Ian Cunningham wrote:
I gotta say, it's pretty awesome that I have some top-notch luthiers to get thoughts from and I'm seeing an overall vote of confidence, which is good. I'm rockin 27% humidity in my projected workspace and 35% in the house with no humidity adjustment in place. Since we're looking at a couple dozen percentage points between where I will build and where my first few instruments will probably live, should I adjust my goal humidity to be lower than the 40-50% average most instrument builders shoot for? And I'll reiterate, at this moment in time I am only considering building solid body electric guitars.
A couple of more things Ian Josh are sticklers for decent RH management and control and it's also why we both brought up the necks. We are repair luthiers and we see every day what happens when people neglect the ravages of RH swings and what results from building with unseasoned wood.
I would shoot for 40 - 50% again because you have zero control what happens to your stuff after it leaves home.
Next you are telling us what you see RH wise but it's highly likely that the hygrometer that you are using is not accurate and may be WAY off. The only, only reliable way to tell the RH is with wet bulb testing or some variant of that. What those of us in the industry who have a shop full of the valuable personal property of others do is use a wet bulb test (or some variant) to calibrate a quality hygrometer that is made to be calibrated. I recalibrate annually.
Digital hygrometers are junk (and here comes the the push back, again) and everyone we test is way off. If it's not way off in the 40 - 50 range it is in the 20 - 30 range. Digitals use an electro mechanical reaction that the chemicals break down in a few years and then it loses its ability to even be close to accurate.
So for me step one is a quality hygrometer, there are recommendations here if you search "hygrometer" and then learn to do wet bulb testing. Calibrate your hygrometer, see what you have and then and only then you will have all the information you need to consider what kind of RH solution may work for you.
RH is going to be MUCH more important for you Ian if you plan to sell guitars because they will come back at you (and should) if you cut corners and produce weather vanes that move an unacceptable amount with the seasons.
To underscore what a problem this can be. I purchased a 2012 Strat new from a dealer that went teats up. My home is RH controlled and around 45% +/- a few percent at all times year around. I have an expensive, commercial humidifier on my furnace. Took the guitar home to my place and let it acclimate. Two weeks later set it up and it was great. A few days later the neck had moved. Readjusted the neck and it played great. A few days later the neck moved.... This continued to a lesser and lesser degree for five...... long..... years.
Last year I purchased a very high-end Strat-like guitar with a torrified, roasted neck. Same story the neck moved every week or so for nearly the first year I had it and it's settled down now. These are the only two guitars that I ever saw this happen to and many, many more have been brought to my collection without this ever happening, frequent neck movements.
Both guitars were brand new and both had very recently been manufactured.
So this neck movement directly impacted my enjoying the instruments. Your average player may struggle with any need for multiple truss rod adjustments and they may even damage an instrument in the process.
So with all this said I really would not recommend producing guitars in your climate for sale to consumers unless you do what it takes to control the RH or they are going to come back to you and or come to people like me who are not shy about telling clients who are mine now.... what I see as honestly as I can.
There are no short cuts in Lutherie. It may not bite you now but it will later. And let's face it too most of us get into this because we think that with time and practice we can produce an instrument superior to the commercial offerings. That's not the highest bar by the way..... And small builders can produce great stuff but cutting corners will not get us there. In some ways we have to be the keeper of the highest standards....
So I would proceed with caution, stash wood and build from your stash following guidelines for seasoning, control your RH and do it with calibrated devices avoiding digital hygrometers and expect that one of your instruments may end up in Saigon someday with 99%RH or Elon Musk may take it to Mars (if his stinkin rocket does not flip head over heels again causing the FAA to reevaluate Musk's license to fly because of public safety) where the RH is likely 0%.
