Cold Weather Advice

So I live in Colorado and it is freakin cold like -12 Fahrenheit the other day. I also love the outdoors and love hiking and mountaineering and all the jazz. So I was sitting on a peak overlooking a frozen valley the other day wondering if I could play ukulele up here. I then got to thinking since it was around 5 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill how it would hold up in the weather. So I was wondering if there is anything I can do to make this possible. Maybe put on a fresh coat of something that helps protect wood against coldness but what would that do to the sound? Any advice would be great.

nor a very good idea to take the ukue outside in that kind of weather. As a rule a thumb If you would treat your ukulele as if it were a liiving baby chilld. Would you grab him and take him out there without protection?? then you probably wouldn't want to take you uke there. Would you leave your child in a hot car or in the trunk on a hot day..no so i wouldn't leave my uke there...

I own an Ameritage case that has both humidity and heat gauges. When it rains, the humidity really drops and I make sure I water my humidifier. Just something to think about in the future.

FYI....I believe wind chill only affects living tissue, not wood, for example. At least, that's what I was taught....

Allow the case/uke to adjust to the temp of the room before opening it up again.

If you have meters from M.I.T. but don't wait, you might as well have a banana peel in there with a wristwatch.

mailman said:

FYI....I believe wind chill only affects living tissue, not wood, for example. At least, that's what I was taught....

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pretty good advice... should take note

Cold weather tends to make instruments sound a bit dull, but the real problem would be exposing your uke to sudden changes of temperature -- especially when you bring it back into the warm. The wood warms up again at a different rate to the finish, and the result is usually finish checking. It's also possible that there could be damage to the glue if it gets really freezing. Apparently the musicians at Obama's inauguration ceremony mimed rather than played, because they didn't want to have their instruments out in the cold. (Mind you, I can't imagine what their instruments would have been worth!)

I wouldn't take any instrument out in that kind of weather. In fact when I travel I leave the instrument in the case for 45 minutes to and hour before opening.
Presently I'm working on a design on an all carbon fiber Ukulele. No wood anywhere. I'm sure these will be fine in the cold.

JCUK said:

Cold weather tends to make instruments sound a bit dull, but the real problem would be exposing your uke to sudden changes of temperature -- especially when you bring it back into the warm. The wood warms up again at a different rate to the finish, and the result is usually finish checking. It's also possible that there could be damage to the glue if it gets really freezing. Apparently the musicians at Obama's inauguration ceremony mimed rather than played, because they didn't want to have their instruments out in the cold. (Mind you, I can't imagine what their instruments would have been worth!)

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I have to tell you that in the past I have literally wrapped a hardshell guitarcase in a blanket and kept it covered in a blanket in an already warmed up car. It was that cold out and the walk to the vehicle however brief could still do it's damage. Layering. Once the chill is in that case, who cares if your little nephew can stand on it?

Considering the term "wind chill" was never used by MGM, it's a bit of a straw man here. The overall sensibility of MGM is praiseworthy and quite clear considering that buildings can be structurally undermined and damaged by temp extremes and fluctuations.

For those who like science and to actually follow-up on the MGM analogy: why do infants and small children so easily dehydrate or suffer the impact of temp, drafts more easily? Surface area. The smaller surface area makes them more suceptible, surface area related to total mass. Ukeleles, smaller than guitars are even more susceptible...and BTW, some of this line of thinking also applies to fishtanks, aquarium keeping.

The arid air at high elevation will be hard on a ukulele even in summer when it is exposed for a long time, but in the cold of winter, damage might occur that you don't immediately see. If you insist on playing a uke in that environment, I'd make it a plastic uke or at the very least take a cheap laminated instrument, not solid wood.

Echoing Pippin, the lack of humidity in Colorado is an issue any time of year for a wood instrument, especially in winter. Another problem is that below 32 degrees, humidifiers no longer work. Many people recommend a Flea for extremes. It's made of a lot of plastic and they soundboard is laminated, so it might be less likely to be damaged by the cold.

Get a cheap & cheerful uke, put some nice strings on it, then it really matters not if you take it out. I take my Lanikai LU21 everywhere. Its been played happily in 45C in Seville in Spain during the summer, and down to -8C outside the other night here (I think my fingers had more problems than the instrument). No problems with it at all, and if it does all go pear shaped, then its not a fortune to replace it.