Humidifier?

I have a question about a humidifier.I currently have a custom Kanilea on order with Joe and Kristen and of course i want to protect my investment.Will i need a humidifier?the temperature where i live is about 10-15 degrees c in winter(indoors) and up to 35-40 degrees c outside in summer.
thankyou in advance,
RAZZLE

RAZZLE said:

I have a question about a humidifier.I currently have a custom Kanilea on order with Joe and Kristen and of course i want to protect my investment.Will i need a humidifier?the temperature where i live is about 10-15 degrees c in winter(indoors) and up to 35-40 degrees c outside in summer.
thankyou in advance,
RAZZLE

Click to expand...

You will need it in the winter time. Even though it's mild, it will still probably be dry.

The degrees no matter as much as the humidity. Not sure what yoi want the humidity to be since I live in georgia and it's always humid here. I did buy a humidifier for my koaloha however, even though my other koa and mahghany ukes have been through winters without.

With solid wood instruments humidity is more important than temperature. There are hot areas that are very humid, and there are hot areas that are very dry.

What is a normal humidity range during the year for where you live? If you don't know then a hygrometer can help you monitor humidity levels.

Any wooden instrument needs a relatively constant humidity to keep it stable. If the humidity fluctuates too much then the wood swells and shrinks. Lack of humidity causes shrinking which can lead to cracks. High humidity can cause swellling which can lead to warpage. Both will cause an instrument to go out of tune.

Also keep in mind the humidity levels of the area where the wood was cured and the instrument built. If you live in a much dier climate than where the instrument is coming from, then you may need to use a humidifier or two in your house for a while (months not days) to help the instrument acclimate to it's new surroundings. It is easier to control the humidity in a house or room than the humidity in an instrument case.

The goal should be to keep the instrument at a fairly constant and average humidity level that is normal for your area.

When I put my guitar room together, I went to sears and got a Bionaire brand humidifier with a tank, hergrometer (thermostat basically for humidity). I set it at 45% and it comes on and off accordingly. I mainly only needed it in the winter with the heat on. My room would try to go to 30% and below but with the humidifier, it stays at a perfect 40-50%. The tank holds about 30 hours worth when really dry. Longer when the air is wetter. Filters easy to clean, etc. About $45. Well worth the investment as I have all my acoustics and electrics hanging on the wall (string swings are great!) as well as ukes and a violin. I also recommend buying a hergrometer gauge (got one for cheap at petsmart for reptiles) and mounted it across the room right under my guitars to keep a good eye on room humidity.

I went to my local hardware store and bought a cheap humidity guage which tells me the relative humidity for that room throughout the year (it looks like a little alarm clock).

You want to keep wood instruments at or above 50% relative humidity at all times (recommended by instrument manufacturers).

Humidity is affected by climate (desert and winter conditions obviously are dryer), sunlight (direct sun on an instrument case, not good) and heating. In the winter, when you heat your house, that also removes humidity from the air.

With that said, living in KY, I monitor the humidity and when the relative humidity is below 50%, I keep humidifiers in all my wood instruments.

The 45%-55% humidity range is one that a lot of music techs in the US talk about, but they are also humidity levels many of us can achieve and maintain here.

Keep in mind that the OP lives in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Southern tip on the coast. Right now it's roughly 45 F (7 C) and 81% humidity there.

If it were me I'd be looking at adding something like silica gel pacs (like photographers use) to the case to absorb moisture rather than a humidifier to add additional moisture.