With Fall’s cooler temperatures and dry air it’s the perfect time to think about your guitars. Just as your skin begins to get dry this time of year so does the thin wood on your fine guitar. Humidity control may be the single most important factor in preventing problems with instruments.

You will know if you guitar begins to get dry if you start to feel the frets protruding from the fingerboard. That is a sign that moisture is leaving the wood and the ebony fingerboard is actually shrinking. Less noticeably you may see that the top is actually sinking as well, this happens as the wood shrinks and pulls tighter. This is what causes a bit of a dip in front of the bridge towards the sound hole on older instruments.

“Here at Dream Guitars, we see a lot of older instruments with cracks or stability issues due to poor humidity control.” says Paul Heumiller, owner of Dream Guitars, “Fortunately humidity is very easy to control. Modern in-case humidifiers are wonderfully easy to use and there are also hygrometers (gauges that measure humidity) that attach to the inside of your cases or can be place in your playing room for every day viewing.

We at Dream Guitars highly recommend the Planet Waves product line for Humidity control. Click here to view the Planet Waves Humidifier products we have in stock.

Also if you have a number of guitars, you may want to consider a room humidifier such as those available at many of the big home stores. The key here is to have a hygrometer as well so you know exactly what is going on in the room.

Whether your solution is a guitar case or room humidifier, you want to keep the moisture between 40 to 50% humidity all year long. Here at Dream Guitars we have a built-in humidity system that keeps our shop at exactly 45% humidity all year. That means adding moisture once the heat comes on in October or November.

Contact us today for more advice or click here to take advantage of our recommended humidification products currently in stock in the Dream Guitars online store.