What happens to a guitar when it's dried out?Here's one example.
The critical geometry is completely affected. Setting up the guitar is difficult. In addition to this, the entire structure of the instrument is under abnormal tension. There are many different pieces of wood glued together inside a guitar, different types of wood, with grain lines pointing in all different directions; when these various components of the instrument dry out, they contract in different directions and to varying degrees of subtlety. This creates undo tension throughout the structure of the instrument and it therefore doesn't play the same, and it doesn't sound the same either.
It's true that not all guitars or like instruments need the be humidified to prevent cracks or "visible" damage. However, when someone brings me a guitar that is dried out, even if they are happy enough with it's playability, the damage is visible to me.
I've also seen many older instrument that have been dry for a long time. Some say the guitar has been "acclimated." Rarely is a guitar properly "acclimated," and some guitars refuse to "acclimate." Some of the older instruments don't show much extreme trauma, but none are in pristine condition. Most have had crack repairs and other work done to remedy the effects of being turned into guitar-jerky.
Keep in mind, a guitar with the correct geometry, kept at the right humidity, plays and sounds the best. Too much humidity makes the guitar play and sound horrible as well. However, too little humidity is generally more detrimental to the structural integrity of the instrument. And besides, you will never have a problem with excessive humidity if you live in northern Arizona. So get a humidifier already!
My next post will discuss how to properly humidify your instrument.
What happens to a guitar when it's dried out?
I've removed the blog-hydrometer for now because the humidity in your home is nowhere near the humidity outside. Your indoor humidity is much, much lower than outside. Any and all heaters (some more than others) dry out the air in your house. At the store we've had to get out extra humidifiers to keep the humidity in the acoustic room at a high enough level.
Flagstaff, not too long ago... before the snow.
We've been offering a lot of bargains and special items on eBay recently. I want to have at least a couple items up for auction every week. These bargains can be bought at the store for the Buy-It-Now price, or you may enter a bid at the store if you like.
The Orpheum theater, downtown Flagstaff. Many good shows come through this venue.
The concert last Friday was awesome. Thanks to everyone who came out and to the bands Ink Child and Mokshya for playing. We're going to do this more often through the summer.
We have officially started the Custom Sound Pro Deal CoOp... a cooperative special ordering program that gets you insider pricing on everything from strings & accessories to pickups & effects. We highly encourage comparing the prices offered through the ordering CoOp with other online stores. The prices you get by collaborating with us on orders will exceed your expectations. Keep reading for some basics and what to expect.
We are now building CustomCaster electric guitars. These are solid body, bolt-on-neck style guitars designed to your specification, exclusively by Custom Sound Instruments. We have a couple demo models available to try at the store, but all instruments are built to order. The purpose of a "built to order" guitar is to fine tune all aspects of the instrument to fit your exact needs.
Just to be clear, not all of the FlagView images are taken by me. Some are given to me by friends. Some I just have in my collection of photos. Here's a perfect example of a summer day down Lake Mary Road... just outside of Flagstaff.
You may be wondering, why so many clamps?
Meet Andrew Lauher. A fine string instrument technician and accomplished luthier. Andrew has built guitars for many Flagstaff musicians including Rafe Sweet, Jeff Lusby and Jeremy Russel. He is now helping out in the repair shop (because we still have a consistent back log of about 35 instruments... damn!) Some of his guitars will be on display for the First Friday Art Walk in August. We'll keep you posted as to the models he'll have on display and the location.
e slot in this pic. We routed this as a "through saddle slot," like what you see on older vintage guitars (or vintage-style guitars.)
Announcing the Custom Sound Summer Solstice Concert: featuring the bands Mokshya and Ink Child. Come enjoy the solstice with us while we try our new outdoor venue.
