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I know what happens when you glue up when the humidity is too high. A cracked top is the likey result. (experiance speaks). However, what are the failure modes when you glue up and the humidity is too low. Right now may shop is 27 percent, for example. I'm not going to glue up at this humidity but what is the likely result if I did?

On a related note, I've heard that you should let wood acclimate to your shop for many months before you use it. Why? What is happening to the wood during this time? I know that wood responds very quicky to humidity changes when it is as thin as we use for lutherie. I think that it was Mario who did an experiment where he took wood out of his controled shop into a humid area and the response was very fast. It think is was measured in minutes. If wood responds so quickly, why wait a year before you use it?
Mike Mahar38375.8543055556

I hear you. I am running my humidifier at full tilt and can only get it up to 38%.

I spent the evening prepping brace stock and fabricating other small parts.   

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Hi Mike,   yeah 27% is a bit on the dry side. I used have the mentality that building under dry conditions was better than working in the humid conditions. But the reality is that too dry is just as bad as to humid.

I built a 00 during the winter last year under 30% humidity.... well the guitar grew and blew apart this summer...no glue was a match for this amount of movement.

This year I bought a 14 gal. humidifier from Sears. I am keeping my shop RH at 45% on the nose, and I am sleeping much better now.

it is very critical to maintain the proper RH on both sides of the spectrum.

all the best,
Matt

I'm lucky I guess, I'm still pulling water from my basement shop, not much, only 1 gallon every 3 or 4 days, but I'm able to maintain 44 to 47 rh. Now, up stairs is a different story, I'm pumping a gallon a day into the main part of the house, its probable that this is making its way to the shop, via the furnace. Either way, my basement shop has proven to be a pretty stable environment year around.

I joined a top 2 summers ago and the RH in my garage shop was near 80%, that winter she split down the length of the center seam, lesson learned Glad it never found its way on a body..

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

I guess a humidifier is in order. The humidity in my shop is almost never right. From May to October it is between 60 and 70 percent. Then the furnice kicks on and it races to between 25 and 35 percent.

Mike, I found controlling the RH in a small shop pretty easy, and cheap. My dehumidifier was under 200.00, and my humidifier was around 60.00, filters are 10.00.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com