Official Luthiers Forum!

Here in Alaska it is very dry and obviously usually pretty cold. I just got shop space but it's really too big to control the humidity. It's a gigantic shared space at my buddies house with room for about 8-10 cars. Good news for the tools. Bad news for the electric bill if I tried to humidify it. It would also be a full time job just to keep the place humidified with my two small units. I don't have the money to purchase a larger system capable of humidifying that type of space, not to mention it would just be rude since I'm not the one paying the electric bill.

Being that it's 10% humidity 99% of the time I'm considering just building at 10%. Of course the guitars would be best suited to stay in Alaska so I wouldn't use any of my top end zoot stash but I could still build some decent instruments and continue refining the skill, which is my main objective anyways. Theoretically there would be no problem with doing this correct?

I build in New Mexico with similar humidity, typically between 10-20%, and don't have any problems with it, as do a number of other luthiers, including the Pimentels, who are far better known than I ever aspire to be. The door to their shop is usually wide open when I stop by. It could be worse, I used to live in Southeastern Alaska in Ketchikan, where the humidity is rarely below 95%.....

You could just section off a smaller climate controlled area for assembly...

Thanks, I think I'm just gonna roll with it then. I want to play it outside and around Alaska anyways. I should have a smaller shop sometime later this year.

I thought about that too, but I don't want to intrude too much and I definitely don't want to put up any permanent walls. Would a plastic tent do the trick and is it worth the fuss? Maybe if I want to build a house guitar (indoor only) down the line I can look into that. But initially I'm going to build one or two to be played in Central Alaskan climate.

You could put up some curtains around a small space and store your stuff in there at maybe 20-30% RH. That's what I do in the winter (my tent is made of blankets, but plastic would work better, at the cost of the annoying crinkly noise)

I've been tending toward building at low RH, but using woods that don't change dimensions too much (i.e. no spruce and no ebony). Western red cedar and redwood are good for minimally expanding soundboards, and rosewood and mahogany are good for other parts. That way, the guitar is tolerant to very low levels, but doesn't bloat up too much in the humid summer here either. My coral snake guitar seems to be doing fine, having been built around 30%, and now getting up over 60%.

I would go for it also.

I build in So Cal were it can be 10-20% range during Santa Ana wind spells. (Winter and fall) I like to build during these days. Most of the problems for me come when the humidity rises. Low humidity seems ok.

Usually I do spray the inside of the box with a light coat of oil based urethane before I close it and mask off the gluing edges of the top and lightly spray it also, then close it up. That seems to help it overcome damaging humidity changes by slowing absorbion. Some say it ruins the sound but my ear can't hear it.

By the way.... wish I owned that set of wood in your avatar

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to roll with it and build at the low humidity.



Thanks, sometimes I take it out and just look at it. Can't wait to get to the point where I feel comfortable building with it. Not even close to there yet but it will likely be a baritone fan-fret.

I never know where the Army will send me next but I feel better about using decent wood up here after hearing that. I'd hate to ruin a guitar because I built it in haste and in the incorrect conditions. I just hope I never end up back down South. Too hot and too humid!