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Hi Folks...

Last week over here in Europe we had a heat wave... it was hot and humid outside (sometimes in the 60-70% range)... but the humidity in my shop was in the 30s... can anyone explain this too me..?

I get how it works in winter... with heating and all. But this one confused me....

Totally screwed up my bracing schedule.

Gary.

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www.leddingtonguitars.com

Shop conditions would be a help.
Air conditioning? Dehumidifier? Heating (as if)?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Read this or similar definitions of RH the actual amount of water in the air varies with temperature. In reality dew point is the most accurate means of measuring humidity in the air
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_humidity

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Funny you mention that. I noticed that this year in Virginia too. I try to stay at 40-45% year round. In the winter I run a humidifier and in the summer I run AC and usually a dehumidifier. Even though it's been very humid and hot hear, especially the last couple weeks, I have almost had to run the humidifier in the shop as it has dipped to 35% at times. Really weird. I can only think that my AC is running really dry this year but I have not noticed since I opend this new shop 5 years ago.

What hygrometer do you use and how do you know it's accurate?

No humidifyer or de-humidifyer have been in use... these are ambient readings... no atmospheric modification going on...

I have two hygrometers... i have tested both using the salt trick... one came out at exactly 75% the other at 70% they are both pretty accurate, and agree on the 5% difference however they move.

G.

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www.leddingtonguitars.com

With no temperature (AC) or humidity (De-humidifier) modifications going on, the number don't quite make sense. Is your shop in a basement area? Does it stay cool in there naturally? Get colder over night?

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

This has happened to me as well down here in Florida. Just the other day, we had some very humid weather outside and my shop was high 30's, low 40's %RH. Most of the time it aligns with what is going on outside but not always because of interior heating/cooling. Nothing to worry about, just humidify/dehumidify as needed. For the record, my hygrometers are all calibrated to within 1% accuracy.

A quote from the Wikipedia page might be a clue, "The same amount of water vapor results in higher relative humidity in cool air than warm air." So the reverse of that would also be true, "The same amount of water vapor results in lower relative humidity in warm air than cool air". So the hot outside temperature warmed up your shop which dropped the relative humidity. This would be based on the fact that your shop walls are not impervious to temperature changes but are relatively impervious to the movement of moisture through them. Sounds good in theory, anyways.

You can't argue with math. IT seems counterintuitive but that's the way it works.

This makes a lot of sense... Thanks so much for getting to the bottom of this!!

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www.leddingtonguitars.com