Re: Loar LM110A Mandolin Question
"Whole house" humidifiers and dehumidifiers definitely have their roles, but it's important to check humidity levels in the place where the instrument's kept -- even within its case, if practicable. There's a great disparity, for example, between the relative humidity in the basement room where I keep my instruments, and the second floor of my house, both in winter and summer. There are humidification and dehumidification products that can be put into instrument cases, to regulate the immediate environment around the instruments, and concerned instrument owners should investigate and, if necessary, use them.
I should also say that in monitoring and controlling humidity (and temperature) levels around your instruments, it's good to be careful, but not necessary to be alarmist. I know of examples of instruments that have literally developed cracks overnight when brought into a drier environment, and my main guitar got a major case of lacquer "checking" from a single night of being left in a below-zero car trunk, then brought into my house, even though I left it in the case. (I play it anyway; it's 1940 vintage, and the checking becomes it, I think.)
But as a general rule, humidity and temperature differences within a fairly ample range -- what I would call "comfortable living environment" -- won't damage most instruments. There may be some adjustment of string height needed, as wood takes in or gives off its moisture, and obviously one should avoid prolonged extremes of either temperature or humidity -- and "prolonged" can, in some cases, be measured in hours rather than days. But, in a conventionally comfortable house environment, I wouldn't find it necessary to hover over the hygrometer, and worry about every five percent fluctuation.
Thousands of quality instruments have survived more than a century, even though exposed to temperature and humidity fluctuations. Better to be safe than sorry, of course, but also better to be realistic than paranoid.
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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