Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
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Post by Andy P on Nov 29, 2017 20:57:23 GMT
Breedlover Have you tried speaking to Lowden. I like the look of Lowdens and have been considering buying on but based on what I’ve read on the forum they sound like very temperamental guitars. No I haven't but if I did I suspect that their response would be something along the lines of: "read the advice on our website". It's probable that if I'd done that I wouldn't be experiencing these problems so please don't let me put you off buying one. They're fabulous instruments and their owners are exceptionally loyal to the brand.
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Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
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Post by Andy P on Nov 29, 2017 21:00:29 GMT
My guitars stay in their cases for the most part. Must be something to do with the environment... Can't blame this one on fake news. If you have a solid wall house keep them in a first floor room not facing prevailing winds, should avoid rising and penetrating damp. If it's a modern house make sure the room is well vented, surprising how quickly things can get damp and RH can intermittently rise and fall. Higher RH definitely has a dampening effect on my little buggers Good advice thanks Rob and I'll take it. Our Georgian house has solid sandstone block walls and the "music room", being on the north side, is the coldest in the house.
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Post by robmc on Nov 29, 2017 22:40:07 GMT
Yeah, nice thick old walls need to be a little damp to work properly but not great for thin wood with a light finish. Also make sure they are away from the external walls... And nowhere near radiators, not that I'm suggesting you're an eejit Andy but I have seen nice guitars sat next to nice radiators
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Post by jackorion on Nov 30, 2017 7:35:38 GMT
So I've ordered the Planet Waves Humidipacks and I'll keep the guitars in their cases and see how we go. The humidipaks are good for maintaining a guitar that is already at the correct level but they're not really designed for drying out an overly wet guitar. I actually use these - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F9J8S1U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - to keep the humidity down in my guitar cases - by emptying out some of the silica gel into an old sock I've made it small enough to fit in the neck support pocket. Now you have to know what you're looking out for in terms of levels of humidity and signs of it's affects on your guitars if you're going to use theses because they can take in a lot of moisture - but I know that the humidity is normally too high where I keep my guitars and I know what to look out for. It might be seen as overkill for some people and I used to get some ' you're more obsessed with looking after your guitars than playing them' comments when I discussed humidity with customers in the past but my guitars cost me a lot of money and are very important to me, so looking after them and making sure they play and sound their best is also important - and they all get played and left out on stands when I'm playing. It's just they go back in their cases when they're not being played and that means that at night, or when I'm not in the house, or if I'm on holiday, I know that the humidity is under control.
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Post by jangarrack on Nov 30, 2017 9:31:02 GMT
I would be grateful for any further comments or guidance on this as I like having my guitars always quickly and easily accessible, but not enough to risk any damage to them. Get a hygrometer and calibrate it. When it's calibrated put it in the room where you have your guitars and take readings every hour or so for few weeks to see just how much variability in humidity occurs in the room. Then you can decide if you need to put in place any additional measures. Hygrometer calibration is pretty simple. Get a ziplock bag that your hygrometer will fit into and a bottle cap or something similar that will hold some salt. Fill the bottle cap with salt, wet the salt so that the mixture will move slightly in the cap, put the cap and hygrometer in the bag and seal it. Then leave it overnight and check the reading in the morning - it should show 75.3%. I use cheap analogue hygrometers in my workshop and house that have the screw on the back for adjustment and calibrate them every few weeks. You can use different salts that have different RH readings - as I need to brace and close the box up at between 40-50% humidity I calibrate with potassium carbonate instead of salt (sodium chloride) as this stabilises at 43.16% relative humidity - the technique is exactly as I described above. It's good practice to calibrate your hygrometer every couple of weeks or so. Thanks davewhite for the hygrometer calibration advice. I knew that most were prone to variations but had no idea that they could be calibrated in this way, so I will have a go at doing it.
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davewhite
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Luthier
Aemulor et ambitiosior
Posts: 3,546
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Post by davewhite on Nov 30, 2017 10:01:27 GMT
Get a hygrometer and calibrate it. When it's calibrated put it in the room where you have your guitars and take readings every hour or so for few weeks to see just how much variability in humidity occurs in the room. Then you can decide if you need to put in place any additional measures. Hygrometer calibration is pretty simple. Get a ziplock bag that your hygrometer will fit into and a bottle cap or something similar that will hold some salt. Fill the bottle cap with salt, wet the salt so that the mixture will move slightly in the cap, put the cap and hygrometer in the bag and seal it. Then leave it overnight and check the reading in the morning - it should show 75.3%. I use cheap analogue hygrometers in my workshop and house that have the screw on the back for adjustment and calibrate them every few weeks. You can use different salts that have different RH readings - as I need to brace and close the box up at between 40-50% humidity I calibrate with potassium carbonate instead of salt (sodium chloride) as this stabilises at 43.16% relative humidity - the technique is exactly as I described above. It's good practice to calibrate your hygrometer every couple of weeks or so. Thanks davewhite for the hygrometer calibration advice. I knew that most were prone to variations but had no idea that they could be calibrated in this way, so I will have a go at doing it. You can't always alter the reading on hygrometers but at least you will know what to add on/subtract from the reading shown to get a more accurate humidity measure.
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Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
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Post by Andy P on Nov 30, 2017 10:50:34 GMT
So I've ordered the Planet Waves Humidipacks and I'll keep the guitars in their cases and see how we go. The humidipaks are good for maintaining a guitar that is already at the correct level but they're not really designed for drying out an overly wet guitar. I actually use these - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00F9J8S1U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - to keep the humidity down in my guitar cases - by emptying out some of the silica gel into an old sock I've made it small enough to fit in the neck support pocket. I've got a couple of similar bags in the case just now. Thanks
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Post by oustudent on Nov 30, 2017 17:19:35 GMT
I have them on the wall in the same room as I listen to my CD library, I think the soundwaves of Jimmy Hendrix on full volume does them good
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Post by andyhowell on Dec 3, 2017 23:33:48 GMT
Different weather conditions have always had an impact on the tone of my guitars.
I have wall hangers in one of my rooms and sometimes have the guitars on those but for the most part they stay in their cases - especially in winter.
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Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"8e2be1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 060607
Mini-Profile Text Color: 0b0b0c
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Post by Andy P on Dec 18, 2017 22:24:45 GMT
Update:
I've kept the guitar in its case for the last 2 weeks, accompanied by a Planet Waves Humidipak. The combination of that and a thin shim under the saddle seems to have done the trick. It's sounding much more like its old self 😊
Many thanks for all your help.
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Post by bitey on Dec 21, 2017 12:19:48 GMT
May I suggest checking the nut and/or the saddle.
I had a similar issue once and swapped out the nut and seemed to sort it out
good luck
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Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"8e2be1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 060607
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Post by Andy P on Dec 23, 2017 17:57:41 GMT
Thanks bitey, it does seem a lot better since I lifted the saddle a fraction and sorted the humidity out. I'll bear your advice in mind though in case of future issues.
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Post by creamburmese on Jan 3, 2018 1:00:30 GMT
I'm glad you sorted this Breedlover - but I'm grateful you posted the question - not least because Dave White posted that useful info on calibrating hygrometers! Not for the same reasons as you all though - I keep an almost permanently running HUMIDIFIER in my "guitar room" and if I'm lucky I can keep the humidity up around the 45% level without having to refill it more than once a day. Having had one crack when I erroneously thought that 30% was high enough (made in Western Canada - another humid region) I'm now completely batty about checking the hygrometer at least twice a day. Of course I haven't calibrated it.... but I can see it go up and down.... and BTW I don't want to hear all this stuff about temperamental guitars - you sissies don't have a clue about temperamental until you've had a double top classical - mine goes out of tune if I even look at it wrongly, and I'm convinced it knows when I'm playing well because it instantly goes out of tune so it sounds horrible anyway
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Andy P
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,982
My main instrument is: Taylor 312ce, Guild D25, Deering 5 string banjo
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Mini-Profile Name Color: 060607
Mini-Profile Text Color: 0b0b0c
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Post by Andy P on Jan 4, 2018 14:41:28 GMT
mine goes out of tune if I even look at it wrongly, and I'm convinced it knows when I'm playing well because it instantly goes out of tune so it sounds horrible anyway
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