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Original Post By:
Guest_bftd
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Date: 5/30/2005 |
I live in a very humid part of the country. However, we do keep the AC on during the summer, and the heat on during the winter. How would I keep a decent ukulele from self destructing, given that it will no doubt be played outside (in 70%+ humidity) and indoors (prob. less than 25%).
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Posted By:
Guest_Dave Means
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Date: 5/30/2005 |
| If it was built at around 50% RH, as it should have been, your forays into 70%+ outdoor humidity shouldn't cause any serious problems. It's likely that the worst effects will be higher-than-normal action and a little less lively tone than usual... but no structural problems. Indoor relative humidity of less than 25% for more than a few hours, on the other hand, can be dangerous to the health of a solid wood instrument. It's doubtful that the RH would get that low in the air conditioning in summer, but it certainly will with central heat in winter unless you have central humidification. Either storing the instrument in its case in a closet with a small room humidifier, or keeping a case humidifier in its case should be adequate to prevent problems. The few hours that the uke is out of its case for playing will not be enough time for it to dry out significantly. -- Dave
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Posted By:
Guest_Bruce E
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Date: 5/31/2005 |
| I kept my uke in a hotel room in the Sonoran desert for the last 8 months. I kept a violin sized Dampit in the case for a while. You can get them from elderly.com. You also get a humidity detecting card along with the Dampit. When it got to where I couldn't keep the humidity in the gig bag up with just the Dampit I got a cleaning sponge and a baggie, and I punched a few holes in the baggie with a paper punch. I would then wet the sponge and wring it out every night, and put it inside the baggie and close everything up in the gig bag. My all koa uke has shown no ill effects from its time in the desert.
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Posted By:
Guest_bftd
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Date: 5/31/2005 |
Thanks! I was a little worried, as when I moved to Missouri from Arizona, all my instruments suffered. I realised (too late) that there was a huge difference between the amount of moisture in the air back home and this "jungle". I vowed that i would never put another instrument through that again.
(my Applause uke is 3/4 plastic, I think one could go swimming with it and not have to re tune ) :)
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Posted By:
Guest_Italuke
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Date: 5/31/2005 |
| Hey Bruce, Looks like great minds think alike. Just this morning I made a couple of the sponge/baggie humidifiers. I used those little folded sponges that come a whole bunch in a pack from Trader Joe's. They're really easy to cut in half or smaller when dry. Another great desert survival technique. Jim
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Posted By:
Guest_Doug
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Date: 5/31/2005 |
| You can also use a pill vial or other small plastic container instead of a baggie.
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