Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello,I'm new here and was told over on the AGF this would be the place to ask some questions on guitar repair.
I have an acoustic with a problem,it is either a humidity issue or a bad neck set from the factory.
Right now the strings are sitting 3 1/2mm metric off the 12th fret.I've lowered the saddle quite a bit and the strings have barely come down.Where i keep my guitar is in the safest part of the house,my room in the basement.It's pretty humid in there year round,i keep the guitar in it's case whenever it's not being played,although i do not have a hygrometer right now to monitor the guitar i am waiting for my humidipak to come in the mail.I think it may be the top lifting from too much humidity.
My question is,how can i dry out this guitar enough for the top to come down?
I cannot take it out of the basement since there are two young children who are at that age where they get into everything,i wouldn't want to risk a catastrophe.
Are there any tricks to drying out a guitar in a high humidity environment?Anyone from Hawaii have a solution?
If this is on the wrong section,mods feel free to move.

Hi Buck and welcome to the OLF.

A couple of questions if I may please:

1) What kind of guitar is it, how old, is it new to you, gauge of strings, anything else that you can tell us would be helpful.

2) I know you said that you don't have a hygrometer and most of them are junk anyway.... but what do the weather folks say in your area the humidity is AND is your basement wet, dry, does it leak, heating available etc?

3) Have you recently changed anything, has this just happened or has it been this way for a while?

Thanks.

The guitar is a Godin brand Norman b20 folk,one of the last leftys made in that model before they were discontinued.I am not sure of the age,i would say around 2 years at the oldest although i just got it in February.I use lights 12-53.The top has raised a little and i lowered the saddle.On another forum it was recommended that i put a sponge in the case if it was getting dry in the room from the wood heater we use.It was pretty dry so i went ahead and did it.Thats why i think it may be a humidity issue.
The weather channel says as of now the humidity is 75% although it has been warm the last few days.The basement is pretty humid and it is spring here,this time of the year there is alot of snow melting and the basement used to flood,the floor was raised two feet off the original concrete floor and a pump put it.With the pump working it doesn't flood anymore although the moisture still gets in.
I will say though that i took a straight ruler and have been monitoring the bellying top.From my untrained eye it looks as though the top hasn't moved since I've lowered the action the first time to compensate.The strings are still very high and the saddle very low.Hopefully if it is a humidity issue and the top comes down i can slip a shim under the saddle if it needs it.
I am not sure how much difference in bellying would raise the action so much,That's why i am on the fence of whether or not the neck may be a problem or not.The top doesn't look to have changed very much and I'm not sure how much it would take to raise the action so drastically.

Buck: What ever the increase is at the 12th fret the would have to be twice that much at the saddle given that nothing else changed.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Ok,so the humidipak got here on Monday and has been in the case with the guitar.Should the strings be slackened or would leaving them tuned a step down be fine?I noticed the strings have come down a little but not much since the humidipak has been sitting in the sound hole,the strings were slack all week,just wondering if I'm doing the right thing keeping them de tuned or if it really matters that much while the humidity levels are corrected.

Buck: Does not matter much if the strings are tuned up to pitch or not. Don't know anything about the Humidipak so can't comment on that,but doubt if your problem is just humidity.Suggest that you leave the pak in for the appropriate time and then get some measurements. Height of strings over the top at bridge, height of strings over 12th fret and the relief in the fingerboard. Check back in then. Good luck.

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I have emailed planet waves the company that makes the humidipak and haven't gotten an answer yet about how long it will take to fix this problem.The humidipak is a system that keeps the humidity levels at a constant 45%RH inside the case and guitar.It works by expelling and "inhaling" humidity to keep the levels at 45% RH.I have had it in my case for around 1 1/2 weeks now and haven't noticed any difference.So,based on this bit of info how long would you say it will take to correct this problem?Or is it a neck angle problem like i think it is?If it is I'm pretty sure i can handle it myself,being a Godin brand guitar the neck angle can be corrected pretty easily,something I'm not eager to do though.I did ask Godin customer service about their warranty work but have heard stories of people sending their guitar in for warranty work and getting another one in return,mine is already broken in and i would rather keep it than get a new one that would most likely be a right handed version converted to lefty since this model is discontinued,or even a right handed one that would be useless to me.
Alot of soul searching to do if it turns out i have to return this guitar.

Well it's been over a month now and still no lowering of the action.I checked the top deflection today,it was around 3 millimeters when i measured with a straight ruler.Is this normal for a guitar this age?When i got it it was strung with extra lights,since I've been using it i have been using lights 12-53.With the humidipak working,i can tell since it's swollen with moisture,and no effect i wrapped the guitar with a bag and put some rice into a clean sock and dropped it into the soundhole.I'm hoping the rice will work a little better than the humidipak and take out the moisture without putting anymore back into the wood.
Is 3 millimeters enough deflection to cause this much string height of 3 1/2 millimeters off the 12th fret?

BUMP!!
I need help,it's my only working acoustic and i really want to play it again

If you've been messing with humidity issues this long, and it still isn't playable, you are probably going to have to have some real work done on it.
A guitar should be playable with the normal humidity in your home, without great efforts to control it's "micro environment".
Get thee to a luthier, or better, a guitar repairman.

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