Just got my guitar

Samuel · February 2008

Thanks Mike and Josh, I got my guitar the other day and everything looks good so far. Now I just need to learn how to play it

Quick general question, though. It gets pretty dry here in DC in the winter, so I have one of those humidifiers that sits in between the strings. Should I loosen those strings when I put that in, since it pushes them outwards, or is that ok? If anything, would it just affect string life or would it have any consequences on the guitar itself?

Thanks again. Hopefully in, oh, 6 months or so I'll be able to play something useful

Stackabones · February 2008

Congrats! Happy New Guitar Day!

btw, what'd you get? :?:

Samuel · February 2008

Gitane DG-300, with a custom bridge from Josh

Seems like a good place to start

MichaelHorowitz · February 2008

Hi Samuel...congrats on the guit! I'm not familiar with that humidifier...but I wouldn't want to use anything that required me to detune the strings every time I put the guitar away. That would be really annoying!

'm

Samuel · February 2008

Hi Michael, just Sam will do (it was already taken as a username)

The humidifier I'm talking about is this one, which seems to be a pretty basic acoustic guitar in-hole humidifier. But you can even see in the pictures there how it pushes the D and G strings to the side while it sits in between them. So in the long run, I wasn't sure if that was a bad thing and if I should look for a different solution. :edit: I should say that it sits in there fine without me having to detune those strings.

Do the Dampits work better? Is there an easy way to suspend them in the hole? Or should I look into something like this? I'm also putting a sponge/plastic bag combo in the headstock area.

I realize these might be inane questions, but you know that "I got something new and need to make sure I'm taking care of it!" feeling...

MichaelHorowitz · February 2008

That looks OK to me. Fortunately the climate here in Seattle is pretty guitar friendly so I don't have too many humidity issues. Also, my furnace has a humidifier built in and keeps the house around 50% or so, so I never use any of these humidification systems.

Sorry, I just don't know much about these. Seems like a damp rag is as good as anything.

'm

pallopenna · February 2008

These are the best in case humidifiers that I've used (by far):

http://elderly.com/accessories/items/OGH1.htm

-Paul

Phil · February 2008

Hi Sam - re-the humidifier that pushes the strings apart...I've been using that type of humidifier for years and it works just great. I don't losen the strings as the string tightness holds the humidifier in place.

Good call on getting a custom bridge from Josh...that was the best thing I did last year was getting a custom bridge made by him on my Gallato...it became a new guitar!

Cheers

Phil

Samuel · February 2008

Thanks all. I'll assume that it won't cause any problems, like Phil says, and not worry about it.

Dr. Hall · February 2008

I have become a huge proponent of the soundhole humidifier (just this winter in fact). I live in Green Bay, my wife loves the central heat, and I love my wife. I've been using the Oasis unit which is similar to the planet waves unit (though of softer materials), and that along with a custom bridge from Josh Hegg has eliminated the need for shims and has made my guitar an absolute dream to play every time I pick it up. I don't detune the strings at all, and the humidifier is held in place by the strings and doesn't slide around when carrying the guitar in the case. I use a Dampit in my Heritage and Epiphone archtops bcause they have f-holes and are a bit too shallow for the oasis sound-hole type humidifier. The archtops don't really react overmuch to humidity or lack thereof, and the bridges are easily adjustable if the action shifts, so the dampit is just my being paranoid I suppose. Sound-hole humidifiers are the way to go for gypsy guitars if you don't live in the humid Pacific Northwest.
-Stefan