How important are humidifiers?

I've had my solid wood monkey pod for a year now and it hasn't shown any signs of humidity related damage as I can tell so far. (I live in Australia).

Should I still buy a humidifier even if it looks like it can handle this weather?

Thank you for the detailed response, especially the humidity readings for Sydney

I think I can now be at ease about this whole problem.

I live in the Midwest USA, and we have 2 issues.
1. in the summer we have 90% humidity, so I need to dehumidify
2. The winter can bring my humidity down to 15%

Both are bad, so my rule of thumb is to keep mine at about 40-50% at all times. that seems to be the magic number. If you stay in those ranges at all times then you have no worries.
Keep in mind I am super anal about this, some will say 35-60% is ok as a range.

Buy a hygrometer from your local hardware store.

They're cheap and will tell exactly what the humidity is in your room.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=_P4vT4_CHIXHsQLl-d2jDg&ved=0CJMBEPMCMAI

My Ohana Pineapple developed a crack in the soundboard just below the bridge during a cold snap this winter. I also noticed that my Kamaka was developing a buzz on the A string. Like a lot of members here, I have more than a few stringed instruments and dealing with in-case humidifiers can be a royal pain, especially if you don't have hard cases for everything.

I ended up setting up a "winter room." I have a small home office with a door that closes. I put up a whole mess of Uke/Guitar hangers in there and bought a whole room humidifier. I have the room set to 45% humidity now and after two days my Kamaka stopped buzzing. They say you shouldn't go below 40%, but if you get to 25%, you are playing with fire, especially with solid body instruments.

If you choose this route, I recommend a "warm mist" type humidifier with a digital humidity control. You also should have a hygrometer you can place need the instruments as the humidifier should be a fair distance away. The cool-mist types can only handle a small room though, don't bother trying to do your whole place. If you want to go whole house, you gotta get the wicking type or hook something up to the HVAC

If you have just a couple of instruments and hard cases, then the in-case types could be the easiest solution.

best of luck

Bao said:

I've had my solid wood monkey pod for a year now and it hasn't shown any signs of humidity related damage as I can tell so far. (I live in Australia). Should I still buy a humidifier even if it looks like it can handle this weather?

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Sydney is probably fine most of the year, but it's the indoor humidity level that you need to watch. If you wait for symptoms to show up, it might be too late to do anything. I figure a humidifier is pretty cheap insurance; free if you make your own. Really just depends on your comfort level with risk.

Any good, accurate hygrometer would you guys recommend? I'm shopping for one. But according to Amazon, several hygrometers don't do their job in terms of humidity monitoring.

How do any of those Amazon reviewers determine the accuracy of any hygrometer? I basically looked for something that could be calibrated and would warn me if RH stayed below 40% for a few days. I don't need accuracy to tenths of a percent. I don't care if RH is 50% or 50.5% as long as it's not 30%. Here's what I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Hygrometer-2-25-Western-Humidors/dp/B0007VWEQA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1328557839&sr=8-4

Calibration:
http://www.kingofthehouse.com/hygrometer/
https://www.cigarextras.com/event/page/pageCode/hygrometercalibration

Thanks for the info, Drew Bear. What I need is also not necessarily 100% accuracy. I just something that reads 45%-55% if the humidity is around 50%, as opposed to 20% or 70%.

The one you purchased seems to be a good one

Drew Bear said:

How do any of those Amazon reviewers determine the accuracy of any hygrometer? I basically looked for something that could be calibrated and would warn me if RH stayed below 40% for a few days. I don't need accuracy to tenths of a percent. I don't care if RH is 50% or 50.5% as long as it's not 30%. Here's what I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Hygrometer-2-25-Western-Humidors/dp/B0007VWEQA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1328557839&sr=8-4

Calibration:
http://www.kingofthehouse.com/hygrometer/
https://www.cigarextras.com/event/page/pageCode/hygrometercalibration

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http://www.menards.com/main/appliances/humidifiers/hygrometer/p-1703722-c-9507.htm

$4

itsscottwilder said:

http://www.menards.com/main/appliances/humidifiers/hygrometer/p-1703722-c-9507.htm

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This one doesn't look like it can be calibrated. Pet stores (reptile section) also carry something similar if you don't want to order online.