I have a carbon fiber one. I live in Southern California and go from desert to beach and back. It doesn’t move or care a bit. I recommend everyone should get one.
@carlhagen2488 If I ever buy another acoustic guitar, it will probably be carbon fiber. Thanks! By the way, I spent half of my life in the San Fernando Valley. The smog and the earthquakes chased me out of there.
When they're talking about wood and warranties, it totally makes sense. They can't guarantee how wood will move when taken outside the optimum parameters. That's the nature of the material. It doesn't mean you can't own a wooden acoustic guitar, or even that it will warp and split outside those optimum conditions. It just means that if you want to risk it, and something happens, you can't expect them to fix it under the warranty (and I'd assume we're talking long-term storage environment, not brief excursions into sub-optimal conditions). If you live in more extreme climates, and can't humidify or dehumidify a small space for a wooden guitar, a carbon fiber guitar might be a better option. I had a wood topped Martin warp over time in my air conditioned home, and I eventually replaced it with a carbon fiber Klos. I liked the sound of the Martin better, but I like the no-maintenance of the Carbon fiber more. If music was my livelihood, I'd probably buy a wooden guitar and figure out how to keep my house, or at least one room or closet, closer to the recommended parameters. Since I just play casually, carbon fiber works for me.
I'll also add that I play Irish flute, where wooden flutes are the standard. Almost all antique wooden flutes are cracked because they were stored at some point where they dried out too much. Even newer flutes routinely crack. When they do, it's expensive to repair them. For that reason, I prefer Delrin or Carbon Fiber, but I do have one blackwood flute, and I store it in a large plastic tub with a smaller, perforated tub of water to keep the humidity constant (around 60%). I could probably keep it out more often without issue, but having to be mindful of long-term climate conditions for storing is just part of what it means to own a wooden instrument.
@NathanielDowell One of my students said, "Of course Martin is proud of their warranty. It means they will never need to claim responsibility!" Thank you for your comments.
@@NathanielDowell I have been lucky with my wooden recorder and Buffet Clarinet. I have never added humidity to them, but I do oil the bore once every 3 or 4 years. They are both about 50 years old and doing just fine!
I think big guitar manufacturers are just trying to cover their butts. My guitar was made in a tiny shop in Andalucía, Spain. Humidity and temps were definitely not in the range specified by the manufacturers in this video. It has been from Andalucía to Seattle. I currently live in the middle of the US where it is hot and humid in the summer and frigid and dry in the winter. I have had not problems with it due to either heat or humidity in the 10 years I've played it. It's always kept in a high quality case when I'm not playing it.
Maybe I’ve gotten lucky but I never worry about humidity. My guitars went from pretty high humidity in the Midwest for a decade to now In Phoenix AZ with no humidity for a few years and nothing ever happened. I’m just simply not doing all that extra crap. Shouldn’t be any reason for it.
Instruments from the Renaissance have survived just fine without powered air conditioning or humidity controlling salts. Modern instruments having this trouble are simply made of sub-par materials. Historically only gourd based instruments needed special care in regards to humidity to survive. Before someone wants to 'correct' me by example of argumentum ad absurdity; spare me. Guitars were peasant folk instruments carried by wayfaring troubadours in the middle ages who couldn't afford lutes, if a modern instrument can't handle a fifth of the temperature/humidity variation those instruments experienced it's simply cheap garbage being sold for more than it is worth to unsuspecting customers. 'Take better care of it' is cope by sunk cost suckers who paid way too much for lemons.
I live in a desert climate and I have a classical guitar that got severe irreparable damage from drying shrinkage. To protect my other guitars, I used cheap guitar display cases, coated the back with rubberized paint and sealed the door with thin adhesive neoprene. I keep a couple of glasses of water in there and even when the indoor humidity is 20%, inside the case it stays in the low 40% range. Yes, wood can be severley damaged by low humidity. Ironically, the more expensive the guitar is the more suceptible it is. Chepaer guitars of laminte construction will be less damaged by huidity changes. Not as good as a true humidified case, but those cost upwards of $1000 vs. $150 for the display case. Woth it to protect my nylon string Taylor! Carbon fiber like Emerad is the way to go for humidity and temperature changes to be a non-issue. Solid body electrics are less suceptible, but here the wood can shrink and cause the finish to craze and crack because it won't shrink while the wood does.
This is more precise temperature and humidity control than a terrarium. How on Earth are you supposed to maintain that without an active, automated, sealed climate controlled case with a heat pump, dehumidifier, and evaporation pool?
@petersmythe6462 Right on! Well, what I didn't discuss in this video is what "real" guitar players actually do. They let the guitar adjust to the climate where it lives and keep making repairs or adjustments as needed. They just resign themselves to the fact that there is not much you can do to prevent the cracks, swelling and so on. Or, they have a dedicated climate controlled room.
The product should be warrentied for the range of environment it is expected to be used in. I don't think any one of their customers is expecting to play inside their factories.
Buy a decent room humidifier and a hydrometer. Fill up the humidifier during the dry times of the year to keep the room in which they are kept around 40-60%. Problem solved. Source - sold solid wood instruments for over 20 years and owned them for over 35. Live in an area where the humidity dips to around 10% in the winter. Rarely if ever had a problem with cracking or warping if I was able to maintain this baseline.
They don't have much choice, the ideal humidity/temp is the one that existed when/where the guitar was constructed. If they built it in 20% humidity @ 40F, then that would be the ideal conditions because the wood swells and shrinks to the current humidity. The one they chose is a middle ground that is based on "average" indoor conditions. That said, being "far away" for extended periods is required in order to be a problem unless it is very extreme like a car trunk on a hot day. Any of these guitars will survive just fine outside the range so long as it isn't for extended periods. I own similar of these guitars and some of them for 20+ years without issue nor having to be exactly within conditions all the time. TLDR: The idea that one of these guitars are going to fail and have it's warranty declined because one played it in 70% humidity at 90F at a show, is not going to happen because the guitar isn't going to fail under those conditions. This requires a mild amount of rational sensibility. ;)
A guitar should be kept in a hermetically sealed glass box at all times. That way no one ever plays it and they won’t contact Martin about the warranty
Dominican Republic here, generally hot and sultry. So what? My classical guitars are on a stand or lie on the sofa. No high end stuff and no problems (after decades). Just don't buy any delicate expensive stuff you can't afford to lose. I also do not drive a Rolls Royce.
I live in a low humidity, high desert climate, with major swings in temperature. My Martin, that I have owned for 20 years, has been held together with gorilla glue and duct tape for most of those years. Back and sides have separated in several spots, top sheet split down the middle under the bridge, but the gorilla glue and duct tape have held up better than the spruce and it still sounds great! I think it gives the guitar some character. 😃
As others have mentioned, carbon fiber guitars are unaffected by temperatures and humidity. They're available in all sorts of price ranges and build qualities (around $200 to $3500), and there is no shortage of RUclips review videos for each of them. Some CF guitars even feature a detachable neck for easy travel options. Unless a carbon fiber guitar suffers from extreme abuse, it should last long beyond the life of its original owner.
Sure, if you don't want to follow their recommendations that's fine. Other instruments are easier to own like you said. Even if you visit a big music store they regulate the humidity of their acoustic guitar room(s). I doubt that 72 - 77 F is really as important as the humidity. Especially if you have an old acoustic with no truss rod it's really good to take care of it otherwise you end up needing an expensive neck reset. Good luck with your guitar!
That map seems pretty coarse. For example, it shows the east coast of Australia as humid. Well, Sydney is humid, but I wouldn't call Melbourne humid. Melbourne is sufficiently dry to run evaporative cooling efficiently in the summer. I HATE humid climates and would never call Melbourne humid. I've had my Maton acoustic for over 30 years in Melbourne, and it is in perfect condition. Just hangs on the wall and comes down for a bit of noodling now and then. I think Martin are exaggerating how narrow the tolerances are, just to cover themselves.
Interestingly, while temperature onboard of the International Space Station satisfies the guitar maker requirement, humidity up there is much higher - about 60% (which is normal for humans), and yet there have been cases of guitars stored and played in severe lack of gravity.
I live in a place where it could be anywhere from minus 30C to plus 15 Celsius. I have 10+ acoustic guitars with no problems. These Martin and Taylor comps are ripping off consumers with low quality products these days with low tier untreated wood. It has nothing to do with acoustic guitars in general. Acoustic guitars are lovely instruments.
My Martin has been to lots of camp fires lots of boat rides in Florida heat and I practice outdoors all year long so I can play with my dogs . Now I'm playing it outside in NC winters and it's fine .. had to tweak the truss Rod once
The limits mentioned are very narrow. Nevertheless are wooden instruments delicate. My wooden Cello from about 1850-1860 doesn’t like very cold temperatures because of the associated low humidity.
@@MarkPeotter I do not use any humidifier, but I dry my clothes indoors, so my rooms aren’t totally dry. If outside temperatures are too low, the gap between the a-string and the fingerboard narrows to much. It is possible to have a second bridge, but the last time I asked the local luthier for a second bridge, the temperatures rose and now I have a second bridge wirth exactly the same problem. So constant temperatures below 0° Celsius are needed to make such a bridge for wintertime use. But here in Frankfurt the temperatures are rising and falling all the time… Meanwhile fortunately I have a five-string carbon fiber instrument too.
@ I do not use any humidifier, but I dry my clothes indoors, so my rooms aren’t totally dry. If outside temperatures are too low, the gap between the a-string and the fingerboard narrows to much. It is possible to have a second bridge, but the last time I asked the local luthier for a second bridge, the temperatures rose and now I have a second bridge wirth exactly the same problem. So constant temperatures below 0° Celsius are needed to make such a bridge for wintertime use. But here in Frankfurt the temperatures are rising and falling all the time… Meanwhile fortunately I have a five-string carbon fiber instrument too.
@@trabouliste1037 Challenging weather conditions, indeed. I can see you using one cello bridge for 6 months, then changing to another bridge for 6 months, back and forth. Here in the desert, some of my electric bass friends need to adjust their truss rod and bridge height every 6 months.
I have two Taylor guitars that live in their cases with humidifiers, I have had to have the necks reset on both and they are only two years old. I have a inexpensive Epiphone that is 30 years old can stay out on a stand and has never had a problem. I'm thinking of trading the taylors in for something all laminate - I'm sick of babying them.
@onehundredhourchallenge836 I know the feeling! Right now I have a Martin X series guitar that I am sick of babying. I am trading it with my local music store for store credit.
Martin makes these really thin wood guitars that sound beautiful in ideal conditions. I just got a solid body Alvarez and I was surprised at how finicky it is compared to the plywood bodies I have. I have to hold it like a baby. It took a lot of getting used to. Mostly, if I keep it in it's case, it behaves all right. I don't do anything about moisture. I know I would forget and let it dry out which would probably be worse. I like it though. It has a great sound, but I've heard compared to a Martin it's nothing. I'm satisfied. An electric would be so much easier but I don't like the sound.
I build guitars, but also own a Taylor 410 that was showing some "fret sprout" which was cracking the binding, and issues with some fret buzz after I played it for a while. I wrote Taylor, and they recommended humidifying using an approved in body humidifier. I wrote back how will this help with fret sprout, and binding cracks. They wrote back, and didn't disagree, but said this was normal wear, and take it for normal fret dressing for the sharp ends. Too many rules! I just live my Taylor out on a stand most of the time.
These things are simply a dice roll. It's really hard to offer a warrantee on something made from wood which has unfinished surfaces (the entire inside), because it's just the nature of wood to be unpredictable. You really only can reasonably make any guarantees if the instrument is stored in a similar manner to which the wood was aged and stabilised at. I don't see any problem with this and your reaction on this, however humourous, is a bit hyperbolic imo. I bought a lute last year which cracked over winter - the entire soundboard split. I didn't humidity control it. I've had a guitar, a zither, a violin, viola, as well as woodwinds, which I never had problems with so climate control just wasn't on my mind. But the lute is made of VERY thin wood, so it's much more susceptible to climate - which I was reminded of only after the damage was done. I could send it back and they offered to replace it, but the same thing will likely happen to its replacement unless I humidify my home. Seems the better option for me is to let the instrument settle in my climate where it will live, and if it cracks then I repair the cracks and bingo I have an instrument that's stabilised where I live. To be fair, I'll probably be buying a humidifier anyways, it will be better for my plants in winter too. I live in northeast US where it is "humid" according to that map, but indoor humidity when running a furnace all winter just sucks the place dry, so you can't really go by the map. For now I just store my lute in a plastic bag with a damp tissue and a hygrometer - cracks closed up and it plays fine, though I'll have to glue them up eventually. I bought a few of the cheapest hygrometers on Amazon, tested them in a variety of conditions, and they all read consistently within 1%, even after I accidentally left one out in the rain and thought I ruined it. I'm not so worried about maintaining the correct humidity as I am avoiding big swings, because that's what causes the damage, so even cheap dodgy monitors will do the job for that. Guitars are made of MUCH thicker wood, so they USUALLY won't crack. But still if you get unlucky with a piece of wood that went into making your guitar, it can still happen in rare situations, and it'll probably the climate that made it happen. If you buy quality instruments and actually care about them, you SHOULD be climate controlling them just to give them the best chance. You wouldn't keep fish in a dirty aquarium.
@JHouse4 I loved this: "Seems the better option for me is to let the instrument settle in my climate where it will live, and if it cracks then I repair the cracks and bingo I have an instrument that's stabilised where I live. "
What's the point of complaining about this? This is the nature of wood. It has nothing to do with those companies.. If you don't like it, get a carbon fiber guitar.
I like how this guy acts like their climate requirements are SO exacting... 45-55% humidity at 72-77 is room temp...he said it needs to be stored. Stored. Not that you can't take it outside...you can't STORE it outside. If you are unable or unwilling to STORE your guitar at ROOM TEMPERATURE, don't buy one. I wouldn't buy an airplane without a hanger, and I sure wouldn't complain about the plane if i decided to buy it and keep it in a way that we know won't keep it in good condition. No, you don't need an air-tight case to keep humidity around 50%. I started typing too soon. This guy thinks a weather map of the US is somehow proof that an acoustic guitar can't be owned if outside temp gets too low or high. My house hasn't been over 50% humidity or over 72 degrees in 20 years, and guess what...it doesnt matter which zone my house is in. I have AC and heating to keep it exactly 70 degrees all year, and i would bet 99.9% of Martin owners are just as lucky as me. Wow, this guy really is a ball of obnoxious.
Love the rant !! Australian guitar player here: Current humidity in my house on the mid North Coast NSW ( Port Macquarie ) Australia is 69% Its 32 degrees Celsius - 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't keep running the Air Con 24/7 obviously. I have 2 acoustic guitars - not Martins or Taylors but I consider them good quality guitars . So far no issues - BUT NOW I'll might stick to my Electric Gibson L5S - hope that's not affected !
You are on the wet side of Australia! Here in Phoenix, Arizona we do keep our A/C running 24/7, from May through October. Hey, if you've got no problems, call it a win!
@ragingchimera8021 Thanks! That's the path many people use. After 2 weeks of doing just that, humidity packs in the guitar case, I have maintained 30% humidity. Well below the recommended range of 45 to 55.
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I have a carbon fiber one. I live in Southern California and go from desert to beach and back. It doesn’t move or care a bit. I recommend everyone should get one.
@carlhagen2488 If I ever buy another acoustic guitar, it will probably be carbon fiber. Thanks! By the way, I spent half of my life in the San Fernando Valley. The smog and the earthquakes chased me out of there.
When they're talking about wood and warranties, it totally makes sense. They can't guarantee how wood will move when taken outside the optimum parameters. That's the nature of the material. It doesn't mean you can't own a wooden acoustic guitar, or even that it will warp and split outside those optimum conditions. It just means that if you want to risk it, and something happens, you can't expect them to fix it under the warranty (and I'd assume we're talking long-term storage environment, not brief excursions into sub-optimal conditions).
If you live in more extreme climates, and can't humidify or dehumidify a small space for a wooden guitar, a carbon fiber guitar might be a better option. I had a wood topped Martin warp over time in my air conditioned home, and I eventually replaced it with a carbon fiber Klos. I liked the sound of the Martin better, but I like the no-maintenance of the Carbon fiber more. If music was my livelihood, I'd probably buy a wooden guitar and figure out how to keep my house, or at least one room or closet, closer to the recommended parameters. Since I just play casually, carbon fiber works for me.
I'll also add that I play Irish flute, where wooden flutes are the standard. Almost all antique wooden flutes are cracked because they were stored at some point where they dried out too much. Even newer flutes routinely crack. When they do, it's expensive to repair them. For that reason, I prefer Delrin or Carbon Fiber, but I do have one blackwood flute, and I store it in a large plastic tub with a smaller, perforated tub of water to keep the humidity constant (around 60%). I could probably keep it out more often without issue, but having to be mindful of long-term climate conditions for storing is just part of what it means to own a wooden instrument.
@NathanielDowell One of my students said, "Of course Martin is proud of their warranty. It means they will never need to claim responsibility!" Thank you for your comments.
@@NathanielDowell I have been lucky with my wooden recorder and Buffet Clarinet. I have never added humidity to them, but I do oil the bore once every 3 or 4 years. They are both about 50 years old and doing just fine!
Apparently you need a humidor for your cigars and guitars.
I think big guitar manufacturers are just trying to cover their butts. My guitar was made in a tiny shop in Andalucía, Spain. Humidity and temps were definitely not in the range specified by the manufacturers in this video. It has been from Andalucía to Seattle. I currently live in the middle of the US where it is hot and humid in the summer and frigid and dry in the winter. I have had not problems with it due to either heat or humidity in the 10 years I've played it. It's always kept in a high quality case when I'm not playing it.
Maybe I’ve gotten lucky but I never worry about humidity. My guitars went from pretty high humidity in the Midwest for a decade to now In Phoenix AZ with no humidity for a few years and nothing ever happened. I’m just simply not doing all that extra crap. Shouldn’t be any reason for it.
Instruments from the Renaissance have survived just fine without powered air conditioning or humidity controlling salts. Modern instruments having this trouble are simply made of sub-par materials. Historically only gourd based instruments needed special care in regards to humidity to survive. Before someone wants to 'correct' me by example of argumentum ad absurdity; spare me. Guitars were peasant folk instruments carried by wayfaring troubadours in the middle ages who couldn't afford lutes, if a modern instrument can't handle a fifth of the temperature/humidity variation those instruments experienced it's simply cheap garbage being sold for more than it is worth to unsuspecting customers. 'Take better care of it' is cope by sunk cost suckers who paid way too much for lemons.
@baron523 Your eloquent rant is insightful and entertaining!
I live in a desert climate and I have a classical guitar that got severe irreparable damage from drying shrinkage. To protect my other guitars, I used cheap guitar display cases, coated the back with rubberized paint and sealed the door with thin adhesive neoprene. I keep a couple of glasses of water in there and even when the indoor humidity is 20%, inside the case it stays in the low 40% range. Yes, wood can be severley damaged by low humidity. Ironically, the more expensive the guitar is the more suceptible it is. Chepaer guitars of laminte construction will be less damaged by huidity changes. Not as good as a true humidified case, but those cost upwards of $1000 vs. $150 for the display case. Woth it to protect my nylon string Taylor! Carbon fiber like Emerad is the way to go for humidity and temperature changes to be a non-issue. Solid body electrics are less suceptible, but here the wood can shrink and cause the finish to craze and crack because it won't shrink while the wood does.
@professordeb I love your guitar display case idea! You should make a video?
I've had a Yamaha C40 for 20 years, could not be happier
Yamaha is praised a few times in this thread!
This is more precise temperature and humidity control than a terrarium. How on Earth are you supposed to maintain that without an active, automated, sealed climate controlled case with a heat pump, dehumidifier, and evaporation pool?
@petersmythe6462 Right on! Well, what I didn't discuss in this video is what "real" guitar players actually do. They let the guitar adjust to the climate where it lives and keep making repairs or adjustments as needed. They just resign themselves to the fact that there is not much you can do to prevent the cracks, swelling and so on. Or, they have a dedicated climate controlled room.
The product should be warrentied for the range of environment it is expected to be used in. I don't think any one of their customers is expecting to play inside their factories.
Buy a decent room humidifier and a hydrometer. Fill up the humidifier during the dry times of the year to keep the room in which they are kept around 40-60%. Problem solved. Source - sold solid wood instruments for over 20 years and owned them for over 35. Live in an area where the humidity dips to around 10% in the winter. Rarely if ever had a problem with cracking or warping if I was able to maintain this baseline.
They don't have much choice, the ideal humidity/temp is the one that existed when/where the guitar was constructed. If they built it in 20% humidity @ 40F, then that would be the ideal conditions because the wood swells and shrinks to the current humidity. The one they chose is a middle ground that is based on "average" indoor conditions.
That said, being "far away" for extended periods is required in order to be a problem unless it is very extreme like a car trunk on a hot day. Any of these guitars will survive just fine outside the range so long as it isn't for extended periods. I own similar of these guitars and some of them for 20+ years without issue nor having to be exactly within conditions all the time.
TLDR: The idea that one of these guitars are going to fail and have it's warranty declined because one played it in 70% humidity at 90F at a show, is not going to happen because the guitar isn't going to fail under those conditions. This requires a mild amount of rational sensibility. ;)
A guitar should be kept in a hermetically sealed glass box at all times. That way no one ever plays it and they won’t contact Martin about the warranty
Dominican Republic here, generally hot and sultry. So what?
My classical guitars are on a stand or lie on the sofa. No high end stuff and no problems (after decades).
Just don't buy any delicate expensive stuff you can't afford to lose. I also do not drive a Rolls Royce.
@Coverswithchords1 Right you are! Likewise, I will never own a Mercedes Benz. The maintenance is too frequent and expensive!
Exactly
I live in a low humidity, high desert climate, with major swings in temperature. My Martin, that I have owned for 20 years, has been held together with gorilla glue and duct tape for most of those years. Back and sides have separated in several spots, top sheet split down the middle under the bridge, but the gorilla glue and duct tape have held up better than the spruce and it still sounds great! I think it gives the guitar some character. 😃
@c3920 Gorilla glue and duct tape?! That's amazing! You should make a video.
That's the spirit
As others have mentioned, carbon fiber guitars are unaffected by temperatures and humidity. They're available in all sorts of price ranges and build qualities (around $200 to $3500), and there is no shortage of RUclips review videos for each of them. Some CF guitars even feature a detachable neck for easy travel options. Unless a carbon fiber guitar suffers from extreme abuse, it should last long beyond the life of its original owner.
Sure, if you don't want to follow their recommendations that's fine. Other instruments are easier to own like you said. Even if you visit a big music store they regulate the humidity of their acoustic guitar room(s). I doubt that 72 - 77 F is really as important as the humidity. Especially if you have an old acoustic with no truss rod it's really good to take care of it otherwise you end up needing an expensive neck reset. Good luck with your guitar!
@alphanuevo Agreed. And we didn't even mention altitude yet. That can destroy your guitar the fastest!
That map seems pretty coarse. For example, it shows the east coast of Australia as humid. Well, Sydney is humid, but I wouldn't call Melbourne humid. Melbourne is sufficiently dry to run evaporative cooling efficiently in the summer. I HATE humid climates and would never call Melbourne humid. I've had my Maton acoustic for over 30 years in Melbourne, and it is in perfect condition. Just hangs on the wall and comes down for a bit of noodling now and then. I think Martin are exaggerating how narrow the tolerances are, just to cover themselves.
Interestingly, while temperature onboard of the International Space Station satisfies the guitar maker requirement, humidity up there is much higher - about 60% (which is normal for humans), and yet there have been cases of guitars stored and played in severe lack of gravity.
Wow, this gives me a new perspective on those classic songs about outer space!
I live in a place where it could be anywhere from minus 30C to plus 15 Celsius. I have 10+ acoustic guitars with no problems. These Martin and Taylor comps are ripping off consumers with low quality products these days with low tier untreated wood. It has nothing to do with acoustic guitars in general. Acoustic guitars are lovely instruments.
Not sure if I agree with "ripping off consumers", but I appreciate your comments!
Maybe they should start building them in uncontrolled environments.
Depends where you live.
I've never had any trouble
This will serve as a flimsy pretext for me continuing to only play solid body guitars. I live in what's called the "heavy metal humidity zone"
My Martin has been to lots of camp fires lots of boat rides in Florida heat and I practice outdoors all year long so I can play with my dogs .
Now I'm playing it outside in NC winters and it's fine .. had to tweak the truss Rod once
Score one for the acoustic guitar!
The limits mentioned are very narrow.
Nevertheless are wooden instruments delicate. My wooden Cello from about 1850-1860 doesn’t like very cold temperatures because of the associated low humidity.
@trabouliste1037 Do you humidify your cello, or do you just keep fixing it every winter?
@@MarkPeotter I do not use any humidifier, but I dry my clothes indoors, so my rooms aren’t totally dry.
If outside temperatures are too low, the gap between the a-string and the fingerboard narrows to much. It is possible to have a second bridge, but the last time I asked the local luthier for a second bridge, the temperatures rose and now I have a second bridge wirth exactly the same problem. So constant temperatures below 0° Celsius are needed to make such a bridge for wintertime use. But here in Frankfurt the temperatures are rising and falling all the time…
Meanwhile fortunately I have a five-string carbon fiber instrument too.
@ I do not use any humidifier, but I dry my clothes indoors, so my rooms aren’t totally dry.
If outside temperatures are too low, the gap between the a-string and the fingerboard narrows to much. It is possible to have a second bridge, but the last time I asked the local luthier for a second bridge, the temperatures rose and now I have a second bridge wirth exactly the same problem. So constant temperatures below 0° Celsius are needed to make such a bridge for wintertime use. But here in Frankfurt the temperatures are rising and falling all the time…
Meanwhile fortunately I have a five-string carbon fiber instrument too.
@@trabouliste1037 Challenging weather conditions, indeed. I can see you using one cello bridge for 6 months, then changing to another bridge for 6 months, back and forth. Here in the desert, some of my electric bass friends need to adjust their truss rod and bridge height every 6 months.
I have two Taylor guitars that live in their cases with humidifiers, I have had to have the necks reset on both and they are only two years old. I have a inexpensive Epiphone that is 30 years old can stay out on a stand and has never had a problem. I'm thinking of trading the taylors in for something all laminate - I'm sick of babying them.
@onehundredhourchallenge836 I know the feeling! Right now I have a Martin X series guitar that I am sick of babying. I am trading it with my local music store for store credit.
Martin makes these really thin wood guitars that sound beautiful in ideal conditions. I just got a solid body Alvarez and I was surprised at how finicky it is compared to the plywood bodies I have. I have to hold it like a baby. It took a lot of getting used to. Mostly, if I keep it in it's case, it behaves all right. I don't do anything about moisture. I know I would forget and let it dry out which would probably be worse. I like it though. It has a great sound, but I've heard compared to a Martin it's nothing. I'm satisfied. An electric would be so much easier but I don't like the sound.
I build guitars, but also own a Taylor 410 that was showing some "fret sprout" which was cracking the binding, and issues with some fret buzz after I played it for a while. I wrote Taylor, and they recommended humidifying using an approved in body humidifier. I wrote back how will this help with fret sprout, and binding cracks. They wrote back, and didn't disagree, but said this was normal wear, and take it for normal fret dressing for the sharp ends. Too many rules! I just live my Taylor out on a stand most of the time.
Maybe they should build "dry weather" guitars and "wet weather" guitars. Cracked binding is NOT normal wear and tear.
These things are simply a dice roll. It's really hard to offer a warrantee on something made from wood which has unfinished surfaces (the entire inside), because it's just the nature of wood to be unpredictable. You really only can reasonably make any guarantees if the instrument is stored in a similar manner to which the wood was aged and stabilised at. I don't see any problem with this and your reaction on this, however humourous, is a bit hyperbolic imo.
I bought a lute last year which cracked over winter - the entire soundboard split. I didn't humidity control it. I've had a guitar, a zither, a violin, viola, as well as woodwinds, which I never had problems with so climate control just wasn't on my mind. But the lute is made of VERY thin wood, so it's much more susceptible to climate - which I was reminded of only after the damage was done. I could send it back and they offered to replace it, but the same thing will likely happen to its replacement unless I humidify my home. Seems the better option for me is to let the instrument settle in my climate where it will live, and if it cracks then I repair the cracks and bingo I have an instrument that's stabilised where I live.
To be fair, I'll probably be buying a humidifier anyways, it will be better for my plants in winter too. I live in northeast US where it is "humid" according to that map, but indoor humidity when running a furnace all winter just sucks the place dry, so you can't really go by the map. For now I just store my lute in a plastic bag with a damp tissue and a hygrometer - cracks closed up and it plays fine, though I'll have to glue them up eventually.
I bought a few of the cheapest hygrometers on Amazon, tested them in a variety of conditions, and they all read consistently within 1%, even after I accidentally left one out in the rain and thought I ruined it. I'm not so worried about maintaining the correct humidity as I am avoiding big swings, because that's what causes the damage, so even cheap dodgy monitors will do the job for that.
Guitars are made of MUCH thicker wood, so they USUALLY won't crack. But still if you get unlucky with a piece of wood that went into making your guitar, it can still happen in rare situations, and it'll probably the climate that made it happen. If you buy quality instruments and actually care about them, you SHOULD be climate controlling them just to give them the best chance. You wouldn't keep fish in a dirty aquarium.
@JHouse4 I loved this: "Seems the better option for me is to let the instrument settle in my climate where it will live, and if it cracks then I repair the cracks and bingo I have an instrument that's stabilised where I live.
"
My brother, in christ, get a humidifier/dehumidifier.
What's the point of complaining about this? This is the nature of wood. It has nothing to do with those companies.. If you don't like it, get a carbon fiber guitar.
Sorry dude, you need to take better care of your instrument. Quit the wining
I like how this guy acts like their climate requirements are SO exacting...
45-55% humidity at 72-77 is room temp...he said it needs to be stored. Stored. Not that you can't take it outside...you can't STORE it outside.
If you are unable or unwilling to STORE your guitar at ROOM TEMPERATURE, don't buy one. I wouldn't buy an airplane without a hanger, and I sure wouldn't complain about the plane if i decided to buy it and keep it in a way that we know won't keep it in good condition.
No, you don't need an air-tight case to keep humidity around 50%.
I started typing too soon. This guy thinks a weather map of the US is somehow proof that an acoustic guitar can't be owned if outside temp gets too low or high.
My house hasn't been over 50% humidity or over 72 degrees in 20 years, and guess what...it doesnt matter which zone my house is in. I have AC and heating to keep it exactly 70 degrees all year, and i would bet 99.9% of Martin owners are just as lucky as me.
Wow, this guy really is a ball of obnoxious.
You need to move to Flagstaff... if you can afford it!
Love the rant !! Australian guitar player here: Current humidity in my house on the mid North Coast NSW ( Port Macquarie ) Australia is 69% Its 32 degrees Celsius - 90 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't keep running the Air Con 24/7 obviously. I have 2 acoustic guitars - not Martins or Taylors but I consider them good quality guitars . So far no issues - BUT NOW I'll might stick to my Electric Gibson L5S - hope that's not affected !
You are on the wet side of Australia! Here in Phoenix, Arizona we do keep our A/C running 24/7, from May through October. Hey, if you've got no problems, call it a win!
Buy a Yamaha. It's always in tune.
Use humidity packs and store in a case indoors. How wilfully obtuse are you?
@ragingchimera8021 Thanks! That's the path many people use. After 2 weeks of doing just that, humidity packs in the guitar case, I have maintained 30% humidity. Well below the recommended range of 45 to 55.
Have you ever heard of common sense