humidity and action height in archtops, observation

[Brian Evans]

Just an anecdote, really. Yesterday I picked up two of my archtops, both happen to be solid carved curly redwood from the same tree - "ancient" sinker redwood. Picked up the first, sounded great, action was around 1/8" at the 12th fret. So I get the stuff out, measure the relief, make sure the bolt on neck is snug, all is perfect. I pick up the second one, same deal with the action height. Around then it dawns on me that due to some lingering nerve damage in my left arm and hand, I probably haven't played either of these guitars in three months. From somewhat early spring to mid summer, and the humidity soak is now about complete. The humidity has caused the arch of the top to increase in response to the near 70% high humidity point currently in place around here. I found that quite interesting, usually I tweak the setup and action height almost every time I play a guitar. Archtops, at least mine, do tend to move a bit.