Humidifier for dobro?
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- Per Berner
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Humidifier for dobro?
Since relative humidity can go below 20 % this time of year where I live, I have humidifiers in all my acoustic guitars. But I haven't found any that will fit a dobro. Does anyone know of a suitable product?
- Larry Allen
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50%
Aloha PER. The 50 years I lived in Alaska I kept my 12’x18’ music room at 50% with a regular humidifier ..during the coldest times it would take 1/2-1 gal/day..
In the summers I used a DAddario dehumidifier.




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- Mike Auman
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- Per Berner
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Most all guitar woods are built at about 10% humidity (give or take). Humidity in a house never gets that low and changes at a very slow rate. There may be other reasons to add a humidifier in your house but protecting your guitar wood is NOT one of them.....and adding a humidifier in a guitar case is just doing more harm then good.
- Larry Allen
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50%
No cases here either, just ready to play wall!


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Chris, you are right that most guitar woods are at about 10% humidity but that is the actual water content of the wood, NOT the atmospheric conditions during the build.Chris Clem wrote:Most all guitar woods are built at about 10% humidity (give or take). Humidity in a house never gets that low and changes at a very slow rate. There may be other reasons to add a humidifier in your house but protecting your guitar wood is NOT one of them.....and adding a humidifier in a guitar case is just doing more harm then good.
Most builders will build their guitars at 40 to 45% Relative Humidity which is a measure of how saturated the air is.
At this relative humidity the wood will reach equilibrium at about 10% moisture content, but will still shrink or swell as it loses or gains moisture with changes in the atmosphere.
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2020 Highland Mohan Veena
2021 Highland Weissencone
- Allan Revich
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Best of all is to humidify the whole house. Many furnaces have built in humidifiers. Otherwise, humidify the guitar room. If that is completely impossible (doubtful) humidify the case and keep the instrument cased. Humidifying the body cavity only is a bad idea because the humidity is not evenly distributed. It doesn’t touch the fretboard so you get “fret spout”. It doesn’t reach the outside of the instrument. And there is the risk of water damage if the humidifier leaks into the body.
Or you can move to the Pacific Northwest where the indoor humidity is in the Goldilocks zone year round.
Or you can move to the Pacific Northwest where the indoor humidity is in the Goldilocks zone year round.

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I've been using these in all my guitars for more than 15 years.
These for resos and banjos: https://oasishumidifiers.com/product/oa ... ifier-oh6/
These for wood guitars: https://oasishumidifiers.com/product/oa ... ifier-oh1/
The one time I had an issue with a humidifier, I had another overnighted to me without question.
These for resos and banjos: https://oasishumidifiers.com/product/oa ... ifier-oh6/
These for wood guitars: https://oasishumidifiers.com/product/oa ... ifier-oh1/
The one time I had an issue with a humidifier, I had another overnighted to me without question.
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- Andy Volk
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I use Oasis humidifiers and keep one in the case with my Dobro. I have no experience in leaving guitars hanging on the wall for an extended period but logic says a room humidifier would be essential.
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