Building dry.

[Dobe]

Found a nice article today : https://www.fretboardjournal.com/col...-bench-copies/

Kinda liked this little passage, always seemed to feel this way:

"I also make sure to build in a very arid environment so the material can take advantage of the hygroscopic nature. When built “dry,” instruments are far less likely to crack because they will have the ability to absorb excess moisture and then regulate back down to where they were “born,” so to speak. It is the rapid shrinking of wood due to losing moisture too quickly that will cause the most damage, because wood naturally dries from the outside in."

[Steve Sorensen]

One of the great benefits of building in sunny southern California ! ! !



Steve

[Bluetickhound]

Yeah... Here in the Southeastern US, humidity is as much a certainty as death and taxes...

[Dobe]

Can't seem to find much about Conscia Silva, but dang it's pretty !

[Jeff Mando]

great article. amazing work. humble guy.

"History has taught us there is no such thing as a better mousetrap."

"I am just good at copying." (great guitars)

-Frankie Montuoro

[HoGo]

Can't seem to find much about Conscia Silva, but dang it's pretty !

SUre it is as it is just made up name for Brazilian Rosewood...

[fscotte]

Building too dry can cause major 15th fret bubbleup on mandos. I think building for average humidity would be far better.

[HoGo]

Actually on his site he claims he builds at 25% RH. IMO that's quite low and can cause problems when brought to higher humidity home. On guitar the top may bulge and action go too far up. Most folks I know work at 45% or sometimes go down to 40% (I usually go to 40% for the body assembly for few weeks).
I wonder what would custom officer think about you if you try tell him that guitar is not made of BR but some unknown wood with weird latin name noone heard...

[Jeff Mando]

I know some communities ban the ownership of pitbull dogs and the owners are able to register them as Staffordshire Terriers......

[Steve Sorensen]

Ha! Conscia Silva - Forest of the mind.

Imagine that.

Steve

[Austin Clark]

Doesn't get much drier than Idaho. I keep my shop at 40-45 RH and it is a struggle, even with a massive humidifier.

You can build in a dry environment, but you will also be doing warranty work down the road.

[Tobin]

I think building for average humidity would be far better.

Me too. If we think of humidity ranges as a bell curve, you'd want to build your mandolin at the humidity level at the top of the curve. So that when the humidity swings one way or the other, you're not too far off from your starting point.

Building at the low side of the bell curve means that when humidity levels are really high, your mandolin is twice as far from its starting point as it otherwise would have been. That would only make sense to do if the instrument was never going to leave a stable environment.

I guess the gentleman in the article does have a point that cracking is typically caused by shrinking, and if he wants to avoid shrinkage cracks only, then it makes sense to build dry. Unfortunately, shrinkage cracks are not the only thing that can go wrong with an instrument due to humidity.

[Steve Sorensen]

Guess I lucked out with my location . . . shop stays between 35 and 45% RH round the year. Most of the time 38 - 42. The beauty of being near the ocean, but not on the coast and near the desert, but not in the desert.