Official Luthiers Forum!

I have decided to do this for a living...

I got myself a really cheap apartment at the foot of Yang Ming Mountain in Taipei. It took a few weeks but I finally moved in. A workbench will be built in this room, and I will install air conditioning later on (as it is not very hot anymore in Taiwan).

I am wondering about shop environment. I had to plug quite a few holes in the room (as in Taiwan, especially older houses, they really don't give much thought about insulation), but the humidity is very high. I mean around 70% or so. Do I need to keep the shop at 45% humidity or should I (I've seen Angela Walthner do this) leave the shop the way it is (and use the AC when it's too hot), but place a dehumidifier in a small room (where it will be much easier to maintain that level) and place all the plates that are to be braced inside, and do all assembly inside as well.

It is expensive and difficult to get to 45% RH in Taiwan, I had the dehumidifier running in that room for 4 hours and it only went from 70% to 55%. I know the AC will help but only in the summer...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Congratulations! May you be blessed with low cost-of-living.

40-45%

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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

de humidify 45-55% if you are selling locally, 55% is ok , But is shipping to drier country e.g. aus. you will need 40-45%. Congrats on new shop . Did you ever buy the mujingfang wood planes ??

I wish you the best in your venture Tai Fu.
My first thought on your post was that walls, floor and walls/doors in your assembly area should be sealed against moisture (a vapour barrier) to cut down on the work a dehumidifier would have to do in a high ambient humidity.
Otherwise as you dry out the air in the assembly area the humidity will be quickly replaces by water vapour leaking in from outside, plus of course the moisture you produce yourself, breath/sweat + any moisture from your work (e.g. gluing/cleanup, side bending)
Fortunately, I don't have to worry about A/C (I'm sure plenty of forum members can advise on that), I live in Scotland so only have to worry about heating!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Good luck with your new career

The question of humidity has arisen again, when I joined this forum many months ago I said humidity isn't an issue for me in the UK. I was immediately taken to task and had the pro's and cons of humidity explained to me. Since then it has become an obsession to keep a controlled environment 45% - 55% RH. The best I can achieve is 55%.

However the RH in the UK is a consistent 65% - 70%it may drop to 50% and rise to 80% but overall it is consistant which makes me wonder if my guitars are ever going to leave the UK what is the point. I came across a US Luthier website recently who actually increases the RH in his shop if he is shipping a build to the Far East !!!

John

So what if the player takes his guitar around the world where he may not be aware of the build environment.

Next thing you know, the player from Far East goes on a tour in Australia (which is not an unlikely scenario) and things start happening.

From what I understand, going from low to high humidity isn't harmful to the guitar, apart from a minor change in tone or action, but going from high to low humidity is disastrous for the guitar.

As for the Mu Jing Fang plane, I've seen them for sale in various REAL tool stores in Taiwan (e.g. not B&Q or general hardware store, but stores that sells real tools) but honestly, I never liked those planes. It's so much work to adjust them so that they perform, and when you do get them right, they just don't have enough mass to make a smooth cut. Besides, blade pitch is the most frustrating thing to adjust in those wooden plane... you tap the side of the blade and in the process, you've also caused the blade to stick out .001" more and have to re-adjust it constantly. I like the fact that you can adjust the blade pitch of a metal plane with a lever. Took me 10 minutes to set up a metal plane vs. hours it would take me to set up a wooden plane.

By the way can someone tell me how I can seal the floor, wall, and ceiling (very tough to do without upsetting the landlord) against moisture? The way I see it is that it's going to be an expensive task... I am kinda thinking of sticking plastic floor tiles over the existing floor to make clean up a little easier... I gotta do something about the window too, they're really drafty and half the time, they don't close properly either.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Living in the tropics I've had to learn to deal with extreme humidity conditions, and being in Australia means that with just a short drive of an hour or so you can go from 90+% RH to under 40%. All very real concerns living here.

To get a room down to the 40-45% RH range will take more than 4 hours. You will get the initial ambient moisture out of the air in that time, but the drywall, flooring etc. all have moisture that has saturated them and will give it up to the dryer room until they reach equilibrium. It could take several days. It does for me.

You may want to consider building a smaller area that you can control the RH for the wood and instrument you are working on at present, rather than trying to do an entire room. It's the way many in Australia do it, as the cost of electricity here can become quite a burden trying to run the dehumidifier and air conditioner continuously.

A box or cupboard that is lined with a vapour barrier and has a small heat source like a 15 watt light build and something like a computer fan to move the air around inside does the trick. A mate in Townsville does this.

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Allen R. McFarlen
Barron River Guitars & Ukuleles
Facebook
Cairns, Australia

I'm so glad Allen mentioned that. What a great idea. Just create a smaller area where you can keep the RH lower easier. Not everything you do has to be in that sort of environment, so just decide how small that space can be and have at it! You can also collapse it later if/when you move to a different space. Wishing you lots of success.

Good luck. Moving might be a consideration, but maybe that's not an option. Recently I wondered why someone would choose Savannah Georgia to build guitars beside it being a beautiful place (it's so humid down there from what I understand).

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

There isn't anywhere I can move to in Taiwan that doesn't have humidity problem... only option would be to move to China (about the easiest country to move to when you account for immigration issues) where hopefully some parts would be drier. However, a "Made in China" guitar always gets perceived as junk no matter how good they are.

I think it kinda comes with the territory when you live on an island...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com