Hairy Dave Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Not sure what's going on with my J45 lately but it sounds horrible! It has been unusually hot here in NI for the past few weeks and i'm wondering if it has affected the wood more than I thought. My guitar is kept in the house and never played outdoors. The house is generally cool but it has been quite muggy recently. I can't keep the guitar in tune at all. Within a very short time of (standard) tuning the guitar it slips out of tune. If I add a capo it seems to slip out of tune instantly. I'm not one for changing strings frequently - once or twice a year maybe. Could that be a factor? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 String changes of once or twice per year is more than pushing it, even for Elixirs. Those I know who use Martin XP's say that those strings are done in about four weeks. The weather is not helping things, either. Treat yourself to a nice new set of wires. You'll be glad you did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Just from what you're saying, I'd guess the weather is doing it. Like you, I only change strings 1-2 times per year. Here in Missouri, our humidity in our house has been 45-55 since late winter (MaRCH). Outside hasn't been much more than that. My guitars stay in tune for weeks, with only minor tweaking each time I play them. I'm sure there will be some people commenting who truly know what they're talking about in regards to this issue, but I bet the weather is at least part of it. Hope you get it resolved soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Combination of high humidity and old strings. I've had exactly the same thing happen where I live in Florida. My experience is that at least when it comes to 'hog slope J's, they tend to go muddy-sounding in very high humidity, and get brighter and crisper in low humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 I think I'll change the strings this weekend. The weather is supposed to break soon too - hopefully that combo will sort things out! Cheers guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Mine giving gip too hairy D. I hope a string change puts yours back to great again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 Mine giving gip too hairy D. I hope a string change puts yours back to great again BBG you'll know better than most how unusual this weather is lol!! I'm not complaining about the sun or the temp - just the fact that it's wrecking my guitar lol!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Old strings just don't hold tuning...I think this will fill the gap!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 BBG you'll know better than most how unusual this weather is lol!! I'm not complaining about the sun or the temp - just the fact that it's wrecking my guitar lol!! But if our little bit of sunshine ( which is , for this part of the world , very welcome) has an effect on our guitars then surely all these folk from the U S of A and other hot spots would just be sitting watching thier guitars fall apart ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 22, 2013 Author Share Posted July 22, 2013 But if our little bit of sunshine ( which is , for this part of the world , very welcome) has an effect on our guitars then surely all these folk from the U S of A and other hot spots would just be sitting watching thier guitars fall apart ? Very true - it's probably more to do with my poor string maintenance more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedzep Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Strings schmings! Go buy an air conditioner already, Dave. Seriously though, we're hot and humid in the northern foothills of NY's Catskill Mts. I've only ever had old guitars and they get 'soft' in the high humidity. I don't expect the same performance in this weather so I play differently and change my style a little. AC brings the crispness back if you need that, but the strings you have on now will sound great when the next cold dry front moves in. Save your $$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 But if our little bit of sunshine ( which is , for this part of the world , very welcome) has an effect on our guitars then surely all these folk from the U S of A and other hot spots would just be sitting watching thier guitars fall apart ? BBG, we have this odd thing called "central air conditioning" in the US. You press some buttons on the wall, and cold air comes out through holes in the ceiling........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Could be the strings but ....If you don't already have one, buy a hygrometer...remove humidity as a variable as soon possible....I had a bad scare once that started with a dull tone and ended with me trying to rehydrate an over hydrated guitar....i had a bad hygrometer.....now i have five and I now keep one of these in each case... http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Measuring_tools/Digital_Humidity_Gauge.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=983 ...by the way....there is metal near the end of the headstock in all of my Gibson cases....you can just stick the hygrometer on there with its magnet with no modification to the case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 BBG, we have this odd thing called "central air conditioning" in the US. You press some buttons on the wall, and cold air comes out through holes in the ceiling........ Sounds like witch craft to me ... I was just , before Dave was told to go spend a fortune on a weatherman's equipment for his guitar case , making the point that a 'heatwave' here in Ireland is 23° C ... Or around 70° if you're not metric. Nothing extreme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 "My guitar sounds horrible lately"....not your playing is it???...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Isaac Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 BBG, we have this odd thing called "central air conditioning" in the US. You press some buttons on the wall, and cold air comes out through holes in the ceiling........ We have a simple AC system as well here west of London. Open window = AC on Close window = AC off Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 "My guitar sounds horrible lately"....not your playing is it???...lol Ooh you b!tch!!! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 mid 30's and fairly muggy here the last 3-4 weeks.... I've not noticed anything too detrimental as yet but definitely a wee bit of a seasonal shift. I think a large part of it is the strings though, the stings seems to die on seasonal shifts or in sudden hot bursts. I re-strung the slopes last night, checked for buzzing etc... all's well thus far. But to be on the safe side I've only one out of the case at the minute. Others are all in the cases. No OCD reaction though, just because I dont want to have to change the strings on them all in one night..... As we're always searching for mojo and whatnot, I figure a wee bit of 'real life' for a guitar can only be a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 "My guitar sounds horrible lately"....not your playing is it???...lol OWF that's that first thing I would normally blame. I should have said my guitar sounds more horrible than usual (and that's not a slight on Gibson lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mojorule Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 It's the weather, Dave. As PM well knows, I change my strings far more infrequently than you do. The Woody generally stays in tune nonetheless. It has its moments according to the weather, though. I re-recorded Satan and Saint Paul on Friday using a thumb-pick. As far as I'm concerned I've not significantly retuned the guitar since I first recorded the song in the same key last week. Listening to the recordings back to back, one is clearly in a lower key than the other. So even when the guitar stays in tune with itself, it's changing relative to concert with the weather. We had high humidity throughout the year in Hungary, but it was especially muggy in summer. The guitar would go through phases with the weather, which defied any simple pattern (sometimes it sounded sweeter as the humidity went up, sometimes it sounded a bit flat as things got wetter). Although the humidity here near the Norfolk Broads generally feels lower than next to the Danube, it's classic British Isles weather, and as we're near the coast, probably not all that different from the weather in N.I. Aside from the whole guitar changing key, the Woody has been slipping out of tune more often over the past few weeks - which might explain the radical key shift. Perhaps the little adjustments each time I break it out for a play have added up. Are you keeping your guitar in its case? I think that makes a difference in the humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Are you keeping your guitar in its case? I think that makes a difference in the humidity. Yeah Mojo, it's always in the case when I'm not playing it - one reason why I thought it might be the strings more than the weather. However, even though I don't change strings regularly I've never had this problem before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I wouldn't worry too much - Gibsons (guitars) just don't lose shine like that. They fall asleep as been agreed upon many times here, but can be played to life. Wouldn't blame it on the summer either. All my guitars sounded so fat and willing the other day - to a degree that made me go, what !? Other days they just don't come together. If it's a phase, it's an interesting phase. Maybe your ears are jaded, maybe something else steals you attention/affection in this period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 OWF that's that first thing I would normally blame. I should have said my guitar sounds more horrible than usual (and that's not a slight on Gibson lol). Of course, I was just kidding..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Dave Posted July 23, 2013 Author Share Posted July 23, 2013 Of course, I was just kidding..... I'm not.... that's why I've never uploaded anything to SoundCloud haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Isaac Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 Very humid here with storms but my three SJ's sound just great. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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