Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Most important piece of gear

#1

Well, it’s that time of year when the most important piece of gear in my acoustic arsenal comes out of the closet and hangs out with my other acoustic instruments. It’s actually a little late because of my run in with doctors and hospitals, but better late than never.

I tend to put all the solid wood acoustics in the same room as this piece of equipment, and as a matter of fact, this thing is very needy; I have to deal with it everyday. But it keeps all my other equipment much happier…

http://media.toolking.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/H/o/Honeywell_V150SG_Warm_Steam_Vaporizer_7inx10-14inx11in_WhiteBlue.jpg

I prefer these hot steam vaporizers over the cold humidifiers as these do not require added chemicals or filters. However, they do require regular cleaning, but so do I.

Time to move all my acoustics into my teaching studio…

#2

I got an ultrasonic one that did a great job with the humidifying. Unfortunately it also left a fine dust like stuff on everything in the house. I went back to an evaporative unit (a whole house unit with two tanks). This one does a great job and no mess, but I have to replace the filter periodically. Have you noticed if the warm mist one makes dust accumulate?

Another nice addition is a little electronic hygrometer. It’s probably not scientific experiment worthy, but I got one for $8 at Walmart and it’s easy to keep track of my humidity. I keep the house in the low 40’s, which is where it runs in the summer with no humidifier.

#3

Yep, I picked up a small, yet accurate, humidity monitor (hygrometer) from some scientific company a few years ago. It is set in the room where I teach, and keep all my acoustic guitars. It also stays between 40-50% humidity right through the winter.

Now time to fill the tank… :smiley:

#4

Heads up fellas to the East. I woke up this morning and my house was pretty dry. The air mass moving across the country is as dry as any we have had this year. I charged up my case humidifiers and have all the humidity inducing things going and am just now getting the house back up into the upper 30s. I suspect this will be last extreme dry airmass we have this season.

#5

I noticed the change here in Florida, too. Our humidity usually hovers at a guitar-friendly 45-50%, but yesterday it was down to 35%. I stuck a cigar humidifier in my case just to be safe.

#6

Fill it up, set the desired humidity and put it on automatic. Shuts on and off on its own. Keeps the music room just right. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

#7

That’s a nice looking unit Bulldog. Does yours use “filters” that you have to replace? Mine does and I end up replacing them about every 3-4 weeks due to calcium accumulating on them. I had an ultrasonic one that put out a bunch of moisture and there were no filters, but unfortunately it left a hard water film on everything. It made a mess after about 5 days. I guess the calcium in the water has to go somewhere, and it’s either going to accumulate in the humidifier or everywhere else. My current one has a humidity level as well, but when it’s cold and dry and the heat is running, I run it wide open. Instruments wander around the place and I try to keep the whole house in a usable range. I just bought another “whole house” unit last night. It was on clearance at Walmart (as they are this time of year). It will stay in the box until next fall.

I love the two F5s and the bass sitting together. It looks great. I didn’t know you had an upright. Seeing them sitting together makes me think, it would be kind of cool to have an upright shaped like an F5.

#8

An F5 upright bass…boy I bet that would turn some heads! I bought the bass last year on a whim. It’s just a Cremona SB-2 someone locally was selling at a good price. Didn’t even know how to play it but wasn’t hard to learn the basics.

Yeah my humidifier has two filters that I change out usually just once during the winter because of calcium buildup. My music room isn’t real big so it doesn’t have to work overtime to keep the room at 45%. I’ve heard of those whole house humidifiers. Might have to look into one of those myself.