less of a concern with laminated woods, as the cross-grain laminations tend to minimize the amount of movement-- but laminated wood ukes often have solid wood fretboards, and they can shrink in low humidity.

The RH outside is not necessarily the same as the RH in your house. For example, forced air heat takes moisture out of the air, creating a lower RH in the house; similarly, air conditioning also removes moisture from the air.

The risk of low humidity is greater than the risk of high humidity. Low humidity can lower your action and even cause cracks. High humidity may require you to adjust your setup, but is far less likely to cause damage to your uke. The loose rule is 40-60% RH, but a short time at either extreme is unlikely to have much impact.
 
The only relative humidity that matters is in the house/room where the uke is kept so you can totally ignore the outdoor humidity which is more often than not quite different than the indoor humidity. I humidify my ukes roughly from Nov. - Apr. give or take. We're having a cooler day today and the air conditioning isn't running as much so the indoor humidity is currently at 50%. We had a 5-6 day stretch where the temps were 90+F and the air conditioning was running a lot. I noticed the humidity indoors dropped to 39% on those days. I keep my ukes enclosed in their hard cases and the humidity in the cases has been running in a range of 45-50% so far since I removed the humidifiers.
 
The only relative humidity that matters is in the house/room where the uke is kept so you can totally ignore the outdoor humidity which is more often than not quite different than the indoor humidity. I humidify my ukes roughly from Nov. - Apr. give or take. We're having a cooler day today and the air conditioning isn't running as much so the indoor humidity is currently at 50%. We had a 5-6 day stretch where the temps were 90+F and the air conditioning was running a lot. I noticed the humidity indoors dropped to 39% on those days. I keep my ukes enclosed in their hard cases and the humidity in the cases has been running in a range of 45-50% so far since I removed the humidifiers.

"Money can't buy happiness but it can buy a ukulele which is basically the same thing."

I like your signature line. So true. : )
 
I have a new Tenor solid Acacia Ukulele and I just put on new Aquila New Nlygut strings, low G. A Melokia Ukulele. It sounded like the notes did not want to ring, they sounded so short like chop coop chop. Then I also noticed it does not have as much volume as normal. So I put aside the ukulele and started reading on this forum and got here. Is this what is wrong with my ukulele tonight? It is pouring outside and the news says 81 percent humidity. I live in about the center of Thailand, a very hot and humid country. We have air con in this room but it is not the greatest, only about 50 per cent efficient.
 
Thanks all. I wasn't overly worried, just noticed how dull the ukes sounded and wondered if there was a correlation with the unusual humid weather. I think so.

We don't generally have air-con in domestic properties in the UK, and it's summer so no central heating; I suspect the relative humidity outside is close to that of the inside at the moment.
 
Also remember, even laminate ukuleles often have solid wood components, especially fretboards. They can shrink during spells of low humidity and mess with your setup, fret height, etc. Some brands have more problems than others. I keep my laminate KoAlana and Islander humidified in the winter because I've had fret problems due to forced-air heat.

Something to consider --
 
Anyway, what's your thoughts on 78% relative humidity and ukuleles, and should or do I need to take any action in the care of my ukes? They are all stored in their hard cases.

78% is the average humidity in my house all year, but since I started getting guitars and ukuleles I've been trying to dehumidify down to 72%. You do have to worry about high humidity when there are stagnant air pockets such as closets and corners of rooms where humidity can spike causing mold to grow, but where there is good air flow it shouldn't be as much of a problem if the humidity is fairly stable. I'm constantly fighting the mold here. Ceiling fans are always running to keep the air moving.

Storage in cases can help keep humidity the instrument experiences more stable, but since the air is stagnant inside the case I'd think you need to keep the humidity a little lower inside them.
 
Last edited:
Just checked the forecast this AM and its 100% humidity at 1071mb pressure whatever that means in real terms. I thought I noticed some cupping on the fretboard of one uke, maybe it was my eyes!

Who would have thought the UK would 'out humid' the big island... ;)
 
You might have problems with your uke where wide differences of humidity are experienced. Here in the UK, the humidity doesn't seem to vary enough to to have any damaging effect. I've been into ukes for more than thirty years and have never used a humidifier/dehumidifier. My ukes are usually kept in hard cases, out of direct sunlight.

The only similar problem I have encountered is when carrying or storing a ukulele in the car. I always keep a uke in the car, and temperatures can climb to crazy heights - yes, even in Great Britain! My yellow Mahalo withstood many years of this treatment, but several sets of strings were trashed by overheating. I now carry a cheapo laminate uke (not laminated wood, but that Formica-like substance). It seems to be impervious to all kinds of abuse - including my playing!

John Colter
 
Top Bottom