Bad Hair Day (in Western WA)?

[Jim_H]

Well, maybe if I had more hair.

We had a nice humidity bump this afternoon. My Hygrometers are showing about 55% in my basement, which is about 10%-15% above 'normal'.

I have humidified central heat, which keeps me in the neighborhood of 40%-45% most of the year. I don't generally need de-humidification in the summer to stay in that range (no AC either).

I can see the evidence of the humidity bump in the thinner pieces of wood laying around the shop.

I guess I won't be gluing the top on my OM this weekend like I planned :p

[Darryl Young]

Good decision!

[Tim R]

I have a question for the group on this topic. I have my top and braces in a sealed plastic bad at constant 50% RH. I could drop it to 40% or lower by adding more silica gel for a day or so. The humidity level in my garage has been stubbornly at 60% or higher for a while now. I work in a garage and the doors are frequently open, so dehumidification is not an option at the moment.

If took the top and braces out of the bag and immediately glued at 60% room RH, might I be okay, given that glue sets in about 30 minutes? In other words, how long does it take the wood to absorb moisture and acclimate to a new RH level.
Thanks,
Tim

[tippie53]

you should be ok

If took the top and braces out of the bag and immediately glued at 60% room RH, might I be okay, given that glue sets in about 30 minutes? In other words, how long does it take the wood to absorb moisture and acclimate to a new RH level.
Thanks,
Tim

Tim,
Is there a good reason why you'd want to chance issues down the road by not waiting for a better humidity environment?

tb

[Tim R]

Mainly lack of patience. The forecast for about two weeks has been for lower humidity in the next few days, but it never happens. Its like some kind of guitar builder's nightmare :-) I've come to realize that humidity forecasts are a joke. Tomorrow is once again forecast to be better. We'll see.

Tim

[Jim_H]

This weather suuuuuucks!

But tommyboy is right. A little patience is probably in order. There are already too many things that can go wrong building a guitar. No sense in knowingly building in future problems.

Personally, I'm keeping myself busy giving my edge tools some TLC. That way, when the weather does improve, I will have some really nice sharp tools to work with.

If tomorrow is still bad, I may go out and clean up the shop *gasp*. Then again.. I might just sleep all day too :p

[David L]

+1 for sleep all day, I think that's what I'm going to do!

David L

[Jim_H]

Had a small front move through today. Seems like humidity is a bit better.

My only functioning humidigraph is down to 46% from 58% earlier this morning.

Hopefully the trend will continue. I have big plans next weekend. =D

[Tim R]

Hi. I've taken Jim's advice and found some other things to do. But what about when I run out of those!?

I actually have a hunch that, as long as the wood is dry at the moment of glue-up, moderately high room temp. is not likely to be a problem. John appears to agree. And this takes me back to my original question, that no one answered dang it: how long for top and braces to acclimate to a new humidity level? If the rate of is on the order of hours then my hunch reasonable...

Tim