Electric guitars in really high humidity

[JuJu Kwan]

I live in city with really high humidity, dew points can be as high as 80. What should I do to protect my guitars?

[SEHpicker]

The biggest thing is not to let your guitars get exposed to extreme humidity/temperature changes very quickly.

They need to have a little time to adjust. My guitars stay in a low humidity, temperature controlled studio. When I go to a gig I leave them in their cases for at least an hour and then undo the case latches for a little while. Then I put them on their guitar stands (in the shade for outdoor gigs). I check their tuning several times during this process. I have not had any problems doing it this way, although if it's really hot and humid I have to adjust the tuning several times during the gig. And I live in Florida.

 

[Larryz]

I would listen to SEHpicker JuJu Kwan as he lives in Florida! And check with guitar store techs in your area as there are humidity products that can be placed in cases and in sound holes. I remember you saying you had a Strat, and you have less to worry about with an electric guitar but humidity is still a concern. I would leave the guitar in it's case when not in use. Many players open the case and allow a few minutes for the guitar to get acclimated before playing/tuning.

 

Also, you can buy a room humidity unit which can be used during periods of high humidity. I also have a humidity gauge that is sitting next to me as I'm typing this in. They don't cost that much and they are portable and tell the temperature too. I'm at 35% right at this moment and you can determine the best time of the day to practice/play before taking the guitar out for a ride. There was a very nice glass guitar case that holds about 5 guitars on display. One article on humidity showed this case and the guy had a humidity control inside that serviced all 5 of his guitars. I have a closet with all my guitars inside and would be able to control the storage area humidity of all of them at once, if I lived in Florida LOL! Good luck with it...

[Caevan O’Shite]

Yhup. Also keep the guitar in its case a lot of the time, wipe the guitar off, also on top of and underneath the strings, with a clean dry all-cotton cloth (old cotton T-shirts are great for this) after playing.

 

And also learn how to adjust the neck's truss-rod when needed if there are seasonal or climactic changes in the humidity that effect the relief in the neck (slight forward-bow that allows a little room for playing and the string's vibration above the frets). Where I live, it gets pretty humid in Spring and especially the Summer, but dries out in Autumn and Winter, with lots of up and down changes in Spring and Autumn. I also live on a hill overlooking a large lake and marshy valley. I have to adjust the truss-rod rather frequently in Spring and Autumn.

[JuJu Kwan]

Thank you, I guess I'm doing the right thing. I have SKB cases, the good ones because I fly with them. I went to Disney World in August 2014, so that's close to the condition I have to deal with. The Strat I keep in China is always kept in its case and I've never had any issues with it.

[p90jr]

I live in Louisiana, same as the swampier parts of Florida...

 

I mentioned something about keeping guitars in air-conditioned spaces once to an older friend, who laughed and - while agreeing that care should be taken - pointed out that when he was a kid here air-conditioning was a rare thing that wealthy people had, most stores did not, and that everyone hunts for the guitars from that era that sat in all of that heat and humidity for decades.

 

The acoustics live in a closet in the house and the main one is always out on the couch, the hollow body jazz box lives in a built-in rifle display case at the end of the hallway to the bedrooms (my wife's doing, but it looks very cool). The electrics live in the studio out back - kept around 77 degrees year round - and some end up in the garage, which my wife had an air conditioner/heater put into to keep it at 77 degrees or so year round... it's where the laundry machines are, and the exercise equipment... basically everything but cars. Strings, in general, rust quickly if I don't treat them with something (Ernie Ball string wipes or D'addario string cleaner) but other than that I don't have many problems... no tuning problems or warpage. I have a finicky Jazzmaster that I thought needed a set up because I neglected it in the case in the studio for about a year before getting the AC worked out, but after leaving it under a bed inside for a year it needed another set up... it just seems to be the one finicky guitar I have that constantly needs adjustment.

[desertbluesman]

For many years, I lived on an island out in the Atlantic ocean. Humidity always in the high 80's and 90's. My safe keeping secret was; if my guitars were not in my hands they were in their cases. I still to this day have one of those guitars and I now live in the Arizona desert with humidity under 30 always, and most of the time under 10. My safe keeping secret is; if my guitars are not in my hands they are in their cases. I never display my guitars as if they are art objects. I protect them because they are tools I use to make my music, they are not display objects.