Boveda Humidity-Packs

[Darwin Gaston]

It’s that time of year again and the humidity is dropping. I have been looking at getting some Boveda Humidity-Packs and putting two of them in my mandolin cases to keep the humidity between 45-50% relative humidity. Has anyone use these before and do you recommend using them?

They recommend using 2 of the Boveda Humidity-Packs at a time for mandolins. They want you to place them into the cloth sleeves and put one in the area of the case under the headstock and place the other one under the strings between the tailpiece and bridge of the mandolin.

I worry about placing the humidity-pack under the strings and laying it directly on the wood of the mandolin which might create problems with the finish on the mandolin. Would it be better to lay the humidity-pack on top of the string between the bridge and tailpiece?

[Jill McAuley]

I use them in my mandolin and guitar cases - I have one under the headstock in the mandolin case, but that's it - I wouldn't feel comfortable putting one directly onto the top either. With the mandolin one seems to do the trick for me here in the west of Ireland. I use two in my acoustic guitar case, one under the headstock and one in one of the sleeves, draped over the strings and hanging into the sound hole. Touch wood I've never had the packets burst or anything like that, so far so good!

[Darwin Gaston]

Jill,

Thanks for the skinny on putting just one under the headstock in the mandolin case. Also, that is great to hear that you never had a packet break before!

I use them in my mandolin and guitar cases - I have one under the headstock in the mandolin case, but that's it - I wouldn't feel comfortable putting one directly onto the top either. With the mandolin one seems to do the trick for me here in the west of Ireland. I use two in my acoustic guitar case, one under the headstock and one in one of the sleeves, draped over the strings and hanging into the sound hole. Touch wood I've never had the packets burst or anything like that, so far so good!

[poul hansen]

Try a search on Boveda but wait till next weekend if you want to read it all :-)

[MikeEdgerton]

I've been using them for years, I use the saddle bags in my guitars inside the sound hole and I use one side of the saddle bags under my mandolin headstock with one bag in one pockets. I've never had a problem.

[Darwin Gaston]

I've been using them for years, I use the saddle bags in my guitars inside the sound hole and I use one side of the saddle bags under my mandolin headstock with one bag in one pockets. I've never had a problem.

Thanks for the information on how you used the saddle bags in your guitars and mandolins. After getting positive results from everyone that used them I decided to try the Boveda Humidity Packs.

[Mandobart]

Here's my take on in-case humidification:

There's not much room in a closed instrument case for any kind of air flow. It's tough for me to see how the relative humidity in a case is going to be even throughout the case. That's why they recommend you use 2 packs.

Most cases are nowhere near air-tight. If the surrounding room RH is much lower than the inside of the case, I don't see how the case can maintain desired RH for more than a few hours. Again, this is why they recommend you use two packs.

Though I was blissfully ignorant about humidity control for decades, and suffered no issues as a result, I now keep my insulated, temperature and humidity controlled music room at 40 - 45% and 68 - 70 F. With a couple dozen instruments and the factors described above, it's a LOT simpler to have a couple room humidifiers than monitoring and maintaining packs in each case.

[poul hansen]

Humidity does "wander" maybe because of change in airpressure.
I had a big nylon bag with a (not airtight) zipper meant for clothing but the humidity would even to ambient within 12 hours.
I also agree about cases not being airtight, why I don't understand all this talk about keeping in a case.
For me it's rather simple: Put the Mandolin in a case, to avoid contact with plastic and then put the case in 1 or 2 plasticbags(checked for airtightness) and the mandolin will stay at the humidity it was at when put in the bag, without any humidifier to fill up or anything else.
For extra piece of mind you could put a Hygrometer in the bag.
The bag could be closed with one of these plastic clips for freezerbags, so it will only take 5-10 seconds longer to get it in or out, compared to case only.

[tmsweeney]

Though I was blissfully ignorant about humidity control for decades, and suffered no issues as a result, I now keep my insulated, temperature and humidity controlled music room at 40 - 45% and 68 - 70 F. With a couple dozen instruments and the factors described above, it's a LOT simpler to have a couple room humidifiers than monitoring and maintaining packs in each case.

Same here Mandobart, and now at 50% humidity, I do notice an improved difference in tone, so if you have more than a few mandolins and or wooden instruments, its worth it to at least understand your humidity situation and correct as needed. One or two, the in case packets probably make sense, but with more than just a few - a whole room solution is probably more effective and practical.

50% is neither wet nor dry, and is probably the zone for most instruments.

[Mandobart]

Humidity does "wander" maybe because of change in airpressure.

It's influenced much more by changes in the air temperature. Humidity is something not well understood by most people.

Absolute humidity is a measure of the actual amount of water vapor in the air. Relative humidity is the ratio of the actual amount of water vapor in the air to the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold (without precipitating out and condensing). In this and most all wooden instrument fora when people say "humidity" they mean relative humidity. The actual amount of vapor in the are at 40% RH and 55 F is way less than at 40% RH and 75 F, yet people only discuss %RH.

It's best to avoid rapid changes in both RH and temperature.

[poul hansen]

I know that. I am talking about the equalization of humidity, between two areas with different humidity like my nylon bag or even two rooms in an instrument case.
I think it equalizes because of change in pressure that will pull out some air or push some air into a bag or container and there is also diffusion process. Molecules move around.

Fast changes in humidity are not so critical. I have had a hygrometer inside a guitar for many months and a change of nominal 10% takes 12-24 hours to change inside the guitar. It takes time for the molecules to move into the wood.

[rwhitney]

I've been using the 49% Boveda or D'Addario Humidipaks for my Collings MT-O for about 4 months; one under the headstock and one under the strings over the sound hole. I've not noticed any issue with the top from laying the pouch on it. I'm pretty new to mandolin though, so YMMV.