Winter's a killer!

If you live in a northern climate, winter can be fatal for your guitar. I'll explain: when it's cold, we turn on the heat. When the heat's on, the air is dry and, in turn, your guitar becomes dry. A lack of humidity causes the wood to contract and eventually crack. In my line of work, I see this all too often.

Dried-out instruments will exhibit some symptoms that are fairly easy to spot: frets will stick out on the sides and feel sharp, any nuts (like on certain tuning keys) will become loose and rattle around, and on an acoustic guitar, the top will sink down. You'll find that your action is lower and there might be buzzing where there wasn't before.

What can you do? It's easy: humidify! Your guitar (or bass, or mandolin, or oud, or whatever...) likes about 50% humidity in the air. In the winter, it's a good idea to keep your instrument inside its case, and to stick a humidifier (or "dampit") in there with it. This brings me to my next topic: humidifiers!

You don't have to go crazy and get the most expensive humidifier out there--even a moist sponge in a perforated Ziploc bag will do. Fortunately, there are some inexpensive options out there, that are a bit less messy than the sponge deal:




For guitars with a soundhole or f-holes, you don't need to get any fancier than the Grover humidifier. Looks like a green pool noodle with holes all over it, and it clips right onto your strings and hangs inside the soundhole. For guitars with f-holes, you can clip it onto a rubber band or something, and then hang that from a knob. What's cool about this one is that it comes with a humidity-sensitive cardboard gauge that you stick in your case or wherever, so you always know how comfortable your instrument is.

The Planet Waves humidifier is also an excellent option for guitars with a soundhole. It just slips in-between the strings and hangs there in the soundhole.




If you have a solid guitar, the Herco humidifier is the simple solution. It's a little clay-filled pot that just sits inside your guitar case and does its job.


Your guitar shop should carry at least one of these humidifiers, and I can't insist enough that this is a must for anyone who relies on heating at some point in the year.  Don't forget to refill the dampit from time to time, keeping the sponge inside moist. Too much humidity is also a problem, but I'll address that in the summer. Shell out a few bucks on one of these, and you'll avoid costly repairs!