Timber storage and humidity

[Joseph Jones]

Hi all,
Buying some timber for a guitar soon and I have no idea about storing thin acoustic timbers in this unhumid Albany WA climate.

Any tips are helpful, thanks,

Regards: Joseph

[demonx]

Keep it in your house!

Even here in VIC I keep a lot of sensitive timber in the house, larger stock lives in the workshop.

Keeping weight on it will also help prevent it move on you.

Good luck!

[kiwigeo]

I'm in The Adelaide Hills where humidity can range from 30% to 90% through the year. I used to keep a dehumidifier going 24/7 in my workshop set at around 40% RH but the thing was using a fair bit of power so I stopped using it. I then went to active humidity control during the summer months and a small heater running 24/7 during the winter months. About a year ago I stopped using the heater during the winter months and to my surprise I found that the humidity in the workshop was generally varying between 35 and 60% without any active control measures. The shop is fairly well insulated and has decent windows and doors.

I store my wood in the workshop and everything is stickered with MDF stickers so air can circulate both sides of top and back sets. Tops and backs are generally in piles of at least 10 tops with an MDF board on top of the pile and weights on top of the MDF board if necessary.

[56nortondomy]

I keep mine in the house like Allan suggested, probably won't make your wife very happy though. Wayne

[Joseph Jones]

WIFE!!!!!!! I’m only 16!!

No wife Wayne, my biggest concern is my two critcicing older brothers that I share a room with. Maybe under the bed?

Joseph

[demonx]

WIFE!!!!!!! I’m only 16!!

No wife Wayne, my biggest concern is my two critcicing older brothers that I share a room with. Maybe under the bed?

Joseph

Under your bed will be fine. At one point in time at our old house I had so much timber shoved under the bed there was no room for anything else!!!!

Just make sure there’s stuff/weight on top of it so that it doesn’t warp.

To further on from Kiwi’s workshop comments, I’ve got tens of thousands of dollars of timber stored in the workshop, I spent over seven grand on wall and ceiling insulation and I have humidity gauges in every room to keep an eye on things. I planned to have a solar powered dehumidification system and a floating ceiling with more insulation installed before I moved in however I blew way over budget when I built the new workshop, spending well over a hundred grand and it’s 252 sq m. It’s still not finished and never will be.

I have a 10.5m x 6m room in there dedicated to timber storage, which is on the east side, shielded by other rooms to the north and west, that east side timber storage room stays at much more regulated levels compared to the north and west rooms as those rooms act as space insulation on their own and cop the bulk of the sun. In the north room I have a solarventi, which is a solar powered ceiling extraction fan.

Since installing the solar venti the north room is typically the same as the west room, which in the past it was around eight to ten degrees hotter, so the solar venti is a huge improvement and definitely worth the investment, lowering both temperatures and humidity.

With all that said, any acoustic guitars I still move into the house overnight when they’re not being worked on. Any fingerboards or thin bookmatched material etc I store in the house, I have a large bedroom in there dedicated completely to guitars and further timber storage. The missus doesn’t even see guitars anymore. She came home the other day and I’d put a half dozen customers acoustic guitars on the dining room table and she didn’t even see them. Blind to guitars these days, I think she hates them!

Any time I’ve had any issues with acoustics and humidity it’s usually been the rosette (cross grain joinery and shrinkage) and it’s been because I’ve left it in the workshop. So if moving it into the house solves that problem, it’s a cheap and easy solution.

Hope some or any of that helps the op. Cheers

[Joseph Jones]

Thanks Allen,
That helps heaps.

Just had an idea....
What about an insulated “box” in the workshop?
Problem is I don’t know how the shed(18x12x4.5) goes with temp as we haven’t been here long enough yet.

Joseph

[demonx]

Thanks Allen,
That helps heaps.

Just had an idea....
What about an insulated “box” in the workshop?
Problem is I don’t know how the shed(18x12x4.5) goes with temp as we haven’t been here long enough yet.

Joseph

See, what you’re talking about now is different again and you need to understand that the smaller the area, the more susceptible it is to environmental changes, so a small box will be worse than a large box.

What I do personally is quite simple, I have a hardcase I bought second hand for $20 from a buy/sell page and the acoustic guitar is stored in that whilst I’m not working on it. The case gets put in the house when I’m not working on it. As I’m not working on acoustics full time there can often be large periods of time that they’re not being worked on and by throwing it in a case and putting it in the house, I know it’s safe.

Electric guitars are a different story as they’re generally thicker stock, after having built hundreds of the things I’m comfortable leaving those in the workshop, but the acoustics stay in the house.

[56nortondomy]

LOl Joseph I didn't know. I keep my b/s and tops in the walk in robe.
Wayne

[kiwigeo]

...that works unless you have problem telling the difference between a pair of pants and a Sitka Spruce top in the dark

LOl Joseph I didn't know. I keep my b/s and tops in the walk in robe.
Wayne

[quartpopt]

I have found the white plastic slats from venetian blinds excellent for stickers. About 50 x 3.3 mm. I cut them into 400,200 and 100 mm
lengths. Mine came from blinds we junked, but you see them at the recycle shop and roadside hard rubbish.

[kiwigeo]

At least when they're sitting sandwiched between guitar tops you don't have to worry about cleaning the bldi things!

I have found the white plastic slats from venetian blinds excellent for stickers. About 50 x 3.3 mm. I cut them into 400,200 and 100 mm
lengths. Mine came from blinds we junked, but you see them at the recycle shop and roadside hard rubbish.

[Bruce McC]

Hi Joseph

A little bit off topic but I notice that you make reference to the Albany climate so I assume that you live nearby.
Were you aware that there is an active group of luthiers in Albany and they are members of this forum?
Perhaps the Administrators could put you in touch with them.

[Joseph Jones]

Cheers Bruce!
I’ll look into it.

Joseph

[kiwigeo]

Hi Joseph

A little bit off topic but I notice that you make reference to the Albany climate so I assume that you live nearby.
Were you aware that there is an active group of luthiers in Albany and they are members of this forum?
Perhaps the Administrators could put you in touch with them.

Peter Young I think is a member of the group and a member on this forum. Peter Young is his user name..give him a PM/email.