Humidity and Moisture in the air!

[Dr.Strangenote]

Welp, it's been the 5th consecutive dreary, miserable rainy day. Some days it's just overcast, some days it rains cats and dogs. If you are in the NJ/Philly area, then you might agree to what I'm saying. So, on with it...

I have noticed that on the 3rd rainy day, approximately, both of my BFR's JP6's necks seem so sensitive to this weather. It appears that the neck has changed so much with the weather that all of the higher strings; the E,B,G,D, all seem dead when I press on the 2nd fret through at least up to the 7th frets. My action is pretty typical, nothing too extreme with the action having to be at its all time low. But I always love a good setup.

Now, why would the BFR's be affected? My standard loaded JP6 is fine, so are my tele's, and the Ibanez guitars, they don't seem affected, or so I notice as much maybe. The only thing in common here are the BFR's, perhaps the painted neck, or whatever is causing the neck to bend or swell just enough in this moisture filled climate. I'd like wait until the weather improves back to a more sunny, less moisture, dry days, without a setup or adjustment, to see what happens..

Has anyone else noticed this?? OR am I nuts and continue to think that somebody came into my house while I wasn't home, messed with just the BFR's to screw with me!? LOL!

 

[skdmrklcy]

Some woods just respond more than others to humidity.

The Action on my new silhouette was perfect out of the case, and after getting used to the climate change it is buzzing a lot. I am going to give it a week or so before having it setup.

 

[Jack FFR1846]

Depends how you store them. Although all of my guitars will be affected by the weather, right now, out of 10 guitars, my Tele and a Godin are out. The rest are stored in cases. It seems to help and I know that when the weather takes a sudden turn, all those guitars at Guitar Center hanging out there seem to suffer pretty badly. I ran into that last year and noticed that all of the PRS guitars were buzzing, so I tried some SG's.....$200 ones, $2000 ones, $6000 ones and they were all also buzzing. Then I tried a hot rod Al that I had tried before and it was buzzing. Tweek the neck a bit and you'll be fine.

 

[davidespinosa]

When I was living in Seattle, the action on my guitars used to change a bit, but it wasn't enough to be annoying. But I keep the action relatively high, so a small change wasn't that significant.

 

[straycat113]

It is well known unfineshed necks are sensitive to weather changes and that is why I always put them back in the case when I am finished using them unlike if it was a finished neck, and have never had any issues. But you are saying these necks are finished so obviously they are sensitive to changes in the weather, in that situation I would case them after using them or if you have them on stands case them if there is going to be a prolonged change in the weather. I would not stress the issue as once it heats up they should go back to normal. I had purchsed two non finished neck guitars -non Balls- some years back from Arizona and Nevada and they both came with fret sprout, my tech told me not to do anything and see if they change with the climate, and sure as sh!t both of them went back to normal and I never had an issue again with either.

 

[mikeller]

In central Ohio where I live it has been the wettest spring on record - hardly been a day in months it hasn't rained. I have had to tweak the truss on several of my guitars and still continue to have to.

The one that is giving me the most problem is my new JPX - seems like every week I have to loosen the truss more, it feels like there is no tension on it all. FWIW, I use 9.5-44 gauge strings.

I store my guitars in their case standing upright.

 

[geng]

I have the opposite problem in Iceland due to dry air. My Axis Sport is getting very dry and is sounding like a Sitar. I was told to keep the guitar in its case and I bought Kyser Lifeguard to put in the case for more humid air.

 

[Tung]

In Canada it's the ****iest weather, pretty much all the time. My unfinished necks are constantly changing in action. I pretty have to have my tools near by all the time, constant tweaking to get it working properly.
This spring there is so much rain here, can't even wash my car.

 

[beej]

Hey, every piece of wood is different. Some are more affected by moisture than others.

Where I am, things go from dry to moist and temperature fluctuations regularly. I have a few necks that are just rock solid, while others need a tweak.

The good thing is, it takes all of two seconds to set them right with the MM truss rod wheel.

 

[Roubster]

I think one worthy argument regarding this is that the BFRs have the mahogany necks. I know they are finished, but mahogany is less stable and more of a porous wood than maple, so that may be what's going on. My Y2D has been perfectly fine, and like beej said, it takes couple of mintues to tweak the truss rod and get everything in order.

 

[Dr.Strangenote]

Ok, that makes sense. Yeah, both BFR's were affected by the moisture. The other JP's were fine that had the bare maple neck, same for the other guitars which are also maple. Today, is a much nicer day. First time the sun has shown since last Saturday! The necks haven't totally returned to normal, yet today however they do both play better. Consider it a science experiment and I wanted to see if this would bounce back, without an adjustment.

I really do appreciate you all for chiming in about your experiences. It gives me a little security knowing that the common factor here is the mahogany neck. Since both BFR's where having a party, I didn't want to disrupt anything, by the fine tuning, however, now I know that they should be cased especially for gig preparations if that were the situation. To answer the question, I do keep all of them on a couple of walls, using hercules hangers. A totally perfect reason to keep a standard loaded JP6 or 7 in the collection!