Q: I just lately purchased a brand new, factory-made 000 with a torrefied Adirondack spruce prime and a lightweight satin end. I spend every summer time and fall in Nova Scotia close to the ocean, so I’ve discovered to maintain my devices of their circumstances with Humidipaks to keep away from humidity points. Despite the fact that I did this to my new guitar, the motion went from .085″ to .15″ in a heartbeat. At first I blamed the gig bag for not defending my guitar, however a luthier instructed that due to the end, the instrument is extremely prone to moisture acquisition and never suited to a Canadian local weather. This can be a disgrace contemplating I believed I had discovered my holy grail—it’s fantastically made and has the loveliest tone I’ve heard in a smaller guitar. This raises the query: What local weather is my 000 good for? And are sure guitars higher suited to sure climates? —Scott Waldie

A: I’d prefer to commend you for a number of issues: before everything, for attending to the guitar’s humidity, and past that, for pondering by way of what is likely to be occurring, taking concrete measurements, and consulting a luthier to get an knowledgeable opinion. These are all nice first steps, and I want all of my restore purchasers would comply with your instance.

Let’s start with the query as you current it: What local weather is your guitar good for? Most factories nowadays anticipate that their devices will find yourself in broadly variable environments, and that humidity management is not going to essentially be accessible in all conditions. As such, most have a tendency to assemble their devices at a temperature/humidity mixture that falls someplace in the course of the possible vary the guitar would possibly expertise over the course of a yr—often, someplace round 45 p.c relative humidity at room temperature.

If the problems you’re experiencing are certainly humidity-related, they need to be comparatively simple to diagnose. “Moist” guitars (i.e., these which might be overly humid) are inclined to have issues with greater motion, convex tops which might be bulging outward, and sluggish or uninteresting tone. In contrast, “dry” guitars are inclined to have flattened or sunken tops, low motion, and sharp protruding fret ends, and often will exhibit a hump or excessive spot on the fretboard extension the place it meets the physique. Incessantly, folks convey me devices for buzzes and setup points, all of that are resolved by merely rehydrating the guitar for a short while. This takes longer than merely leveling the frets, however, as I typically have to elucidate, if I alter the setup for a dried-out guitar, will probably be again to unplayable within the spring, and people previously excessive frets will now be too low—a way more irritating drawback!

Returning to your unique query: my opinion is that a lot of the humidity interplay occurs on the unfinished inside surfaces, and never the outside of the guitar. Although your instrument has a thinner satin end, almost any sprayed end will act as a vapor barrier, so I’m not inclined accountable the end primarily. The torrefied prime in your guitar has undergone a baking course of which, based on some, reduces the tendency to react with modifications in humidity. This course of purports to supply a broken-in or aged tone by thermally modifying the construction of the wooden’s cells. Developed in Scandinavia for architectural supplies similar to exterior decking and siding, this expertise can certainly yield very water resistant supplies, however the ranges of thermal therapy getting used for tops are far more mild than what’s used for constructing supplies, as it could actually scale back the energy of the fabric if overdone.

As a result of your guitar is model new, it’s totally potential that the change in motion could have come from an preliminary settling-in interval, by which the highest, again, and general construction of the guitar stretch and shift into an eventual equilibrium level. Because you report that the guitar sounds good, it’s possible that it’s constructed flippantly sufficient to provide a full of life response from the small parlor physique. Calmly constructed guitars can take weeks and even months to settle in after preliminary meeting, because the string rigidity pulls the highest ahead, flattens the again considerably, and rotates the bridge. This can be a actual problem for builders on the manufacturing facility scale—transport guitars that play nicely instantly can typically imply {that a} setup and saddle adjustment might be mandatory inside months, typically whereas the instrument continues to be on a hook in a retail store. As soon as we contemplate that some retail retailers are in Arizona and others are in Florida, and that the identical manufacturing facility has to ship playable guitars to each on the similar time, the challenges change into clear fairly shortly!

In the end, your guitar ought to be capable of be just right for you in no matter local weather you name house. You’re heading in the right direction utilizing a two-way humidity resolution (the Humidipak provides or removes humidity as wanted, which is a minor miracle for guitar upkeep) and holding the instrument in its case when not in use. The gig bag is not going to create the identical enclosed surroundings as a hardshell case, so contemplate upgrading to a tough case—cheap molded circumstances are literally fairly good on this regard, attributable to their plastic building.

A reliable luthier ought to be capable of arrange your instrument on your humid months. A few of my purchasers even hold low “summer time” and excessive “winter” saddles, which they swap out themselves because the seasons change. Since you love the guitar, it’s definitely worth the funding to take it to a good luthier for such an answer. It’s fairly potential, and even possible, that future seasonal differences is not going to be as excessive as these you skilled within the first few months of the guitar’s life, so as soon as it’s correctly arrange, you might discover that solely small tweaks are mandatory sooner or later. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend ready not less than a number of weeks in any given surroundings earlier than altering the saddle or making different related setup modifications—in any other case, you might be making an attempt to hit a transferring goal. By all means, proceed along with your proactive upkeep like humidity management and measuring motion to remain conscious of the guitar’s modifications—these are precisely the very best practices that may guarantee an extended and wholesome life on your instrument.

This text initially appeared within the March/April 2024 difficulty of Acoustic Guitar journal.