practice space conditions...

[shindigmachine]

so my band plays at this big old loft above a shut down big lots, i've been practicing up there for the past year or so, and i tell you, i'm sick of it! it's run very unprofessionally, i think my bandmates' rent was either lost, or stolen from the office! that and it sucks hearing other bands through the wall, while i'm struggling to write by myself i have to play at full band volume just to block them out. but then, you hear them when you're not playing, so it's just no good.

i just want to get a new place, with a basement. my sister lives in an apartment complex, well they're more like townhouses, but they do have basements! i could get a one-bedroom with a basement for 550 a month, so the hell with that loft. i'll take all my foam down, and staple it to the joists!

i'm getting to my question, i promise;

so i noticed at my loft, that when i leave my guitars there on the wall hangers we have screwed into a 2x4 on the wall, they seem to be badly in need of a setup after a while. i just had my melody maker setup about 2 months ago, and now it's playin like crap! i bought a Hagstrom Viking IIP, and i've been taking it home with me every time i go up there, since i can only justify taking home one at a time, but i noticed, it still plays just fine. so now, i'm wondering how i should treat having my practice space in an apartment basement... should i get a dehumidifier or something?

[ESBlonde]

With guitars and other wood based instruments, it's the changes in temperature and humidity that cause a change in their state of rest.

By that I mean that if a piece of wood absorbs x amount of water, it will change its properties a little. Since a little change means a lot to a precision instrument, it is noticeable and more so as the seasons change.

Have you noticed the crazed finish on many old and vintage guitars? That’s because the wood has expanded and contracted at a different rate to the nitrocellulose finish on top and then fine cracks in the finish appear.

If you regularly leave a guitar in the car for a day or so then drag it into room with vastly differing temp (higher or lower), the guitar will seem difficult to tune for a couple of hours until it stabilises. Lots of old hands take guitars into a venue and open the case to help acclimatise the instrument before tuning for the sound check. Of course if the venue is cold and will get hot and sticky when filled with a crowd in a couple of hours, that may not be the best course of action.

For your situation, you might like to think about just taking along one or two instruments as you need than and leaving the remainder safe at home. However, it is not unusual to need a seasonal truss rod adjustment in certain climates. If you've not done it before, there are lots of good websites to guide you. Just tiny 1/8 turns are usually all thats required.

[kittenface]

I keep my guitars on wall hangers, also - I notice they sometimes go a bit sharp - just a tiny bit

[Brutalitarian Supremacy]

yrs. ago I worked in a music store and every so many days we'd go around the store and switch the axes hanging on the wall w/ the ones sitting on floor stands...the guys that owned the store aways said the strain on the necks from hanging like that for a prolonged period of time messes w/ the truss-rod...not sure if it's true but i refuse to keep my guitars anywhere except the hardshell case!