Category Archives: Bass

Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, bass guitars, and violins are greatly affected by temperature and humidity. Guitars will swell up and dry out in just a couple of days from the relative humidity. When a guitar moves from one environment to another you may need to loosen or tighten the truss rod. This adjustment may be necessary a few times before it settles into its new environment. Don’t let your guitar get too hot or cold, too damp, or too dry. All of these things will affect the wood, the finish, and the sound of your musical instrument. When the temperature reaches 200 degrees, the glue that holds your instrument together will melt. If the humidity is too high and your guitar gets too damp the strings won’t vibrate properly. The guitar strings will buzz and it will sound like you are playing a chunk of wet cardboard. Humidity also causes the guitar to expand. When the wood dries out you will have damage to the finish that will appear as small hairline cracks. In addition, if your musical instrument gets too hot or dries out too fast it can cause the neck, back, and sides of your guitar to move out of position potentially ruining your guitar.