Think Inside the Box

I've been scrambling trying to keep up with humidifying all my ukes. It's been very cold & dry here in MA, compounded by forced hot air heating inside the house, frequently low 20's for humidity. My vintage Martin soprano lives in a nice Guardian hardshell case, with a frequently refilled Planet Waves soundhole humidifier, which seems to not be enough. The humidity in the case was only 32%, this in my basement man cave, where humidity is usually pretty good. So, I started getting worried.

My Cordoba tenor (solid top) lives in a nice Ohana gig bag with a couple of home made humidifiers. I didn't bother measuring in there, but based on the Martin in a hard case, I can just imagine, as I was starting to get a bit of fret sprout.

So, while at Walmart, I picked up this shallow seal-able tub for $10.00, and popped the Martin and Cordoba in there, each with a soundhole humidifier too, and also a baggie with wet sponge. Sealed it up, and came back 4 hours later to see a friendly 54% in there. Probably gonna remove the soundhole humidifiers and just get a bigger sponge and set it in a shallow plastic tub inside there, and keep doing this, and rotating ukes, until the heat gets turned off in the Spring. I'm just happy I was able to raise it to > 50%.

Excellent solution, John! (Not as excellent as the title you chose for the thread, however...)

I bought an inexpensive craigslist curio cabinet. My wife let me put it in the livingroom if she got to use part of it for her figurines.
I have a ceramic pourous ball in a bowl of water that usually keeps it 50-55%. Until the heater runs all day in this cold. I had to augment the water source with a second ball.

bobhost said:

I bought an inexpensive craigslist curio cabinet. My wife let me put it in the livingroom if she got to use part of it for her figurines.
I have a ceramic pourous ball in a bowl of water that usually keeps it 50-55%. Until the heater runs all day in this cold. I had to augment the water source with a second ball.

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That's an elegant solution for display and preservation!

So is it a hollow ceramic sphere with a fill hole in the top, unglazed so water can evaporate from the surface without dripping? Where'd you get that?

I've got my humidification system in the bag,
literally. I just got another tenor, with case, and thought I'd need a new Ziploc storage bag for it, and I don't have any more... but, to my surprise, I found both tenors, in cases, fit inside one bag.
Half a kitchen sponge should handle both, I'd think.
All of my wooden ukes are safely stowed in bags now. Some that don't get used much are hanging in my office, in their bags. Once a week I try to squeeze the sponges without opening the bag. If they're hard, I'll check the humidity in the bag. If it's down below 40% I'll dampen the sponge.

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SpaceForRent said:

That's an elegant solution for display and preservation!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

So is it a hollow ceramic sphere with a fill hole in the top, unglazed so water can evaporate from the surface without dripping? Where'd you get that?

Click to expand...

Mom-in-law got them for me. But I just googled "ceramic ball humidifier" and the first 37 hits are exactly what I have.
I put in distilled water to stop the sludge buildup that evaporating tap water produces. And our basement has a dehumidifier running during the summer so we have a massive supply of distilled water.

I'm not that creative, I guess. I have humidifiers in the cases, and am running multiple room humidifiers as well. After all, the humans and canines need the humidity raised a bit too, after our record cold weather. And I want the humidity in the room to support the idea of me taking the ukuleles out of their cases and playing them as well.

Joyful Uke said:

I'm not that creative, I guess. I have humidifiers in the cases, and am running multiple room humidifiers as well. After all, the humans and canines need the humidity raised a bit too, after our record cold weather. And I want the humidity in the room to support the idea of me taking the ukuleles out of their cases and playing them as well.

Click to expand...

Ditto. Though I keep the humidity at about 40% at 70°F. I have three ukes that do not respond well to higher humidity and the others do fine at that level. Though some windows do get condensation when the outside temp dropped below -25°. (-37° actual, -60° wind chill.)

I gotta look at better storm windows. ...