Different Air Humidity and Its Effect On Tonewoods

[capmaster]

Recently my pals and me accidentally came to talk about long-term effects of air humidity on tonewoods. We were wondering if the dry air in Texas supports the sparkling attack of Billy Gibbons' "Pearly Gates" Les Paul. For sure there are many bits which make up the signal a guitar puts out through its jack, starting with the player, his style and technique, followed by all the components like strings, woods, glues, hardware, electronics and finishes, the overall design and build, how the vibes flow from the strings via hardware through the woods, and finally how the pickups are capturing them.

 

I also know about the sonic behaviour of air, and that increased air humidity dissipates less treble which results in a brighter sound, particularly obvious over long distances. I experienced this as FOH engineer especially at open air concerts.

 

Over the years, we often talked about expansion and contraction of tonewoods induced by moisture, how it will make a guitar go out of tune, and that it can make necessary truss rod adjustments as well as refinements of intonation settings typically twice a year in Central Europe.

 

Interestingly we never before discussed the sonic effects of long-term exposition of tonewoods to constantly high or low air humidity. Did you experience certain differences, e. g. after moving into a different clime, or do you have suggestions about it?

[btoth76]

Hello Capmaster!

 

Interesting topic to discuss!

 

I live north of Budapest, in a Schwabish village very close to the Slovakian border. The part of the village where I am, is a valley between two hills. We see lots of sudden and dramatic climate changes. One day the humidity is 45%, on the other it's 75%. Constant wind, sudden heavy rainings, then it's like in a desert for weeks. Considering this, You might think I have trouble with my guitars all the time, but not!

 

The only dramatic change in my instruments setup comes with summer. Regardless how wet/dry/cold is the winter, everything is fine. As soon as the outside temperature goes over 25 degrees Celsius, frets start to buzz. Also the strings die much quicker (I guess, due to perspiration?).

 

In my experience, the effect of weather changes is more significant on my tube amps.

 

Cheers... Bence

[D28boy]

I'm sure this mainly concerns acoustic guitars as humidity affects the resonance of the soundbox more directly....On electrics I would have expected the major effect to be on the actual action of the guitar.

[capmaster]

I'm sure this mainly concerns acoustic guitars as humidity affects the resonance of the soundbox more directly....On electrics I would have expected the major effect to be on the actual action of the guitar.

This is why I was considering especially long-term effects. I never experienced changes in tone throughout the year. With respect to soldbodies, I agree with you that the four seasons run too fast to significantly affect reaction or resonant behaviour of massive wood plates. On the other hand, I was wondering if particular environmental conditions may have an audible effect on massive tonewoods when they apply for most of the time - i. e. except those periods an artist is touring or recording in a region with another climate - during many years or even decades.

[capmaster]

Hello Capmaster!

 

Interesting topic to discuss!

 

I live north of Budapest, in a Schwabish village very close to the Slovakian border. The part of the village where I am, is a valley between two hills. We see lots of sudden and dramatic climate changes. One day the humidity is 45%, on the other it's 75%. Constant wind, sudden heavy rainings, then it's like in a desert for weeks. Considering this, You might think I have trouble with my guitars all the time, but not!

 

The only dramatic change in my instruments setup comes with summer. Regardless how wet/dry/cold is the winter, everything is fine. As soon as the outside temperature goes over 25 degrees Celsius, frets start to buzz. Also the strings die much quicker (I guess, due to perspiration?).

 

In my experience, the effect of weather changes is more significant on my tube amps.

 

Cheers... Bence

Talking about string corrosion is another important point. One of my pals has this problem especially during summer, too. When gigging, the strings on his guitars are dead after five to ten minutes of playing. Perspiration problems I do suffer especially with the nickel strings on my Fender 65 Mustang bass and the nickel hardware of my Gibson Custom Les Paul Standard and my Epiphone Les Paul 1960 Tribute. These parts already got a blackened vintage look during five weeks respectively five months. Besides the previously mentioned bass there is my Applause acoustic guitar strung with Phosphor Bronze strings that die faster, but luckily I don't have problems with the 26 chrome and four stainless steel string sets.

 

Fret buzz in summer can be caused due to wood expanding more than the truss rod, and so the neck is forced to bend more backwards. On some guitars, during winter the fret wire may stick out of the fretboard sides due to contraction of the fretboard drying out, and one might cut the fingers when playing. I had to deal with this phenomenon only once during a very cold and dry winter - it could have been 2005/2006 but I am not sure - on my Ibanez RG 430.

[badbluesplayer]

Usually an acoustic will get higher action when the humidity gets high. The top tends to bulge upward a little and makes the bridge higher. The action goes back down whenever it dries out some. I usually have this problem all summer. I keep my good acoustic in the driest room in the house until the fall. The humidity is "supposed" to be 40 to 50% where you store guitars and when it gets over 60%, my acoustic starts to get the action issue. My solid bodies don't seem to care, but I always keep them in a cool dry place when I can.

[damian]

This is why I was considering especially long-term effects. I never experienced changes in tone throughout the year. With respect to soldbodies, I agree with you that the four seasons run too fast to significantly affect reaction or resonant behaviour of massive wood plates. On the other hand, I was wondering if particular environmental conditions may have an audible effect on massive tonewoods when they apply for most of the time - i. e. except those periods an artist is touring or recording in a region with another climate - during many years or even decades.

 

Yes.

 

 

 

[RaysEpiphone]

Some good reply's here. As for my acoustic, a low(er) cost Epiphone 2010 Texan so its not a gem of a guitar but I have a window unit air-conditioner that I turn on if it gets to hot in my room so to keep the air balance as good as I can. Got no fancy thingy sitting in the sound-hole to keep it "wet". I have seen what time and dry/heat can do to any guitar 1st hand. An acoustic will shrink and buckle inward causing the top to bulge out if it gets to dry, removing the string's and placing a small cup of water inside the body and closing it up in its case will help with that.

My electric (yet another cheap-O) was stored in a closet for around 2 years with an out-side wall that got very warm in the summer and quite cold in the winter. I now store it in the same room as my acoustic and have changed all the pick-ups and switch on it. The body on it is fine but the neck is warped and very hard to play besides open chords at the nut and the first 4 or 5 frets beyond. Its got a bolt on neck so that can be fixed with a new neck but I don't know, it maybe better to get a whole new guitar and switch my new pick-ups into it.

[flyingarmadillo]

Recently my pals and me accidentally came to talk about long-term effects of air humidity on tonewoods. We were wondering if the dry air in Texas supports the sparkling attack of Billy Gibbons' "Pearly Gates" Les Paul. For sure there are many bits which make up the signal a guitar puts out through its jack, starting with the player, his style and technique, followed by all the components like strings, woods, glues, hardware, electronics and finishes, the overall design and build, how the vibes flow from the strings via hardware through the woods, and finally how the pickups are capturing them.

 

I also know about the sonic behaviour of air, and that increased air humidity dissipates less treble which results in a brighter sound, particularly obvious over long distances. I experienced this as FOH engineer especially at open air concerts.

 

Over the years, we often talked about expansion and contraction of tonewoods induced by moisture, how it will make a guitar go out of tune, and that it can make necessary truss rod adjustments as well as refinements of intonation settings typically twice a year in Central Europe.

 

Interestingly we never before discussed the sonic effects of long-term exposition of tonewoods to constantly high or low air humidity. Did you experience certain differences, e. g. after moving into a different clime, or do you have suggestions about it?

 

 

An interesting question except that Billy and ZZ Top are from Houston, about 50 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and it's not dry here. It ranks in the top 10 for most humid cities in the US (along with 4 others in Texas, all along the coast). The average annual humidity outside is 78% according to the Weather Channel. In my house it's around 45% year round which is nearly ideal for guitars (thank you refrigerated air conditioning!!) So maybe it had something to do with the near perfect conditions. At least as long as he didn't keep it outside - it's 102(F) in my backyard right now - although the humidity is only 40% or so.

[charlie brown]

As mentioned, more effect on Acoustic guitars. However...ALL my electrics are effected

to some degree, because whenever I take them out of their cases, or gig bags (doesn't matter)

they all need to be retuned (usually down 1/3 to 1/2 step), as the neck has moved, with the

humidity. Temp is constant...so that's not a factor. But, it doesn't matter what neck it is,

maple, mahogany, or a combination...they ALL do it. It seem to take about an hour, after

retuning, for them to "settle down," as well. After that, they ALL stay in tune, very well.

 

By the way, I live in Kansas...where the summers are HOT, and HUMID...and the Winter's are

anywhere from COLD, to less so, and (mostly) dry, humidity wise, due to furnace heat. All

are kept away from vents, so AC and Heat, don't get any direct access. I do run a humidifier,

in the Winter, but not in the Summer...not needed!

 

So...???

 

CB

[milod]

I have more difficulty with archtops, although I have one Epi AE cutaway flattop that's horrid with any change in temp/humidity.

 

My best archtop is most affected, especially in a stage situation in chilly to downright cold weather (circa -30 C or F) where even a cupla hours backstage doesn't keep the thing from going wildly outa tune in a spotlight.

 

That's one reason I got some semis. I consider them winter subs for my archtops.

 

I think a lotta things have to do with climate and weather conditions on guitars, pricey or cheapie, that depend on a batch of factors ranging from construction to the specific bits of wood used in various areas of the instrument. (I'll wager two "identical" Gibson flattops from next to each other likely will behave somewhat differently simply because they're not truly identical in either material or even various phases of construction.) String tension probably figures into it as well.

 

m

[Twang Gang]

As metioned the Rev is based in a humid environment - his bright tone comes from very light guage strings, and using a metal pick. Temperature and humidity certainly effect all guitars, but never seems to be the same for any two. I recently moved from Chicago area (hot humid summers and cold dry winters) to South Carolina. My guitars were subjected to exreme heat build up inside a moving van for about six days. They all came through well with the exception of my Gibson CS 336. I had to adjust truss rod, string height, and pick-up height to get that one back into playing condition.

 

Temperature changes have the most noticeable and immediate effect on tuning. I don't think it's effects the tonewood much, but certainly the strings expand or contract with just a few degrees change. Humidity is more of an issue with hollow bodies drying out and shrinking or getting too much moisture and swelling up.