Anybody use Zorb-It for humidity control?

I came across these packets which presumably provide humidity control in both wet AND dry conditions. A testimonial on the website mentions guitars. I did see a reference in an old post but it was a general discussion on "humidity".

http://www.zorb-it.com/overview/

Anybody ever try them? What do you think?

Jim B

I use them in humid carolina summers and they absorb well, not too sure about how well they work in dry climates.
Oasis uke humidifier is great for the soundhole.

I would not use desicant packs unless you live outdoors in an extremely humid climate!

Keep in mind, even if you live in a fairly humid area, both heating and air conditioning dry the inside air out so the indoor climate is rarely, if ever, too humid! You might not need humidifiers in that case, but you almost certainly won't need desicant packs, either!

John

OldePhart said:

I would not use desicant packs unless you live outdoors in an extremely humid climate!

Keep in mind, even if you live in a fairly humid area, both heating and air conditioning dry the inside air out so the indoor climate is rarely, if ever, too humid! You might not need humidifiers in that case, but you almost certainly won't need desicant packs, either!

John

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I used to use them in Miami. Especially during the summers. Then again we're talking 95% humidity outside and about 65-70% indoors with the AC on. In order to get the humidity to 50% you'd have to keep the AC temp at around 70 which was a bit too cold for our tastes. Now I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum where it's 20% indoors. I just moved to New York and now it's so dry that I'm running a humidifier 24/7 and have wet sponges in all my cases.

Hi John,
very true, this one is actually a "smart" disectant- it does not force the relative humidity under 50% in the case.

OldePhart said:

I would not use desicant packs unless you live outdoors in an extremely humid climate!

Keep in mind, even if you live in a fairly humid area, both heating and air conditioning dry the inside air out so the indoor climate is rarely, if ever, too humid! You might not need humidifiers in that case, but you almost certainly won't need desicant packs, either!

John

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I don't have A/C so summers can get horrendous. I think I'll get one and see how it performs keeping close eye on the hygrometer. I can always use it in my tool cabinet if it doesn't work out in the uke case.

Jim B

chrimess said:

Hi John,
very true, this one is actually a "smart" disectant- it does not force the relative humidity under 50% in the case.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, so they sent it to school? Heh, heh.

People who are warning against it, have never lived in South Carolina, where our humidity has humidity. If in doubt, get a cheap room hygrometer to check and be sure, but while I never had a uke back home, I did have a wooden clarinet, and that bad boy always told me about the humidity in the house with AC running.

Chrimess knows what I'm talking about.

Yeah, I know some places get pretty humid, I'm on the border between east TX humidity and west texas dry, so we get a little of each.

The thing is that there is rarely any permanent damage to stringed instruments, especially small ones like ukes, from excess humidiity. Typically, high humidity will make tops swell but even after years being swolen things tend to settle back to normal after the instrument is allowed to dry out some. I bought a classical guitar from Florida and it had obviously been somebody's beach guitar - there was even sand in the case. The previous owner had sanded the saddle down to the wooden bridge to compensate for the swollen belly so I had to replace that after I'd had the guitar here in Texas for about three months.

As long as the owner hasn't tried to compensate for the swelled top by sanding the bridge saddle down to a nub these instruments rarely need more than simply being in a lower humidity for a few months to be pretty much back to normal.

But, get them too dry and you're looking at cracks, loose frets, and even dried-out glue seams in extreme cases. All of those require expensive intervention to fix.

So, yeah, if I lived in super wet climate I might use a dessicant, but I sure would be nervous about it 'cause I'd rather have a too-wet uke than one that has dried out and cracked!

John