Official Luthiers Forum!

Went to an auction earlier this week. Most of the buyers seemed most interested in the many quality three phase machines throughout the building. I spotted a tarnished old Abbeon AB62 and when the auctioneer rolled around to it, I seemed to be the only one that knew what it was and wanted to bid. After complete silence from the bidders, I piped up and offered five bucks and the hammer dropped in my favor. Brought it home, took it apart and cleaned it all up and it is working nicely now. Also scored two very high end scales for twenty bucks. I love a good auction.

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jw ( o)===:::

RH way too high, look for another...

Nice score Joe!! I love a good auction and I love it even more when no one else shows up....

Good going!

I'll give you $40 for it which would be an obscene profit margin.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

That's funny because I just picked one up in a garage sale this past weekend. Not as nice as yours but it is a German Haar. The garage sale was a mess, the guy said his dad just passed and was a horder who collected everything. I got the hygrometer a couple of clamps and an old coping saw for $5.

Nice find on yours. It is much cooler looking than the one I got.

Bob

Bob, mine looked pretty bad too. The glass was dusty and cloudy. The printed face was brown from wood dust and vapor and the brass was tarnished brown. The front, outer ring was brass too but I thought it would look cool painted black. I should have taken a before pic.

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jw ( o)===:::

This type of hygrometer needs to be "charged" periodically. Thoroughly wet a cotton towel, wring it out and wrap it around the sides of the unit so all the slots are covered with the damp towel. After an hour or so the humidity level should read 95%. There is an adjusting screw on the bottom of the unit that allows you dial in 95%. After adjusting, let it dry out and the reading should be very close to actual. If you really want to get crazy you can check the reading with a wet/dry thermometer or psychrometer and tweak it from there.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

Actually, the Abbeon only needs to be calibrated from time to time. It is essentially a synthetic hair type hygrometer. The analog ones that use a metal spring need to be charged in a 100% environment occasionally.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Joe-

I've got two of these. I didn't pay $5 though - nice score!

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

HEY......HEy........Hey..............hey........ Seems to be an echo in here.

After the good cleaning, calibration was the final step. I'm surprised at how quickly these can respond to RH changes. I have moved it to parts of my building that are not controlled and then back to the controlled area and it is reporting nicely.

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jw ( o)===:::

Sorry, I guess that sounded/looked "know it all"! Didn't mean to be testy! Shoulda preceded with "I think..."

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Not at all Waddy! I am grateful for anyone's help. I am the "repetitive learning" type anyway so your post was super welcome, anytime!

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jw ( o)===:::