2x/year truss rod tweak or more humidification control? ~ Poll

If on pace to see need for adjusting truss rod 2x per year to maintain ideal relief would you...

  • continue to adjust truss rod seasonally / 2x per year / Summer & Winter

    Votes: 11 84.6%
  • run a damn humidifier in the winter and control that climate!

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • Total voters
    13

Abe

ABe©eDarian
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At this rate in my current home life with my specific PRS guitar without any climate control on the humidity balance I’ll apparently be adjusting the truss rod twice per year, needing a loosening in the summer and a tightening in the winter to keep the relief that is ideal for me.

How do you personally handle this? Would you keep that truss rod tweaking ritual or would you opt to shoot for more humidification control?

I know not everyone is so sensitive to minute changes but I know my ideal settings as something I'd like to maintain.

P.S. No sense trying to keep every guitar cased with or without humidor, as something has to be handy to take down off the wall and put back continuously.
 
I go the humidity control route , love to have all my guitars out and on display , I am also to lazy to uncase guitars to play them.
Found that I can keep my basement between 40-50% without to much trouble and adjustments are minor if I have to do them.
 
I keep my basement at the same temp year-round. I find that makes a significant difference compared to two changes in temperature a day. When I do run the fireplace, I see a difference in tuning pretty quickly.

I also run a dehumidifier during the non-heating months.

The guitars that stay in their cases (HB and acoustic) have case humidifiers.
 
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I adjust the truss rod whenever needed, not just twice a year. My house has a good humidifier but the constant changes in climate, gigging in and outdoors warrant more frequent adjustment. I don't willy-nilly adjust them. If I'm not playing a particular guitar for a while I leave it alone, but when I do play one, I'll check it and adjust, if needed.
 
When I lived in an area of the country where I had dry winters, I put a humidifier in my guitar room. I still had to tweak a truss rod once in a while but it helped cut down on it quite a bit. I would rather try to keep the collection in a humidity range that keeps the happy. Where I live now, I don't have this issue.
 
I live in The People’s Republic of California. Not sure it’s worth the price of admission, but it’s easy on the instruments. I seldom have to adjust the truss rod in any of my guitars. I’d go the humidifier route. Your acoustic guitars will love you for it.
 
P.S. No sense trying to keep every guitar cased with or without humidor, as something has to be handy to take down off the wall and put back continuously.
How's that really more handy than taking it out of a case? How many fewer seconds does it take?

You ask a good question about how to prevent the very problems caused by keeping the guitars out, but you don't want to hear the best and simplest solution to the problem.

It's like addicts who say, "I want to be healthier, but I won't stop shooting up, so don't tell me to." Well, OK.

Wood is hygroscopic. I absorbs moisture when there's a lot of it, and releases its moisture when there isn't. The only way to keep a guitar at a given humidity is to limit exposure to the changes in humidity and temperature that take place in all rooms, and control its environment.

The temperature and humidity in every room varies over a 24 hour period, unless you want to deal with water bucket humidifiers, which I found are a giant PITA, YMMV.

On the other hand, keep a guitar in a small, controlled, environment most of the time, and it's much less apt to react to external humidity and temperature changes. A case is such an item. It buffers the temp and humidity changes.

Throw in a very good system that both absorbs excess moisture and releases moisture to the guitar when it needs it, and you're done, no hassle, no mess, no water buckets. In fact, PRS recommends it.

So there's a real solution, but it involves The Case That Was Invented To Protect The Instrument.

I put a D'Addario humidipak in the cases of all of my guitars, electric and acoustic, and have for years. And then I close the case with the guitar in it and replace the packs when they dry out. Unlike the old fashioned sponges or plaster of Paris stuff in plastic boxes, hey don't leak or smell.

I have not needed an adjustment of any kind on any of my recent guitars, including ones I've had for over a decade, and I'm in Michigan, where it's humid in summer and dry as bone in winter with forced air heating (even with the whole house humidifier I use).

You read that right: Not one setup or adjustment in ten years.

Having spent $5,000-10,000 on these items, I'm willing to undertake the very non-strenuous action of actually opening that case and lifting the guitar out instead of taking it down from a wall.

The benefit is obvious. Or you can do what you do and have the thing adjusted a few times a year.

If you went the route I do, which I don't expect but am posting this as a public service, you can save a buck or two with Boveda's brand, they make the stuff for D'Addario. I stick them in the D'Addario bags. They make a specific one for wooden instruments that's labeled 49%. It's perfect. I get them on Amazon.
 
I regarded the truss rod as a Thing Not To Be Touched for decades. I feared I'd wreck the guitar if I messed with it -- and really shouldn't have. At one of the PRS Experiences, they did a session at the factory on setting up your guitar, and the first thing they talked about was how to check the neck and adjust the truss rod. I find it's easy, makes a difference, and is hard to mess up if you just do 1/10 or 1/8 of a turn at a time. I realize I may be preaching to someone who already knows, but PRS really does mean for that truss rod adjustment to be used, as often as needed.
 
^ I’m with Les.

My guitars and basses live in cases, get humidipaks and require very little tweaking despite the roller coaster of humidity that is western New England.

My memory says you have a HB @Abe. That guitar really should stay in case with humidification in WMass winters IMO. Mill River has humidipaks…just sayin’ ;)
 
How's that really more handy than taking it out of a case? How many fewer seconds does it take?

You ask a good question about how to prevent the very problems caused by keeping the guitars out, but you don't want to hear the best and simplest solution to the problem.

It's like addicts who say, "I want to be healthier, but I won't stop shooting up, so don't tell me to." Well, OK.

Wood is hygroscopic. I absorbs moisture when there's a lot of it, and releases its moisture when there isn't. The only way to keep a guitar at a given humidity is to limit exposure to the changes in humidity and temperature that take place in all rooms, and control its environment.

The temperature and humidity in every room varies over a 24 hour period, unless you want to deal with water bucket humidifiers, which I found are a giant PITA, YMMV.

On the other hand, keep a guitar in a small, controlled, environment most of the time, and it's much less apt to react to external humidity and temperature changes. A case is such an item. It buffers the temp and humidity changes.

Throw in a very good system that both absorbs excess moisture and releases moisture to the guitar when it needs it, and you're done, no hassle, no mess, no water buckets. In fact, PRS recommends it.

So there's a real solution, but it involves The Case That Was Invented To Protect The Instrument.

I put a D'Addario humidipak in the cases of all of my guitars, electric and acoustic, and have for years. And then I close the case with the guitar in it and replace the packs when they dry out. Unlike the old fashioned sponges or plaster of Paris stuff in plastic boxes, hey don't leak or smell.

I have not needed an adjustment of any kind on any of my recent guitars, including ones I've had for over a decade, and I'm in Michigan, where it's humid in summer and dry as bone in winter with forced air heating (even with the whole house humidifier I use).

You read that right: Not one setup or adjustment in ten years.

Having spent $5,000-10,000 on these items, I'm willing to undertake the very non-strenuous action of actually opening that case and lifting the guitar out instead of taking it down from a wall.

The benefit is obvious. Or you can do what you do and have the thing adjusted a few times a year.

If you went the route I do, which I don't expect but am posting this as a public service, you can save a buck or two with Boveda's brand, they make the stuff for D'Addario. I stick them in the D'Addario bags. They make a specific one for wooden instruments that's labeled 49%. It's perfect. I get them on Amazon.

Hey, thanks for the thoughtful post. I feel reprimanded by my elder. It's not enough of a spanking to cause me to cease keeping 1 out of 4 guitars not cased and on the wall while I pick it up here and there throughout the days, but I'll consider my care methods increasingly so as I make my way up the guitar food chain, as I want my guitars to be crispy on the surface yet tender and juicy within.
 
Hey, thanks for the thoughtful post. I feel reprimanded by my elder. It's not enough of a spanking to cause me to cease keeping 1 out of 4 guitars not cased and on the wall while I pick it up here and there throughout the days, but I'll consider my care methods increasingly so as I make my way up the guitar food chain, as I want my guitars to be crispy on the surface yet tender and juicy within.
I hope it didn't feel TOO much like a reprimand. I try to be a little tongue-in-cheek.

I don't do this, but my son does, and maybe it's a thing to consider. He has some really good guitars. I think he keeps them cased when not in use, because I don't see them out when I visit.

But he has one inexpensive guitar that's out that he calls his "couch guitar," something he can fiddle around with when in the mood. He leaves it out (on the couch) so he doesn't have to get up when he's comfortable. He lives in LA, where there's less temp/humidity change than Michigan, but I think there are still a few seasonal issues.

That way, his good guitars stay good, and the couch guitar is what it is and gets adjusted. So maybe it isn't all black and white.
 
Hey, thanks for the thoughtful post. I feel reprimanded by my elder. It's not enough of a spanking to cause me to cease keeping 1 out of 4 guitars not cased and on the wall while I pick it up here and there throughout the days, but I'll consider my care methods increasingly so as I make my way up the guitar food chain, as I want my guitars to be crispy on the surface yet tender and juicy within.
I have always kept 3 to 5 guitars out either hanging on the walls or on stands in my room. I put a humidifier in the room and kept the door shut when I lived in an area that would really drop in humidity in the winter. It worked very well. I had to fill it every day or two but it was worth the time it took to be able to have the guitars out and not suffering from low humidity. I live in South Florida now and I ended up buying another humidifier down here because the apartment I lived in when I first got here would get a bit low on humidity during the summer with the AC running constantly.
 
So hey, some interesting news. When little bro was alerted to the relief and action change on his guitars as well he first cased his David Gilmour Custom Strat then went to the basement and activated some kind of humidifier in the circulating heat unit that I didn't know about. I guess it was off in the summer to help the a/c work better.

And another thing that's interesting as I learn this full DIY guitar care: Since the humidity according to the digital hygrometers rose some days ago the guitar in question already changed it's relief & action most of the way back to my sweet spot prior to the truss rod tweak I've been planning to do. So I guess that means the neck responds pretty immediately to any swings of humidity. I'll try to level it out.
 
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