Acoustic Guitar vs. Humindity

[KYChucky]

I live in the Ohio valley. It has been very damp here all spring. I cant be sure, but the strings on my Martin seem higher off the frets. I never measured or anything when I got it. It could be my imagination. Ive taken good car of it, but I have not babied it either. I don't keep track of humidity in the house and I'm sure we got up past the 70% mark for a wile. The neck bow seems about the same (about the thickness of a match book).. I used to tune it down flat. Then about a month or 2 ago pulled it up into pitch. I didnt realize but, that it when it started raining.

How much bow should there be in the top of the guitar? Is there a rule?

How long in high humidity does it take for things to change?

I don't get around much and play other guitars, but the action seemed lower. I guess I will go by the shop tomorrow and play some other guitars. Maybe take this in and see what the thing.

I hope Im acting like my mother, freaked out about every little thing.

[clayville]

It's hard to diagnose what might be going on here. You're right to suspect that a long-term elevated humidity and/or a tuning change could be having an impact - could be the neck, could be the top bowing, could be the saddle leaning, could be a lot of things.

If I'm feeling super finicky with my acoustics, I'll make small "seasonal adjustments" to the truss rods to compensate for long-term humidty changes (here it's wetter in the spring/summer, drier in the fall/winter) - just a 1/4 or half turn of the truss-rod nut can make a big difference, especially if you let the neck settle-in over an hour or so before doing more.

Anyway.... this link below has some truly invaluable visual, step-by-step how-to stuff if you're a little unsure what you're seeing or how to proceed. It's an ugly layout and clunky site, but has some really great info if you dig through. See especially the blue links along the left towards the bottom.

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html

[KYChucky]

Clayville:
I love that site, have read it all over the years I think. I also found some stuff on Taylor Guitar site. I downloaded a 'symptoms of a wet guitar' pdf but cant seem to find the link to post it. I think the guitar is a bit wet after looking at that. Plus I think it took some time for things to settle in as I brought the guitar up to pitch. One more thing I remembered, I switched to Martin strings. Their wound strings are a tad bigger in diameter than what was on the guitar previously. Im sure that is contributing as well.

I have got to get something to read the humidity in our house! Here it will be a question of drying the air.

[gibsonjunkie]

I keep a whole house humidifier running all winter , as well as a large room humidifier in my music room. In the summer I keep a dehumidifier running, although I sometimes have to use the room humidifier in the summer when air conditioning is running hard to keep the room from getting too dry. Radio Shack has a great digital temp/humidity detector that can help you see what is happening where you store your guitars. Cheap insurance at around $30-40. Taylor Guitar's website has some great articles on humidity, as well.

[KYChucky]

Im running to the shack after work to grab something to read the humidity in the house. Step 1. so we will see what is going on with the air at least, and go from there.

[KYChucky]

yes, house is damp. But just read Martin's info on humidity. they state rapid changes in temp and humidity is the problem. So wile my humidity is/was high it happened slowly and the temperature is not high. so... perhaps Im just looking at a damp guitar with tighter strings on it.... but still need to dry the house.