EuroAussie Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 As you know we just moved to the apartment with its own music room ... Anyway, I left the room humidifier overnight there and in the morning noticed it swelled up to 75% RH, combined with warm heat it was like a sauna in there. Alarmed, I (probably stupidly) opened the window where its very cold outside and the RH very quickly dropped to 45% and also brought in a cool climate inside in a very short space of time. I found next day the action on my J-150 on the 12th (low E) rose to almost 3mm (4/32), which is way higher than the 2.2mm (3/32) I normally keep it. (other guitars seeme to stay stable) The neck is straight with the smallest relief, no room for a truss rod adjustment. Would this change in action be due to the extreme RH / Temp change and what would you recommend to get this action to where it was before at 2.2mm ? Ive got a gig tomorrow nite where I was planning to use the J-150 but would love to have the action a bit lower so I dont screw up the intro pickin' pattern to Dead or Alive, know what I mean .. ? ;-) cheers in advance ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Oops. Let the "dust" settle. Try to get the RH to 50% at 72 degrees and see where you are at. It might take a couple of days before everything returns to normal. If the action is still off, then you will have to make some changes to the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Oops. Let the "dust" settle. Try to get the RH to 50% at 72 degrees and see where you are at. It might take a couple of days before everything returns to normal. If the action is still off, then you will have to make some changes to the guitar. Like Paul says..... Action can vary significantly with changes in RH. The amount varies from guitar to guitar. That's one reason it's good to keep guitars in their cases. It "damps out" the rate of change of the environnment the guitar is kept in. We've had an odd winter in Florida: relatively warm and humid, when it's normally cooler and drier. Right now, for example (my thermo/hygro is on the wall just a few feet away), temperature is 73F (23c), but humidity is sky-high at 71%. All the guitars are tucked into their almost air-tight cases, and only come out to be played. The cases themselves get closed immediately after the guitar comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Ouch, quite a difference there EA... might be best to let it settle before gigging it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratch47 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Ouch, quite a difference there EA... might be best to let it settle before gigging it. +1. The higher action is usually the result of over humidification. Over 70% can cause (temporary) swelling and higher action. The sudden change in room atmosphere wasn't really good for the gits, but shouldn't cause serious long-term problems. Should it happen again, turn off the humidifier and let the room and guitars slowly return to normal. 47% +/- 7% is ideal in most cases, but don't be alarmed unless the humidity drops below 35% or above 65% or so. 2 more cents only: Keeping the gits in hard shell cases is a real good idea; especially during the winter months. Hopefully the J-150 will be ready to play by tomorrow evening. Curious... Were the unaffected guitars also sitting out? Were they acoustics? Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Interestingly the other guitars were sitting right next to each other and were not affected, as per picture below. But at least I know what I did wrong with the humidifer in that I left it on 'continuous rotation' rather than switching off automatically when it hits 45%. It should be fine now. However 24 hours since the 'accident' the actions is still around 3mm high. If it doesnt get better Ill just take the SJ instead. +1. The higher action is usually the result of over humidification. Over 70% can cause (temporary) swelling and higher action. The sudden change in room atmosphere wasn't really good for the gits, but shouldn't cause serious long-term problems. Should it happen again, turn off the humidifier and let the room and guitars slowly return to normal. 47% +/- 7% is ideal in most cases, but don't be alarmed unless the humidity drops below 35% or above 65% or so. 2 more cents only: Keeping the gits in hard shell cases is a real good idea; especially during the winter months. Hopefully the J-150 will be ready to play by tomorrow evening. Curious... Were the unaffected guitars also sitting out? Were they acoustics? Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratch47 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Nice studio... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis57 Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Nice studio... +10 I can so picture myself sitting in that chair, playing with those Gibson... Wish I was There ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 Welcome any time Dennis if youre in these neck of the woods ! +10 I can so picture myself sitting in that chair, playing with those Gibson... Wish I was There ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 if you feel its swelled up... I would be inclined to relax the strings and put it in Case for a while. let it slowly dry out to its proper Percentage.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 It is the extreme temperature change more than the overnight RH change that would alarm me. Cold to hot or hot to cold will crack a soundboard like a twig and, especially with a nitro finish, cause crazing. The guitar will certainly suck up more moisture in the more humid RH factors, but for short periods that isn't as dangerous as the temperature differences. Think of temperature as "acute" and RH as "chronic" issues where your guitar's health is concerned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Unfortunately it did get some finish checking but now that both temp and RH are an normal levels in the music room (45%/21c) it is coming back to normality. The action has now lowered from 3mm to 2.7mm so the top is probably loosing some of its swelling. Boy was I dufus for opening the windows like that .... moron, me. Lesson learnt. Thanks again for all your help guys, much appreciated, really ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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