marksfretshop.com Guitar Repair Blog

The cold weather months can be hard on your guitar, especially those acoustic instruments. Generally speaking, your guitar likes to be in the same environment as you. For cold and dry winter months it is best to use a case humidifier; such as a Dampit, or if you leave your instrument out of the case while in the house, try to keep room humidity between 40% - 50%. Instruments that have a nitrocellulose finish should be left in the case during transport. When moving from the cold into warm air, leave the instrument in the case and allow it to slowly acclimate to the new temperature. Not following this procedure will cause cold weather checking in the finish and possible top cracks on acoustic instruments. Have you ever picked up an instrument and found the fret ends to be sharp and sticking out? This is another effect from exposure to cold dry climates. In an environment that is too dry, neck woods have a tendency to shrink across their width while the metal frets don’t. This is fairly common in stores that do not properly regulate the humidity and with import instruments that are exposed to temperature extremes during international transport. This condition must be corrected by filing the fret ends. Rehumidification seldom ends in a satisfactory result.