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Warming Up a Classical
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=46528		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Droidiphile [ Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Warming Up a Classical
I hope this is an appropriate quesiton for this forum.

Winter weather is affecting my classical practice routine. My guitar is at house ambient, and the neck sucks the heat out of my left hand. I use a rice filled muff style hand warmer intended to be mircowaved, then hands plunged in. It works great, but I need multiple rounds until the neck warms up enough not to freeze up my hand to an arthritic state.

It's not practical to heat up my house enough, so I got the idea of just warming up the guitar itself. Question is, how do I warm it 10-20 degrees F as quickly as possible without damaging it? A heating pad under the case, with guitar and in-case humidifiers in place, would be my best guess. But I thought I would ask the forum. And at what rate ?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Author:  Jim Watts [ Tue Oct 20, 2015 8:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
You might try a electric heating pad like you'd get at a pharmacy, it should provide a nice gentle heat. Turn it on low and drape it across the back side of the neck until it's war. As far as rate goes, I would think slower is better.
I haven't tried this myself and I'm a little hesitant to suggest it because of that, but just monitor the neck closely for any adverse effects and I think you'll be fine warming it a touch.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
How about just heating the room where you practice.
Author:  Colin North [ Wed Oct 21, 2015 1:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
Or use the easiest room (to heat) for practice.
Author:  Hesh [ Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
I don't like the idea of cyclically heating and cooling any wooden instrument especially when some of the most common glues soften or release with heat. I know that you are talking maybe no more than 100F but it is the on again, off again nature of occasionally heating that bothers me the very most. The neck materials, fret board, neck wood, etc have differential expansion rates as well and this can stress the glue joints. It can also affect the set-up....

My suggestion is to humidify one room well and constantly. This will make things seem warmer to us human bags of mostly water... and be like letting your instrument live at the spa. 45 - 50% and no higher should do the trick. With humidification both you and the instrument benefit.
Author:  wbergman [ Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
Wear a glove. Get a thin, snug fitting cotton glove, such as you might wear if you were an appraiser handling rare objects. Cut off the glove fingers and probably also the part of the gloves that the fingers attach to. Probably leave the glove thumb on. I think you will find that this keeps your hand warm enough and does not interfere with playing. Let us know if it helps.
Author:  Alex Kleon [ Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
How about one of those small infra red heaters? Just aim it at your hand while playing.

Alex
Author:  Trevor Gore [ Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
Alex Kleon wrote:
How about one of those small infra red heaters?
wbergman wrote:
Wear a glove.
WaddyThomson wrote:
How about just heating the room where you practice....
Jim Watts wrote:
You might try a electric heating pad like you'd get at a pharmacy...

...Or just relocate to Sydney. Kill two birds with one stone... :mrgreen:
Author:  Droidiphile [ Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
Trevor Gore wrote:
Alex Kleon wrote:
How about one of those small infra red heaters?
wbergman wrote:
Wear a glove.
WaddyThomson wrote:
How about just heating the room where you practice....
Jim Watts wrote:
You might try a electric heating pad like you'd get at a pharmacy...

...Or just relocate to Sydney. Kill two birds with one stone... :mrgreen:

lolz - I do thank you all for your input, but unfortunately, none of these solutions are optimal in my current situation. I'm not looking for a heating solution as much as limits for a safe rate of warming.

My thinking is that the guitar already cycles through a range of house ambient temperatures, albeit a much slower rate than I am proposing. The range of temperature will increase, but not beyond warmer spring weather. I'm really talking about 55F to 68F. At 64F ambient my hands just can't stay warm enough to play well. At 68F, I'm good.

I suppose the best answer is to set up my practice space in a small room and just heat the room a few hours ahead of time. I may even be able to practice at 72F without angering the fossil fuel police with whom I cohabitate.
Author:  philosofriend [ Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Warming Up a Classical
I like to play early in the morning when the house is about 52 F. Here's what works for me: An electric oil-filled heater. It sits on the floor and is about two feet tall, looking vaguely like an old steam radiator. Unlike a radiant heater, it can never get the guitar too hot anywhere. At 600 watts it costs less than a dime an hour. I sit so that my left hand and guitar neck are over the heater. Truth be told, I park the heater right over the grate where (very little) heat comes from the furnace. I drink coffee or hot water from a huge cup so that I can wrap my hands around it for a quick warm up. The coffee sits on a saucer that sits nicely on the oil filled heater.
Any guitar should be able to take going between 55 and 80 degrees at any speed with no bad effects. Radiant heaters can heat small areas much hotter than that and in my opinion should not be used.
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