Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey,

I've tried searching for anything on this topic but couldn't come up with much. So, can anyone help me out in trying to figure out how to make some sort of storage unit for my woods. I live in Tennessee and it's very humid here.

Thanks.

Some folks have used a light bulb in a box or a closet to help keep it drier but I really think that the better bet is to humidity control your working area AND wood storage area. We get asked this question over and over, at least once a week.... and I have come to the conclusion that if you are serious about building quality guitars getting a properly humidity controlled shop and storage area is a must.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news but it's important to me to try my best to provide quality advice to folks. Hold off on the CNC machine and get your shops humidity under control first and you will be fine.

Welcome to the OLF too.

So a dehumidifier from the local hardware store would be my best choice for dehumidifying the whole room? I'm lost for ways to control the humidity.

Thanks...

Yep I run a dehumidifier in my shop, a small one, and it works great at maintaining the humidity at between 42 - 48% which is ideal for guitar building. In the winter I run a small humidifier.

Remember, too, the de-humidifier will also raise the temperature in the shop. That's my biggest problem. I have a portable AC, but it really doesn't do the job a window unit would do, but I'm not allowed to have a window unit.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Could you just run an air conditioner in the room? Ive heard that before. You need to seal the room and get 2 hygrometers, one for in the room and one for outside it.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Yes, but a window AC would be better than a portable one, like I have. With a window AC, you have the heat generating works aoutside, and the cooling section on the inside. With the portable, it's all inside, and you send the hot air out through a 5" pipe. The problem I have is that the AC creates a low pressure area inside the shop, which sucks air in through all the leaky places, and the de-humidifier has to work harder to remove the new humidity. I will have to do a lot of work to make my shop air tight, as I have pipes running into the crawl space in the back of the shop where the hot water heater for the house is. Not the best set-up, but it is what I have, and it's better than working in a bathroom.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I live in TN and over the last month or so the central A/C has kept the humidity under 48% for the most part. I just looked at my hygrometer and the highest it's been in about two weeks is 51%. At night it can get down to 35-39%.

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Jeremy Douglas

Like Todd said, it isn't too bad. Working in an 85* shop at 45% humidity is not uncomfortable, really. It starts to get uncomfortable at about 90 and gets worse. The de-humidifier raises the temp in my shop anywhere from 5 to 10* in most of the humidity we have around here. I do not leave the AC on all the time. I'm thinking that one of those little mini built in units might be a good investment, if I am going to keep doing this, which I don't see how I can control any more.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

See I'm using my moms garage to do stuff and I don't have anyway to seal that off. I'm still in college and I don't have anyplace to work at the dorms lol.
I can get a dehumidifier for the garage while I work but, I think that I need something to store the wood in while I am not there. Does that make sense?

Thanks

Yep, that makes sense! If you keep your wood in a small room with an dehumidifier and take it out when you work on it it should be fine. It will take the wood many hours to change moisture content once it is taken from the room. Just keep it in the room as much as possible. The room: you could build a small room in the garage with 2x4's and sheetrock it or maybe just a double sided wooden box with room for the wood and dehumidifier. Some on here have done that and they say it works well.

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

There is a recent thread on MIMF about making a box to keep your stuff in. It uses a 100w light bulb(The real kind, not the Green ones with the Mercury in them that require the assistance of a Haz Mat Team, if you break one! ) to reduce the humidity, and is vented at the top to allow the humidity to escape. With a dimmer, it seems to keep things comfortably in the 40% to 50% range with simple control. It should be big enough for things currently in process, wood, glued stuff (backs, tops, etc.) and items which will be used in the near future.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

There was a time when I had to run a dehumidifier constantly in my basement shop during the spring and summer, and a humidifier in the fall and winter. Then a few years ago I installed a new furnace, and had a good quality humidifier added on to the unit. Now the need for a humidifier is no longer needed during the heating season.
My last addition (last summer) was a small window a/c unit which just barely fit into one of the basement windows. I had to remove and rebuild the original window frame to fit it in there. It was worth it, because it keeps the basement cool and dry all through the hot humid season. I put a plastic window-well cover over the window to protect the a/c unit from the elements, and even left it installed through the winter with no problems.
If you look around, you may be able to find a small unit that you can fit into a basement window. Also, some companies make a split a/c system with the condenser outside, and the other unit - a through-the wall unit for inside. This could be a great way to go. Those aren't cheap, but can be a great solution.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I think a dehumidifier is the way to go.
Can the dehumidifier regulate its activity to maintain a certain humidity level? Or how would I go about do that?

Yes it can, but you will need a decent hygrometer to actually tell what the humidity is. The dehumidifiers have settings like 40, 45, 50, 55, etc, but they are not very accruate. You'll have to find the setting that is right. Mine happens to be pretty accurate, but many are not, much like the digital hygrometers you get in places like WalMart and Radio Shack.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I need to check my settings daily here in Michigan and tweak as needed but it only takes a second to do.

My workshop is the loft and I monitored the humidity for a month and it always hovered around 45-50% but now the summers here it's dropped to 25-30% except if we have rain. Once the rains stopped it can jump to 75-80% for a few hours I assume till the roof dries I guess. Other thing is the bungalow itself always stays between 45-50% unless mum's cooking a roast and all the pans are going!

Anyone else experiance these variances?

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

I am looking into using dehumidify bags and cardboard box/double plastic. My humidity levels are near perfect year round, but in case it rains, I want to put the stuff Im working on away. They cost like 15.00 or so. Recharge in the oven when they get wet. 65% is a bad day, and rare.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Chief,What part of Tennessee are you in?I`m in Nashville.
James W B

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I am in Knoxville.

The bag idea sounds pretty cool.

Ive just modified my 'emergency' box method (I have near perfect humidity alot of the time). Its a large plastic bag big enough to hold the wood, Im looking at super glads or something, with the desicant bag inside, and hygrometer. Took a few days to figure that one out. I will see how easy it is to adjust this soon.

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

I run a humidifier and a dehumidifier depending on the season and what the RH is. Here in northeast
Pennsylvania the humidity doesn't go crazy on us so neither unit gets a real workout no matter what
time of year it is It's important, though, to monitor and maintain the environment of the work area where
the wood will be during the build process of a guitar. I keep all of my wood on shelves that are in that
area and exposed to the same conditions that they will be built with in.

Like Hesh, I check my levels daily and adjust accordingly since it literally takes less than a minute. My
shop never gets over 70 degrees and stays between 42% & 45% relative humidity at that temperature. I
prefer it at 68 degrees and 45%, but it's usually 70/45%.

If you store your woods in a different environment from that which you build in, you'd better be
ready to give them some time to acclimate to the build room before working them at all.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars