Texas Flood

[Tim Hall]

We're starting to have a major problem with moisture where I am. Flooding is reaching the 100-year marks in places in Texas, and to make matters worse my house is built out of material called structural clay tile, which is an unglazed terra cotta - my house is basically a big Chia Pet.

So I picked up my guitar today, and realized my worst fear: the moisture is having a visible effect on my guitar (although strangely not so audible...yet). The neck is begining to swell such that it's obviously expanding beyond the length of the fret wire and nut. I'm worried that the nut is going to snap loose, or I'm going to end up with a warped neck.

Does anyone know how I might be able to dry this thing out, keep it dry, and will it assume it's proper form again? Thanks for any help.

Tim

[bob p]

Maybe it would help to buy a dehumidifier, and close up all of your guitars in one small room that you can seal off (like a bathroom), while running the dehumidifier. I once had a problem with a leaky basement in a place that I was renting, and I kept a dehumidifier running 24x7 to keep the moisture under control.

In the bigger scheme of things, maybe your guitar isn't the only thing that you should be worried about -- maybe running multiple dehumidifiers would be a good idea to help keep everything else in your house from getting ruined. Good luck.

[zorro]

Silica Gel, a desiccant, would suck the moisture out of it. I would suggest that you seal the guitar in a big garbage bag with the silica gel. I don't know if you have a Home Depot store in Texas, they are a lumber/hardware store,but ask any hardware store for it. I would think they could tell you where to get it if they don't have it. When the gel absorbs the moisture, you can reactiveate it by putting it into the microwave to get the moisture out of it.

[Rob Mercure]

Tim,

Both suggestions are great but I'd first go with Bob's - but an air conditioner is simply a dehumidifier for all practical purposes so an air conditioned room with the wall sealed with water proof paint will work. But I would start immediate, but "gentle" moisture removal. That is, you could put the guitar into a warm oven at about 110 degrees but I'd afraid the rapid moisture removal would cause even more damage - but I'd start slowly removing the moisture and buy some sort of humidity gauge for the ambient air around the guitar

Silica gel is great and probably a good long term solution but expensive. Cat litter will work well (get the unscented kind) and you can repeatedly bake it in the oven to remove the moisture until the situation stabilizes (and then either use it for your cats when finished or use it for oil spills).

What kind of guitar do you have? And how old is it? While almost any guitar glue is going to be water soluable - after all a luthier has to be able to disassemble the thang to work on it - hide glue and some older glues are more easily damaged and hide glue will grow mold on it (but it's still my favorite wood working glue) while some of the newer glues are more resistant. Put another way, if this is a 25 year old, or greater, "vintage" guitar then you need to move more quickly.

Here in the central Appalachian coalfields we have repeated flooding problems due to mining as well as normally high summer humidity - my Martin gets a tad "flabby" sounding in the summer and the action rises a little just from the wood absorbing moisture. I'm not sure that I understand your symptoms but if the fret board is absorbing more moisture than the neck - with the fretboard usually being unfinished and the neck finished this is a possibility but oily woods such as rosewood and ebony don't tend to absorb water as readily as mahogany necks do - and expanding I would tend to loosen the truss rod so that the neck and fret board can move together more easily even if it means not being able to play the instrument until the situation stabilizes.

Rob

[Tim Hall]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll be implementing a plan today. We've been neglecting to run the (thru-wall) AC because the temps have been so unusually cool with all the rain. I will probably start with that. I really hate to invest in a dehumidifier...more so because of the space than the cost. My house is VERY small.

The guitar is far from vintage and nothing special. 2004 MIM Strat, maple fretboard. I assume the fretboard and neck are the same cut of wood(?) What's happening is the neck is swelling (perp. to the grain) just enough that it's expanded about a half millimeter past the length of the frets and nut on either side...it's not an incredible amount, but enough to immediately see something isn't right. You can see "voids" all up the neck where the fret wire should come flush.

[Mark Hammer]

Pretty ironic that we collectively place such a premium on light or natural finishes, and the occasional bare body, under the assumption that having wood that can "breath" will sound better. Heck, I've been methodically stripping the finish off a lawsuit-era Ibanez LP neck to use, under that very same logic.

That rationale is perfectly sound, but for the fact that once in a while you get situations such as described here where the ability of wood to breath also means the wood can "inhale" stuff that isn't so good for it. At times like that, the idea of a thick plastic finish over absolutely everything on the instrument starts to seem like a pretty good idea.

Although the instrument in question is neither acoustic nor vintage in any way (yet!), the effects of the humidity are still undermining its properties. My guess is that the folks who work with acoustic heritage instruments will know a lot more about humidity and protection against it, given that acoustic instruments are rarely finished on the inside (i.e., big "lungs" to breath in with). Hard to imagine there isn't some sort of commercial product that a viola/mandolin/dreadnaught player can shove inside their case with the instrument when the rainy season hits.

[Tim Hall]

You know I was at some function recently with a live jazz band...I recall watching the guy playing the double bass. When I noticed my problem, I immediately wondered how the heck you keep an instrument like that from just falling to pieces. The AC is starting to suck the moisture out of the house, and it's finally getting warm enough to justify running it. I'm not sure if the neck will shrink back down though. Hey, it's not like it's a pre-CBS or anything

Talk about irony - everybody else seems to be having unbearable heat and dry conditions, which is what we normally have this time of year.

[bob p]

Tim, I've been watching the weather and you have just been pounded with more and more rain. We could use it up here, and if I could take away some of yours, I would.

Mark, regarding your question about anti-humidity devices: I remember seeing such an item that was deisgned to go into gun safes. It was called a "goldenrod" or something like that. It was an electrical device powered by 120 VAC, with a power cord that attached to a long, slender golden rod. The idea was that it would go into a gun safe and protect the contents against moisture buildup. I have no idea how it worked, or if it would be safe/helpful for musical instruments.

[John_H]

I'm not sure if the neck will shrink back down

Bring it out here to Nevada. It'll shrink before your eyes.

I have the exact opposite problem. I keep humidifiers in the cases of my acoustics. The temperatures have been 110+ the last couple weeks, with humidity >5%. The AC running constantly only sucks what moisture there is right out of the air. My small humidifier puts a gallon of water a day into the air, and it's still not enough.

Don't try to dry your guitar out too fast. Put it in it's case with some desiccant packs. It'll come back. A good source for desiccant is an Army surplus store.

[bob p]

Bring it out here to Nevada. It'll shrink before your eyes.

I have the exact opposite problem. I keep humidifiers in the cases of my acoustics. The temperatures have been 110+ the last couple weeks, with humidity >5%. The AC running constantly only sucks what moisture there is right out of the air. My small humidifier puts a gallon of water a day into the air, and it's still not enough.

An air conditioner isn't necessarily the right kind of air treatment device for people who live in arid/desert environments. I'm quite surprised that they get installed in homes in Nevada. A better device for your location might be what is colloquially known as a "swamp cooler". Its an evaporative cooling device that inserts water/humidity into your home instead of removing it. They have their advantages and disadvantages, but some of the advantages are that they cost about 1/4 as much to operate as a vapor-compression AC.

[Tim Hall]

I'm in arch & design...I know why they might install things that don't make sense. Because they sell. As long as developers make money, the voice of reason goes unheard. That's not to say AC isn't right for John's particular application.

Funny thing is my structural-clay tile house would probably be perfect for a low-humidity, high-diurnal-swing climate like Nevada. Anyway, I don't mean to rant...just happens to be a subject close to home.

And it's raining again! I should have taken up boat building instead of amps.

[John_H]

Evap coolers are commonplace out here for sure. They don't get much residential use though. I imagine, because they're rather high maintenance compared to a HVAC system.

I agree. They work great.

I'm going to get my Martin back tonight. It's been in my buddies guitar humidifier for the past ten days. I sure miss it. The poor thing was getting pretty crispy.

[R.G.]

Hard to imagine there isn't some sort of commercial product that a viola/mandolin/dreadnaught player can shove inside their case with the instrument when the rainy season hits.

It is hard to imagine. I have seen the reverse, humidifier pouches to insert in the instrument body cavity.

A pretty simple 1W or 2W heater inside the instrument case would keep the rainy season at bay. 'course you'd have to plug in your instrument case to a wall outlet.

[bob p]

RG that brings entirely new meaning to the term "electric " guitar.

[Sweetfinger]

The Planet Waves Humidipak system will keep a guitar at proper humidity whether the external conditions are too wet or too dry.