1st build delay

[Darryl Young]

Tommy, not for the faint of heart but this worked surprisingly well for me and is a way to get around the humidity issues. Buy silica gel at Hobby Lobby and use cheese cloth to make balls of silica gel. Place it inside the large ziplock bags along with your top and bracing (or back and bracing) and zip it closed. It will take the humidity down to 38-40%. Then glue the braces while in the bag. Here is a shot of my top in the go bar deck after glueing the X-braces.

[kencierp]

The thin materials acclimate in a matter of hours. But there's no need to rush. Gluing the braces to the plates and the top and back to the rim is where you want to make sure the RH is very low (the wood at its smallest dimensions). You want wait a while on the neck and fingerboard if nothing else if to make sure they are straight.

[tippie53]

Ken's statement is so true . I like to glue in braces with the rh below 40% if I can . At least for my area. You people in AZ need about 10% LOL .

[David L]

I store all of the parts for the guitar that I'm currently working on at any given point (I don't have a lot of guitars that I am building at the same time, I pretty much build one at a time) inside the house, where the humidity level is consistantly around 55 to 60%. When we get a break in the RH level outside (which isn't very often), I will take some parts into the shop, do a glue-up and return thm back into the house as soon as clamping pressure is no longer needed. We have disgustingly high humidity here in south Louisiana!

David L

[quote="Darryl Young"]Tommy, not for the faint of heart but this worked surprisingly well for me and is a way to get around the humidity issues. Buy silica gel at Hobby Lobby and use cheese cloth to make balls of silica gel. Place it inside the large ziplock bags along with your top and bracing (or back and bracing) and zip it closed. It will take the humidity down to 38-40%. Then glue the braces while in the bag. Here is a shot of my top in the go bar deck after glueing the X-braces.

Darryl,
What a simple but elegant solution. Impressive, to say the least.

I store all of the parts for the guitar that I'm currently working on at any given point (I don't have a lot of guitars that I am building at the same time, I pretty much build one at a time) inside the house, where the humidity level is consistantly around 55 to 60%. When we get a break in the RH level outside (which isn't very often), I will take some parts into the shop, do a glue-up and return thm back into the house as soon as clamping pressure is no longer needed. We have disgustingly high humidity here in south Louisiana!

David L

David, If the humidity level stays in that range year round and you don't plan on your guitars spending any extended time in much drier conditions, I'd assume building in 55 - 60% RH would be fine.

I wonder if the constant high humidity would have an impact on the 'break in' time for your guitars.

tb

[David L]

I store all of the parts for the guitar that I'm currently working on at any given point (I don't have a lot of guitars that I am building at the same time, I pretty much build one at a time) inside the house, where the humidity level is consistantly around 55 to 60%. When we get a break in the RH level outside (which isn't very often), I will take some parts into the shop, do a glue-up and return thm back into the house as soon as clamping pressure is no longer needed. We have disgustingly high humidity here in south Louisiana!

David L

David, If the humidity level stays in that range year round and you don't plan on your guitars spending any extended time in much drier conditions, I'd assume building in 55 - 60% RH would be fine.

I wonder if the constant high humidity would have an impact on the 'break in' time for your guitars.



I've been told that 55% to 60% if fine to build in if the guitar is going live in this geographical area. I can't answer the "break in" question as I haven't got to break one in yet, but I'm getting close (to being ready to break one in)

David L

tb