Dealing with High Humidity

Aegislash

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Hi everyone,

I have a solid concert ukulele that's incredibly precious to me, and recently I've been worrying about humidity. I live in a climate where RH consistently averages at 80%, often climbs to 90-100%, and rarely goes below 55%. Received wisdom suggests I should throw a couple of silica gel packs into my case and call it a day.

Is there a time-tested way to make sure I don't have to worry about humidity? I've considered the D'addario Two-Way Humidity Control System, but their product is supposedly "not intended for de-humidification in high humidity environments". At this point, I'm scared of trying anything that may be costly (yet unjustified), involve too much trial and error, and potentially not even work.

Input would be greatly appreciated :)
 
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Doubt this is helpful but this is how we do it here. Mine is at 65%.
You could go and get an electronic dry cabinet or.. the cheap way.
1. Get a large enough tubberware with rubber sealing.
2. Put a big jar of silica beads in it.
3. Put your meter inside.
4. Put your ukulele inside and close up.
5. When the beads turn pink and the rh goes up.
6. Replace the old beads with fresh beads
7. Microwave your old beads until change to blue again.
8. Repeat above.

https://www.hunker.com/13428022/how-to-dry-silica-gel-in-a-microwave

HTH.
 
I live in the Midwest so I get to deal with both and have been for a long time, before I started playing ukulele. In the summer the humidity gets very high in my basement. I just run a dehumidifier down there. It was around $250 and I've had it for at least ten years. But that isn't just for the ukes, the high humidity down there is hard on everything.
 
I don’t have personal experience with this, but I know many other homebrewers who have used it to keep their kegerator (beer fridge) dry. It’s like the previous “jar of silica” suggestion, but easier to use. Place this in a large (sealed) Tupperware tub along with your uke. When the beads change color, take it out and plug it in overnight. A built-in heater drives off the moisture. Simply unplug it and put it back in the case the next morning. I would actually be careful about driving the humidity too low, depending on how often you take the instrument out to play. Use a hygrometer, and maybe even this in conjunction with a Boveda as a buffer.

http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2018/0...tor-condensation-19-97-hands-on-review-2.html
 
It sounds as though you do not use an air conditioner in your home. If you did that would dry out the air a lot. In fact, whole house A/C can make the air too dry.

There isn't much you can do when you are actually playing your instrument. But it's not as though it will soak up the moisture instantly when it is exposed. (Unless held under water.)

Silica Gel sounds like a pretty good solution as long as you monitor how dry the air gets in the case.

Since you live in a very humid area, I would think that you'll want to keep your ukulele in the 50% RH range. Depending upon the temperature range. (I have not found a good reference for adjusting RH for temp other than keeping condensation off of the windows when it gets cold.)

When I asked Shawn Yacavone about how they keep the instruments at the Ukulele Friend showroom in Honolulu, Hawaii, he said they maintain an air-conditioned average 70° F temperature with a 50% RH. No direct sunlight in the room either.

That's also about what HMS recommends in their care materials.

I use an Ink Bird Hygrometer in couple of my cases. It is small, reasonably accurate and measures temp as well. And it's not very expensive.

Best of luck.
 
I live in almost constant high humidity. Our house has central AC, but we wouldn't be able to stand setting it too cold. As it is, we keep the thermostat at a comfortable 78 degrees, but that leaves the humidity always at or above 65 percent. That said, I don't find that in any way bad for my instruments at all. They thrive in it, actually! It is a little hard for us at night, though, so we have a dehumidifier that we run only in our bedroom, for a couple hours before bedtime.

bratsche
 
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