A question for Rolfe about humidity

  1. Douglas McMullin
    Douglas McMullin
    Rolfe,

    I recently noticed that I have a slight buzz forming on my open D strings; it is coming from somewhere close to the nut. My assumption is that my mando (Standard Model) is getting a little thirsty. I keep the instrument in its Eastman case with an Oasis humidifier that is held to the top of the case near the head. The humidity in the house is often below 20% even with a pretty good humidifier running 24/7 (wood heat).

    Am I likely correct about the cause of the buzz? On a wing and a prayer, I decided to add some more humidity to the case. I have done this with a well wrung out and dry dampit in one of the F holes, and with small sponge in an old spice jar with holes drilled in it placed near the top point. With that, I thought I had best get a professional opinion before I let to much time pass with the extra moisture in the case.

    Thanks, Douglas

    P.S. I love the mandolin. It seems to get better and better each time I play it.
  2. Rolfe
    Rolfe
    Hi Douglas,
    Wow, that is hard to say for sure without seeing/hearing it. One good place to start is to get a humidity gauge from a hardware store; you really ought to have one anyway. They run about $30. and are accurate enough. You are shooting for a humidity around the mandolin in the 40% range. Keep me posted.
  3. Douglas McMullin
    Douglas McMullin
    Rolfe,

    I actually have a couple of humidity gauges, but they seem to vary widely and even disagree with each other by as much as 10%-15% even when sitting side by side. As best I can tell the house humidity is 15-35% this time of year, and I would guess that it is closer to 15% during these colder spells. In the case I can get it consistently in the 30's with a single case humidifier, but never to 40%.

    I will stick the gauge back in there overnight with the Oasis & Dampit still inside, and see what it reads in the morning.

    Thanks for the help.

    Douglas
  4. Douglas McMullin
    Douglas McMullin
    With the humidity gauge placed at the head, which is right under the Oasis humidifier, I got a 67% reading. With the gauge placed by the lower point, I am getting 35% +-, and that is with a Dampit in the lower F-hole.

    So it would seem that humidity is not moving very well from one end of the case to the other. I wonder if I need to focus on F-Hole humidifiers like the Dampit with this case, as there is very little room to place anything around the body.

    Douglas
  5. Rolfe
    Rolfe
    Hi Douglas,
    Humidity correction is a bummer. After spending $2k on a steam humidifier that created waterfalls on the shop walls, I ended up caulking every seam in the building and having a $12k special double roof installed. And the humidity still varies from room to room. Anyhow, back to your original problem. It is likely that either the neck is moving, bowing slightly backward, or the top is moving, sinking a bit---IF HUMIDITY IS THE PROBLEM. We don't know for use it is. If you can keep your mandolin in the 35-45% range most of the time, humidity should be okay. Are you getting anywhere with the buzzing by working with the humidity?
  6. Douglas McMullin
    Douglas McMullin
    Rolfe,

    I think I have made some progress with the additional humidity. I will keep monitoring the levels closer than I have to figure out what I need to do to get close to 40% in the case. I had been assuming that a single case humidifier was enough, but clearly not so in the middle of winter.

    Will report back on the buzz in a week or two.

    Thanks for the help!

    Douglas
  7. Rolfe
    Rolfe
    I'll look forward to the update.
  8. Douglas McMullin
    Douglas McMullin
    I have been away for the last week and a half, but while I was gone my wife was good enough to check on my humidifiers once or twice to be sure nothing was drying out. Upon returning I found that I had 41% in the case, and finally the tuning had gone sharp, which if I am correct suggests that the top is probably gaining moisture. The buzz that had been forming now appears to be completely gone. This is a good lesson about needing more humidity that I thought during the driest part of winter.

    Thanks for monitoring this group Rolfe; I greatly appreciated your input.

    Douglas
  9. evanreilly
    evanreilly
    That rolfe is some guy; in addition to being humble, he is most humid as well!!!
  10. Rolfe
    Rolfe
    Thanks, Evan; though some say I'm all wet.
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