Humidity in the wood effecting tuning?

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 17 Sep 2006 9:21 am

I had a rare chance to do a fill in for a steeler at an outdoor show in our vicinity last night; however, along with the other members of the band, I was having to retune every fifteen to twenty minutes.

The skies were bright and sunny when we started around 7:00pm, however by 8:00 o’clock it started to cloud over and really cool down; then, by 8:45pm it was pouring rain. There was a breeze blowing across the stage that had us reaching for our jackets and at about the some time the tuning problems started. The lead guitarist was the first to step back and do some tuning adjustments than the lead singer had to turn away and do a major retune to his jumbo box acoustic. By 9:30p, everyone of us where plugging in to our electronic tuners and retuning. Even the drummer was beginning to shake his head.

The problem was, even after it stopped raining and blowing, we all kept having problems. In short, I am not so sure that it was all due to the temperature change on the strings as much as it was the dampness having an effect on the wooden bodies of the guitars. Even though the lead guitarist and my steel are fully sealed wood bodies, we still had problems. The poor dude on the acoustic had a nightmare going.

Is it possible that the heavy humidity in the air can seep through the shellac or polyurethane or, whatever else they use to coat guitar bodies and effect the tuning?

I forgot to add, the stage was roofed over with the front and sides open.

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(I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!)

[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 17 September 2006 at 12:25 PM.]

Frank Welsh · Post by **Frank Welsh** » 17 Sep 2006 11:38 am

Les, I think the temperature drop had the most effect on the tunings. Humidity can affect the wood, but usually takes a while. Where I live, I always have to adjust the truss rods on guitars in June and December, due to dramatic changes in humidity (New York). Seasonal changes in the Northeast range from extremely dry, skin-damaging cold to tropical jungle heat and humidity (no, I'm not exaggerating here!)

At certain times of the year, temperatures outdoors can drop dramatically as evening approaches and it sounds like this is what happened in your case. I keep an accurate thermometer/hygrometer in my playing area at home and I can fairly predict the changes to my instruments based on the changes in day-to-day temperatures and seasonal changes in humidity.

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 17 Sep 2006 12:09 pm

The chill of wind on moisture is quite a pronounced effect. Much more than wind on dry strings and structures. Other than that, the wood would have to get wet enough to swell up.

Those gigs are kind of neat once in a while.

EJL

Dan Dowd · Post by **Dan Dowd** » 17 Sep 2006 12:45 pm

Were the strings going sharp or flat ?

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 17 Sep 2006 3:29 pm

Mostly sharp for the lead guitarist and the steel, which is usually typical with metal contraction when cooling off. (stainless is supposed to expand and contract at a lesser rate than carbon steel however, or so I thought)

The lead singer's acoustic was going flat on all six strings, which I thought was very strange.

(still can't spell worth a damn)

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(I am not right all of the time but I sure like to think I am!)

[This message was edited by Les Anderson on 17 September 2006 at 04:34 PM.]

Roger Edgington · Post by **Roger Edgington** » 18 Sep 2006 7:36 pm

We experience that a lot in San Antonio. The fiddle is the most sensitive for us, but we all get it. Last Friday we played outside around noon in the 90s and outside that evening. Saturday we played at Pearls in the AC. When I set up,my steel was way sharp. We take them out of very hot cars here into AC places and it takes a while to stabilize. I play parts with fiddle and lead and it's sometimes hard to keep it all together.