my air conditioner broke...

It would seem as thought my air conditioner is broken. At the moment every window is open, and it is very hot and humid during the day and chilly at night. Unfortunately it looks like it might be staying like this for awhile. Should I be concerned about my guitars health?

Hi!

I too live in a place where the weather conditions swing pretty far this way and that, on fairly short notice. My guitars do react to the seasonal changes in temperature and humidity, and from time to time I need to bring them to my luthier for a "tune-up" (neck adjustment, etc.)

I think the worst things for a guitar are extremes, and fast changes. Taking a guitar from a cold car into a hot room, or vice versa.

Without a lot of information on your specific situation, it sounds like the temperature and humidity changes happen at more of an "organic" pace, which I would think would be less of a concern than sudden rapid changes.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this?

Best wishes, Lisa

Thanks for the reply, maybe she'll survive. :)

Heat is the worst thing for your guitar as far as actually killing it. Where hide glues might have been used, at about 120ish degrees (I forget exactly off the top of my head, but you can Google it) the glue will soften and pieces may come apart.

Other than that, you might need to tune more frequently just because the wood & metals & plastics will react to environmental changes at different rates. Temps in my area regularly swing 10 degrees Celsius from a.m. to p.m. and it`s not uncommon at all to go from 9 degrees overnight to 33 in the day. (That would be a 50 - 90 degree swing for you Fahrenheit folks.)

I have a variety of acoustics & electrics, and all of them survive fine. They need to. If they can`t live where I live, then they are not much good to me! :)

The best thing to have in these situations is a friend at a local music store or, as in Lisa's case, a handy luthier. Someone that specializes in guitar maintenance that can look at your guitars a few times a year to make according adjustments to your instruments. If you find someone you trust in this department, you really cannot go wrong and should treat this person like your plumber, lawyer, or mechanic; someone you can't live without. It is a small investment and very much worth it.

Best of luck and hopefully you've got it all figured out and your guitar is in good shape despite your setback. ;)

Ill have to check that out. Theres a couple of good music stores around here I could go to. Thanks for helping!

Again, try and find someone you trust and know will do a great job. Ask around, find someone down to earth and easy to talk too that won't bother you with all the tech-speak and just explain to you what they can do for you and some simple things you can do yourself. Best of luck. :)

Is an acoustic more at risk of humidity changes than a solid body?