Official Luthiers Forum!

Owned and operated by Lance Kragenbrink
It is currently Sat Aug 09, 2025 11:25 pm


All times are UTC - 5 hours


Forum rules


Be nice, no cussin and enjoy!




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:49 am 
Offline
Walnut
Walnut

Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:20 am
Posts: 13
First name: Raymond
Last Name: Phillips
City: BENONI
Zip/Postal Code: 1501
Country: South Africa
Focus: Build
Sorry if this has been addressed before but what are the ideal conditions to build an acoustic guitar in? What do you do when a summer is particularly humid? What on earth do the builders in Europe do arent all the summers wet?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:30 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member

Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 4:10 pm
Posts: 2764
First name: Tom
Last Name: West
State: Nova Scotia
Country: Canada
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
Raymond: Summer here[Nova Scotia] is the time for dreaming,planning and aquiring supplies. The last few days RH has been in the 90% to 95% region and no air conditioning.Will not do much until around Sept.or Oct. when the air starts to dry out a bit.
Tom

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:12 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:30 am
Posts: 1792
Location: United States
Northern New-England where I live (and build) could perhaps be the worst place on Earth to build delicate wooden instruments. Temps and RH wildly fluctuate, sometimes in the same day. It could be 90% RH in the morning, and 20% in the evening if the weather changes suddenly (which it does, all the time). If I can work with the shop door open 2 months out of the year I will be lucky. And every year is different.

Just wait for conditions to be good in order to glue braces on the plates and close the sound box (around 45% RH and 70ºF, give or take 10%), the rest of the operations is not so crucial (although it is better to do everything around 45%).
If building seriously, you'll need to insulate your work space as much as you can, install a vapour barrier, and purchase a dehumidifer and an AC. An AC is very efficient at pulling moisture out of the air when it is hot. For the winter a humidifer would be good, although I do not know winter conditions in South Africa.
It is always easier to add moisture to the air than pull it from the air.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 1:27 pm 
Offline
Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2005 9:36 am
Posts: 381
Location: United States
First name: Wayne
Last Name: Clark
City: Driftwood
State: TX
Focus: Build
Status: Amateur
I do things similar to Laurent. My shop is in the garage (no humidity control), and central Texas gets some extremes in weather. For the last two years, I plan ahead for good weather by prepping a few tops and backs for joining along with some brace wood. When we get some good weather, I join the tops, thin, install rosettes, cut soundholes and glue on braces. This year I also had to wait a while before I could glue the top and back onto two boxes. I just got everything ready, then glued everything up over the course of a couple really nice spring days.

Most of the rest can be done when the weather isn't so ideal - bending and gluing sides, carving necks, making bridges, inlay, fretting... I wouldn't do it this way if I was trying to make a living at it, but I can make it work as a hobby.

_________________
53% of all statistics are made up on the spot
http://driftwoodguitars.blogspot.com/


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 5:21 pm 
Offline
Koa
Koa

Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 2:13 am
Posts: 902
Location: Caves Beach, Australia
Jointing tops in non ideal conditions is a non issue because there is no restrained movement across the joint.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:20 am 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:19 pm
Posts: 614
Location: Sugar Land, TX
First name: Ed
Last Name: Haney
City: Sugar Land (Houston)
State: Texas
Zip/Postal Code: 77479
Country: USA
Focus: Build
The Houston Texas area is very hot and humid. I insulated my partitioned garage shop including a poly vapor barrier with epoxy on the concrete floor. I installed an air conditioner, without which I would not be able to bear working in the heat. It lowers the RH to 60% so I also run a dehumidifier set to 45%. So my shop stays a consistent 73 to 76F and 43 to 46%RH.

If I am in my garage I will be literally soaking in sweat within 5 to 10 minutes for the entire summer (4 months +). Walking into the shop feels wonderful.

This winter I will use a humidifier to add moisture to maintain the 45%RH year around. The humidifier is MUCH more trouble than the dehumidifier. The dehumidifier is connected to a drain so there is ZERO maintenance. The humidifier, however, needs to be filled with water on a regular basis and also internally cleaned on a regular basis. So, to me, it is much easier on me (no work Vs regular work) to take moisture out than it is to put moisture in the air.

Ed


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 5:36 pm 
Offline
Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2005 12:50 pm
Posts: 3933
Location: United States
I talked with one Spanish maker years ago who said that basically he made parts and did finishing for nine months of the year, and the other three it was 'round the clock gluing.

As another New Englander I've found that the key is humidity control, and the key to that is sealing up the space. When I built my new shop I wrapped the whole thing in plastic. I still have two very porus doors, but I can still pretty well keep up with a 6000 BTU A/C and a room dehumidifier in a 900 sq. ft. shop. The temp gets pretty high sometimes, though, and better doors will help that by reducing the dehumidifier load.

What you're trying to control is the equilibrium moisture content of the wood, and that depends almost totally on the relative humidity. For me, a R.H. in the low 40% range ensures against cracks from dryness and the temperature can float within the range of glue usability. In the winter it will go to 55F (13C) for a low overnight, when the wood stove dies down, and during this latest heat wave when it's been above 90F (32C) during the day I've been keeping it to about 80F (27C) in the afternoon. During the winter HHG is a problem sometimes, whereas now the Titebond tends to set up a little too fast. But what really matters is that the R.H. has been between 40-45% all the time, with very short spikes to 50% or dips to 35%. The wod does not shrink or swell enough to make trouble: braced tops off the guitars, for example, retain the proper dome year 'round.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:47 pm 
Offline
Contributing Member
Contributing Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:35 pm
Posts: 2951
Location: United States
First name: Joe
Last Name: Beaver
City: Lake Forest
State: California
Focus: Build
I worry about humidity most when it comes to carving and applying braces, gluing the braces to the plates and then gluing the plates to the box. I try to do that when the RH is low. The lower the better in my opinion. (Love those 25 - 35% days) Most other operations like bending the sides, joining the plates, making the neck, doing rosettes and inlays, etc. can be done at times of higher humidity but avoid doing any work with very high humidity (over 70%)

I do finish with a water based product and I do get better results when I do that on low RH days also.

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
phpBB customization services by 2by2host.com