Humidity and eMandos

[mtm]

I can appreciate the importance of humidifying an acoustic mandolin during the dry winter months, but how important is it for an electric solid body mandolin like the Mandocaster? And, how about temperature changes? I'll be traveling by car over the holidays and while I obviously won't leave it in a cold car, I'll have no choice on brief stops...

thanks

[thistle3585]

You have to be conscious of extreme. rapid temperature swings and humidity with any instrument. Wrap it in a blanket during stops and you'll be fine.

[stevedenver]

solid bodies are less critical, but as noted, the finish expands at a different rate than the wood and will crack with rapid change

like always, let it slowly come to room temp, to let finish and everything else stabiliaze ,
use a case as a buffer to slow the temp change process

[Jacob]

Solid bodies do need to have proper humidity maintained. Fret boards will dry out and shrink, leaving sharp ends of frets protruding. I scored a solid body emando kit from the desert Southwest. When it arrived, fret ends stuck out beyond the edge of the fingerboard. Playing it would've been painful. It needed a couple of months of rehydration here in the humid Southeast before the fret ends were again flush enough for assembly and finishing. Experienced the same thing with a used acoustic mandola from the UK.

[buchrob]

El cheapo travel case: 2 small pillows stuffed into a large pillow case with mandolin sandwiched in between. Protects against shock and rapid temperature change.

[mtm]

I have a gig bag, but not a 'case' per se. Should I wrap a blanket around it, as the gig bag (fender) has a fair amount of room?

[EdHanrahan]

Should I wrap a blanket around it, as the gig bag (fender) has a fair amount of room?

Yes. And why not inside the gigbag, as well? Maybe a bath towel or two. As with buchrob's 2-pillow arrangement (that I really like!), this kind of "too much" protection costs hardly anything.

[Jacob]

Down jackets make excellent cold weather car trunk mandolin case covers.

[stevedenver]

as for the fret ends-this is remedied, for non-maple boards with bore oil or the like for the fretboard-I have dealt with this for decads on my electrics here in Colorado, as well as my martins. My acoustic mandos are pampered, insulated, and protected at all costs. if you can, its hard to beat a Travelite for temperature protection.

I don't think humidifying a solid body is very critical. I do agree entirely that slow temp changes are very important to prevent cracking and crazing and other stuff. The rule is don't put you instrument in to an environment where you would be uncomfortable.

This is my take: your instrument will eventually find an equilibrium with the level of moisture in the air where it resides. The frets ends may indeed stick out, and if its bad, you can oil the board year, no more than 2x per year (not a maple board ) or simply have them filed down and carefully rounded on the top edge a touch. If the wood was properly seasoned before being built, you have a better chance of no cracks, and if the humidity change isn't too great, the fret end thing should be minimal-but it does happen. New Instruments can take 2-3 years to get to this equilibrium, and they should do so slowly.

I presume, your mando may have wood which was kiln dried, and the final match between wood and fret may not be perfect over the long haul. You may need to have the fret ends filed down in a while, once the wood settles and shrinks. Solid bodies are pretty tough. Treat them decently and don't slam them around and you should have no issues. Being a Gibson type, my biggest concern it the headstock. My Fenders don't pose this problem, and likely, neither will your mandocaster. It should be worry free. A blanket wrap, into a stuff sack or duffle or whatever, will be likely al you need

I did not humidify for several decades, with not a single issue. I have a dozen solid bodies. No issues, even for one that came from Florida one from Tennessee, and two from California.

However, Colorado has a avg humidty of about 40%+ and I don't have forced air, so my house air isn't drier. I believe the issue is slowing down changes or temp and humidty, ie using a case, and this buffers changes.

bottom line, humidfication MAY help,but imho, over the years, it will be a losing battle -the wood will reach that equilibrium unless you are really really diligent and store it in a controlled area.