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 Humidity question 
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Location: Dayton, Ohio
Post Humidity question
The humidity in my basement studio, where I keep the Stick, is +-32. I read somewhere that wood instruments should be kept in room at humidity of 50.

Just curious if this is something I should really be concerned with?

Randy

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Randy Brown

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Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:38 am
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Location: Monona, WI, USA
Post Re: Humidity question
All this will do to a Stick is require that you adjust your truss rod. Because the truss rod is so accessible and easy to use I make small adjustments all the time. I like to keep the action of the strings as low as possible at all times.

-Eric

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Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:40 am
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Post Re: Humidity question
Thanks, Eric. I thought I was fretting ( ;)) over nothing.

Randy

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Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:56 am
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Post Re: Humidity question
With due respect to all, I beg to differ on this topic. Wood expansion and contraction due to humidity has left many of my instruments with either exposed fret rod ends due to shrunken wood or fret rod ends embedded away from expanded wood. Rosewood, Teak, Oak, it didn't matter. My Sticks, Warrs and Megatars all suffer from climate conditions, Box's haven't so far. One of my Stick mentors stated that I should grow my thumbnails long and secure them in the extended slot left in the wood as an anchor point, great suggestion if you don't play with your thumbs. No diff between the NJ weather I left from and the TX weather I moved in to. I don't expect any such phenomena with my Railboard, this was a major unadvertised selling point for me !!! No instrumentcentricity here, just sharing my experience over the years, y'alls, no doubt, will be different, and this is beyond truss rod adjustments, how about lateral truss rods ????


Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:56 pm
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Post Re: Humidity question
txtouchguitarist wrote:
With due respect to all, I beg to differ on this topic. Wood expansion and contraction due to humidity has left many of my instruments with either exposed fret rod ends due to shrunken wood or fret rod ends embedded away from expanded wood. Rosewood, Teak, Oak, it didn't matter. My Sticks, Warrs and Megatars all suffer from climate conditions, Box's haven't so far. One of my Stick mentors stated that I should grow my thumbnails long and secure them in the extended slot left in the wood as an anchor point, great suggestion if you don't play with your thumbs. No diff between the NJ weather I left from and the TX weather I moved in to. I don't expect any such phenomena with my Railboard, this was a major unadvertised selling point for me !!! No instrumentcentricity here, just sharing my experience over the years, y'alls, no doubt, will be different, and this is beyond truss rod adjustments, how about lateral truss rods ????

This is completely normal. With humidity changes, wood will expand and contract and the metal frets won't. If you used a fancy glue on the frets it would cause the wood to crack. Solid wood moves, that's one of the first things furniture and cabinet makers have to learn. (I was a furniture maker a long time ago.) Right now, towards the end of a long, hard winter in Wisconsin, the frets on my SG12 are sticking out about 0.5 mm. There's nothing that can be done about it. The only alternative is to use a material that doesn't expand and contract as much. Aluminum, Graphite, and even bamboo, would be better. Among the hardwoods, Mahogany is the most stable but will still show this behavior. Is this causing some problems for you?

-Eric

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Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:46 pm
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Post Re: Humidity question
"Is this causing some problems for you?"

The only problem this ever caused for me was on a non-Stick Tapper, the exposed fret ends were (and still are) sharp due to sub-standard finishing, and I never sent it back for fret re-dressing, not worth the shipping costs.

Glenn

PS: Not serious on the lateral truss rods, obviously wouldn't help ;)
PPS: Happier than the proverbial pig in shit with the Railboard :D


Fri Mar 07, 2014 6:44 am
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Post Re: Humidity question
As a drummer, one of the things I learned about instrument storage is that it's not necessarily the level of humidity that is important, but the amount of change in humidity (same with temperature). If you're storing your wood instrument in an area where the humidity or temperature has a lot of fluctuation (like an uninsulated garage or basement), then you're going to have issues with warpage. A stable environment is best (as long as it's not too extreme).

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Fri Mar 07, 2014 12:26 pm
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