One of my big concerns is building a archtop and having humidity ruin it because of the difference between my shop in colorado and a clients home, say in portland.what do you all do?.
My small has no humidity control
building humidity different than clients humidity
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Greg Martin
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Barry Daniels
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Re: building humidity different than clients humidity
Install humidity control in your shop. To not do this is not right for your clients in dry climates.
MIMF Staff
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Daniel Oates
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Re: building humidity different than clients humidity
I build high end furniture for a living. I have this problem all the time. Truth is, no matter where you live, there are going to be big differences in humidity from one season to the next. Here on the east coast of the USA we have the biggest fluctuations in humidity in the world . There is nothing I can do about that once it leaves my workshop. It is the responsibility of the owner take care of the instrument and not play by the fireplace during the winter months or in the garden on a hot and humid day in August.
This past March got a call from a client about a desk of mine that she had bought that has developed a crack in the top. On further inquiry I came to find out that she had parked it above a radiator all winter.
This past March got a call from a client about a desk of mine that she had bought that has developed a crack in the top. On further inquiry I came to find out that she had parked it above a radiator all winter.
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Michael Lewis
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Re: building humidity different than clients humidity
Greg, Colorado is generally pretty dry compared to most other places, and instruments generally accept more humidity better than drying out too much. Also the fact the top and back are arched allows more accommodation to the changes of RH. It doesn't totally stop them from cracking but it helps a lot to deflect the extremes.
Carefully (slowly) super dry your wood, then let it sit around for a week or more before you start, that helps to stabilize it somewhat. If you can get your wood down to 4% moisture content you have a good start, then let it acclimatize to about 8% or so before you start cutting and carving.
My shop stays around 45% RH and the wood I have stored here is about 11 or 12% moisture content (read on a Wagner moisture meter and mini Lignomat). The wood has been drier but has returned to 11 - 12% (equilibrium) just being around 45% RH atmosphere. Most of this wood is 15 - 25 years in my shop, and it works well enough.
Carefully (slowly) super dry your wood, then let it sit around for a week or more before you start, that helps to stabilize it somewhat. If you can get your wood down to 4% moisture content you have a good start, then let it acclimatize to about 8% or so before you start cutting and carving.
My shop stays around 45% RH and the wood I have stored here is about 11 or 12% moisture content (read on a Wagner moisture meter and mini Lignomat). The wood has been drier but has returned to 11 - 12% (equilibrium) just being around 45% RH atmosphere. Most of this wood is 15 - 25 years in my shop, and it works well enough.
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Greg Martin
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Re: building humidity different than clients humidity
The wood Im using on this build here in Colorado has been in my shop in California for 15 years and now here in Colorado for 6 years. The meter shows the spruce at 8 % today and the maple at 11% the ebony and ziricote are both 11-12 %.
I cant spend big money on a controlled environment at this stage of life ,if I was 25 again it would be another story,and Over the last 25 years Ive only built 18 guitars and basses,3 of those were semi hollow.This build will be my first acoustic jazz guitar.so you can understand my worry. The last guitar I built was a sunburst lp and it went to portland, we let it sit, setup,with detuned strings in the cool basement studio of the owner, we noticed only minor movement but we waited 2 months before we set it up again to play. Boy I sweated those 2 months big time.He has had no problems since.Id be concerned if he left Portland and came to Colorado or Similar.
If your interested for fun,here is my guitar site, http://www.redtailguitars.com/
I cant spend big money on a controlled environment at this stage of life ,if I was 25 again it would be another story,and Over the last 25 years Ive only built 18 guitars and basses,3 of those were semi hollow.This build will be my first acoustic jazz guitar.so you can understand my worry. The last guitar I built was a sunburst lp and it went to portland, we let it sit, setup,with detuned strings in the cool basement studio of the owner, we noticed only minor movement but we waited 2 months before we set it up again to play. Boy I sweated those 2 months big time.He has had no problems since.Id be concerned if he left Portland and came to Colorado or Similar.
If your interested for fun,here is my guitar site, http://www.redtailguitars.com/