Caring for your Guitar in Cold Weather

With dropping temperatures just around the corner for much of the United States, I wanted to share a few tips about caring for your guitar during the winter months.

Lower temperatures typically mean your furnace will be running more, often leading to a dryer environment in your home. Keeping your guitar in a case and using a guitar humidifier will help keep the wood of your guitar from drying out, which can lead to cracks in the wood or finish. Other problems such as buzzing strings from low action on the fretboard, or the top or back of the guitar arching inwards or sinking due to shrinkage from dry wood can also occur.

Using a guitar humidifier will help avoid issues due to dryness and extreme heat. There are different types available from humidifiers that are held between the strings inside the sound hole of an acoustic guitar, to guitar humidifiers you leave in the case. 40 to 50 percent humidity is considered to be ideal. My personal favorite humidifiers are made by DAMPIT.

You’ll also want to avoid keeping your guitar near heating (or air conditioning vents) windows or anything that produces extreme high or low temperatures. Quick or extreme changes in temperature can cause different parts of your guitar to expand or contract at different speeds, potentially causing separation of components. Extreme heat can also cause the glue holding your guitar together to weaken and extreme cold can cause the finish to crack. Room temperature (70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit) is ideal.

Have a question? Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.