Official Luthiers Forum!

Perhaps you are correct. Just my observations...I have seen bracewood go bananas in my shop (off the guitar) but most of the movement was cross grain and not longitudinal, but it did move some longitudinal.

"80% seems high, but the conventional wisdom is to build in the same RH as where the guitar will live after it's built. Usually people in the climate I live in build around 40-50% RH."


"So if a musician travels between varying RH area (like a gig in a tropical rainforest, followed by a gig in say Dubai a week later) would have a hard time with his guitars?"


One thing to keep in mind is that it is not just the climate that affects the humidity it is also the "microclimate". Moving from a humid outdoor environment to an air conditioned room can drop the humidity tens of percentage points immediately. Even when building in a humid climate it is better to build on the lower end of the humidity range.