Hollowbody and climate/care???

[vchizzle]

As I've been kicking around getting a hollowbody II, it occurred to me that more care would be needed than with solid body PRS. I've always thought of PRS being durable in terms of climate, if you take reasonable precaution, you shouldn't have many problems. Hollowbody, no matter the brand, seems like it would be a different story.

Do you treat it as an acoustic?
Problem is I don't gig my acoustic and never put much thought into temperatures and humidity and all that. It always just stay in the house, in it's case until I play it. It doesn't see cold to hot, hot to cold, etc.

My electrics usually travel in a trailer. Everything is always packed well so there's no movement or risk of large items falling, etc. I would think I'd err on the side of caution with a HB and maybe have it travel in the vehicle or in a quality ATA case.

Does humidity affect them more than solid bodies?

We have pretty big swings in climate here...subzero temps in winter, hot and humid summer.

 

[László]

As I've been kicking around getting a hollowbody II, it occurred to me that more care would be needed than with solid body PRS. I've always thought of PRS being durable in terms of climate, if you take reasonable precaution, you shouldn't have many problems. Hollowbody, no matter the brand, seems like it would be a different story.

Do you treat it as an acoustic?
Problem is I don't gig my acoustic and never put much thought into temperatures and humidity and all that. It always just stay in the house, in it's case until I play it. It doesn't see cold to hot, hot to cold, etc.

My electrics usually travel in a trailer. Everything is always packed well so there's no movement or risk of large items falling, etc. I would think I'd err on the side of caution with a HB and maybe have it travel in the vehicle or in a quality ATA case.

Does humidity affect them more than solid bodies?

We have pretty big swings in climate here...subzero temps in winter, hot and humid summer.

If it's got a carved maple top, I think it wouldn't be any different from a solid body model. Obviously, it's more fragile.

I wouldn't put it in a trailer. I'd hand-carry it. Other than that, I'd think it'd be ok to care for it the same way you do your solids.

If it had a spruce top, I might be more concerned, because spruce really tends to be affected by climate.

 

[veinbuster]

I haven't needed to treat my HB or archtop like an acoustic in the winter. I do however travel with the HB in the backseat and don't leave it in the car overnight. They have been fine treated in that manner for over 10 years.

 

[garrett]

Mine has literally been around the world on a container ship in its original case with no temperature control and is none the worse for wear.

They're pretty durable instruments, but they obviously wouldn't handle a blow to the top or back as well as a solid body would. I leave mine out of the case with my other guitars pretty much all the time. The only special care I give it is to use the hard case instead of a gig bag when I take it out for a gig or rehearsal. If I were to tour with it I'd go for an ATA case, but I'd do that for any guitar.

 

[vchizzle]

I haven't needed to treat my HB or archtop like an acoustic in the winter. I do however travel with the HB in the backseat and don't leave it in the car overnight. They have been fine treated in that manner for over 10 years.

I don't leave any guitars in the car over night either.

 

[vchizzle]

Mine has literally been around the world on a container ship in its original case with no temperature control and is none the worse for wear.

They're pretty durable instruments, but they obviously wouldn't handle a blow to the top or back as well as a solid body would. I leave mine out of the case with my other guitars pretty much all the time. The only special care I give it is to use the hard case instead of a gig bag when I take it out for a gig or rehearsal. If I were to tour with it I'd go for an ATA case, but I'd do that for any guitar.

Wow! Care to share the "around the world story"? Probably doesn't happen much unless sold internationally?

 

[watelessness]

In an ideal world, 50% humidity. They can tolerate extremes but 40-60% is comfortable. Since they are hollow and unsealed on the inside there is more surface area for moisture to be absorbed. Mine dont travel but i've never had any problems with them that i dont have with my solid bodies, and that's just the neck reacting, not the body.

 

[garrett]

Wow! Care to share the "around the world story"? Probably doesn't happen much unless sold internationally?

Sure. I moved from Tampa, FL to Adelaide, Australia and then to Atlanta, GA. Moving internationally is a pretty big ordeal. The movers loaded our things into a crate and I didn't see them again until more than four months later. The journey went something like this: Truck from Tampa to Long Beach, CA where it sat waiting for the container to be filled. On a shipping vessel across the pacific for weeks, then into Sydney where Customs held on to it for a couple weeks. Then on a truck to Adelaide, where I lived for two years.

On the journey back, I don't remember if they trucked it west to Perth or east to Melbourne or Sydney, but I'm sure it sat around again, and the boat came back to the USA the long way around Africa and up to New York. I think it took more than five months on that journey.

In hindsight, I should've posted the guitars. Would've had them a heck of a lot sooner, that's for sure. But posting guitars to/from Australia is a lot more expensive than adding them to the shipping crate with furniture, etc. Also, everything is packed tightly in the crate and handled with a bit more care than the UPS dood flinging boxes onto a roller, and is therefore relatively safer.

The Cole Clark acoustic I bought Down Under made the epic return journey as well. I think guitars in general are a bit more robust than we give them credit for.

 

[vchizzle]

Wow, awesome story Garrett!

 

[clcwarlock]

A few weeks ago one of my friends left his older Martin D28 in the car overnight. The next day it had a split in the top behind the bridge. He had it repaired and is much more careful now. With acoustics, it definitely happen in Pittsburgh weather. My solid bodies are pretty tough though.

 

[jfb]

I have a humidifier on the my home's HVAC. I also keep a stand alone humidifier in my guitar room. I've never had an issue with my HB.