Guitars and the Damaging Effects of Temperature & Humidity Extremes.
An acoustic guitar is a remarkable piece of engineering. Itis at the same time quite fragile, yet also remarkably strong. The entirestructure is built around the need to produce a good sound while resisting theforce of approx 180 pounds (800N) of tension exerted from the strings which aretrying to pull the head of the guitar around toward the body. When this tensionsucceeds physics has won the battle and the guitar then ranges from difficultthrough to impossible to play. This can take a long time to occur, sometimesyears, and we only start to notice when it's getting too late to save theguitar. Only an expensive guitar is worth repairing (if it is repairable) andit will need an expert guitar repairer, usually at great cost.
Extremes of temperature and humidity greatly aid nature inits quest to bend a guitar out of shape. The inside of an acoustic guitar isunsealed timber. Timber will absorb and release moisture according to theenvironment it lives in and the weather it is exposed to. Timber will swell alittle when exposed to high temperature and it will shrink a little whenexposed to cold temperature. Timber will also swell when exposed to highhumidity and will shrink when exposed to low humidity. If you combine high tempwith high humidity or low temperature and low humidity the results arecompounded.
If a guitar has change in environment it will adjust to thechange without a problem, it's the repeated change in extremes that does thedamage so it's best to avoid extremes and repeated sudden changes oftemperature and or humidity. If yourguitar lives in an air-conditioned environment then the guitar will have lowmoisture content, if you take it into and hot moist atmosphere will cause thetimber to swell rapidly and if the guitar is then returned to theair-conditioned room it will then loose the moisture again causing the timberto shrink again. If you do the opposite will have the same effect except in thereverse order. Also, do not to leave your guitar in a closed car in the sun, asthis can raise the temp of the guitar to extreme heights.
A lot is said about keeping your guitar in its case to keepthe guitar more stable. I'm not sure of the worth of this thinking as 1. Theguitar case would have to be quite air-tight for this to work and 2. I would bevery concerned with putting a guitar that has a high humidity content into aguitar case as this would help lock the moisture in thereby greatly increasingthe risk of mould developing inside the guitar. Timber and mould do not get alongtogether at all.
Just be sensible and you will get a number of decades out ofa quality guitar.
www.nofretguitarlessons.com.au
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1986 Diploma in Music - Classical Guitar Major. I have beenperforming for 34 years either as solo instrumentalist, in duos, trios and inrock bands playing guitar or bass guitar. 10 years ago I started teachingguitar, bass and music theory which led me to independently writing, producingand publishing The Guitar Instruction, Musicianship & Reference Manual withDVD on Left & Right Hand Techniques.
www.nofretguitarlessons.com.au
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