A few months ago, I moved in to my gf's house. While that is a great thing, her house is 85 years old and has some heat issues. Throughout the day, the house goes back and forth from cold to hot (right now its anywhere from 62-75) and we have to constantly monitor the thermostat to keep it warm. Obviously, when we are at work, it gets pretty cold and we have to adjust it and wait once we come home. At some point in the near future we are going to get this fixed (and I'm pretty sure that may cause my next acquisition to be put on hold for a bit but I was wondering what anyones take is here about my guitars in this enviornment. I am the proud and lucky owner of a D2HA and a D1A, and honestly, moving in this house with those guitars has made me wish I'd stayed in my apartment on more than one occasion. I run my humidifier like I always did, but dont know if its harming or helping at this point. I dont own a hygrometer, but am thinking I need one now, and I dont use dampits in the guitar case. My guitar teacher doesnt believe in humidifiers, saying "what about all the prewar Martins that sound great and arent cracked?" Well guys and gals, we all know thats a crazy statement and I just look at him and smile. Any insight/remedy to my occasional sleepless night would be greatly appreciated!

First of all - what about all the old Martins that went out in the trash because of abuse? That's one reason they are so rare.
I use a small Venta humidifier, which works very well and does clean the air, as they claim.
http://www.venta-airwasher.com/
If your house uses radiators and the heat fluctuates over a wide range, chances are good that the water temp is too high. This can be adjusted at the furnace. We use the same furnace (and settings) for heat and hot water with no problems. With the range set at 150-170 we have even heat and no problems with showers. Buy a cheap hygrometer from Radio Shack for $20. I keep my small guitar room between 49% and 60% with the Venta on low. We also use set-back thermostats, also ~$20, which drops down to 60°F at 8AM, goes back to 68° at 4:30PM, then 60° at 11PM and back to 68­° at 5:30AM. These savings in heating oil only cause my guitar room to fluctuate by 5°, at the most, so my guitars don't suffer. With the humidifier running in the guitar room, it is always warmer than the rest of the house. Works well.

Jim:
Randy has stated some good advice here.
Definitely get a hygrometer. Does your humidfier have a humidstat switch ? That may help keep humidity at more constant level.

I hope your teacher instructs better than he/she takes care of guitars.

Try to find a room in house where you may not get as much fluctuation in temp and possibly, humidity. Keep guitars in case as much as possible when not playing; maybe consider covering cases with blanket to dampen out temperature swings, kind of a poor-mans Colorado case cover. Watch for low humidity at higher temps. Other obvious things, don't store guitars near windows or heat sources. Also, if you take a guitar out of case to play and it's a little cool, don't be surprised if the volume and tone are a little subdued at first. I have noticed on mine, it takes 10 min or so of playing to "warm" them up.
Lastly, I would talk to Collings and get their advice.

Living in central Texas, I have to use a dehumidifier more than I have to use a humidifier. I use a humidifier for probably two months out of the year and a dehumidifier for probably 5-6 months out of the year.

It never ceases to amaze me how, when it's pretty damp outside, the unit can suck a gallon of water a day out of the air in my climate-controlled guitar room. It's also interesting (to me, anyway) that it can take the level from the 60s to 50 in no time at all.

My apartment also has fairly large temperature swings and the humidity is 15-20% during much of the year. I got a small plastic food container, cut some holes in it and keep a damp cloth in it. It fits under the headstock in the case. I also have a hygrometer in the case which always shows about 50% humidity using this simple method. I always keep the guitar (CJ) in the case except when I'm using it and I never put the case anywhere near any heat or cold source, like a radiator, drafty door, etc. Although it's not very technologically advanced, after nine years doing this, the guitar is in absolutely perfect health and sounds better than ever.

I keep a planet waves hygrometer in my case, along with a cheap damp kitchen sponge in a plastic sandwich bag, and keep the bag open. Never had any problems and I monitor the hygrometer daily.

Thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions!

Speaking of DEhumidifiers, I'm interested in what people are using? Is anybody happy with one s/he's found for under $100 (room size)?

Thanks,
Bruce

Bruce, I really like my dehumidifier but I think it was $200-ish. It's by SoleusAir. Very quiet, extremely efficient.

Thanks Mike, I'll look into one; here, in south central Tejas, there's really no option (my housemates and I aren't inclined to use air conditioning when it's hot and the central heating doesn't seem to do much to dehumidify things). Pretty different from high desert Colorado, where I live when I'm not in Austin.

Bruce

Randy said:

I hope your teacher instructs better than he/she takes care of guitars.

Lol..well I know the D18GE he plays exclusively has been beat up pretty good, but he won Winfield in fiddle and played guitar and fiddle for Vince Gill for a decade so I guess hes pretty certifiable, aside from instrument care

Ditto to all of the advice here: keep 'em in cases, get a hygrometer, and do the "whole room" thing with a humidifier and dehumidifier.

When I first moved to FL a couple months ago I quickly discovered that I needed a dehumidifier as soon as the air conditioner went off for extended periods. RH up to 75% almost instantly in the house, but sorted out well with a Whirlpool dehumidifier. I was used to worrying about dryness, but damp can be just as harmful to a guitar. Whole room units allow you to keep the RH steady for your whole stable!