Guitar Cabinet / Humidifier

[Buck Williams]

I'm considering building a cabinet for 5-6 acoustic guitars, that would also humidify the cabinet during the dry winter months. One big question, in my mind is what to use to add to and control the humidity level in the cabinet. Suggestions would be appreciated from anyone who has looked into, or solved this problem. Thanks

[Bradley Gray]

Look for a piano humidifier.

[Steve Milito]

I pondered building one but never went forward. Boveda has humidity control packs that seem to work well. I thought about building a cab with two compartments, the top with glass doors for the instuments, and a drawer below it to contain the packs. I thought circulating the air with quite computer fans would be nice. I would think that some measures to minimize air leaks would extend the pack longevity.

[Mike Ontko]

This may not even be close to what you were thinking of, but I thought I'd offer the info just in case. LOML is a concert violist and protects her instruments at home and on the road using Dampits, which offer a low-tech, simple solution for providing some small amount of humidity inside of the instrument when it's not in use.

[Kenneth Ellwood]

I made my own humidifier for the cherry guitar cabinet I just finished. Building the cabinet was a 2 year project. This is my first major project. I ended up using a variable speed computer fan mounted on top of a plastic container. The container is split in two inside with a humidifier wick between the two sections. Holes are drilled in the cover on one section and air drawn through the cover and through the wick. I used dust collecting parts to direct the air into the cabinet. The humidity is control with a WH8040 controller mounted in a plastic project box.
Moist air is blown into cabinet and back through a return. This system is mounted in a small enclosure in the bottom part of the two piece cabinet. Here in the northeast we are just getting into our dry season so the system has not yet been put to the test. So far so good with keeping the humidity under control. I did not seal doors as I wanted to see how I make out this winter with the system as is.
Have provisions to put in some LED lights but yet to do that.

Most important thing about this is the darling wife loves it.......with that said I am now trying to talk her into letting me build a dedicated heated shop instead of using one bay in my garage that I can only work in during warm weather.

[Tom Trees]

Make sure padding or anything else touching the instruments won't react with the nitrocellulose lacquer if you do make one.
That's one sweet looking cabinet Kenneth!
Tom

[Buck Williams]

Thanks for the info, haven't dug deep enough into piano humidifiers to get past the installer level, good suggestion, funny it didn't occur to me. Nice cabinet Ken, like the DIY approach to the humidifier side of it. Can I ask what kind of a cost you have in on the components. It would be interesting to know how long you'd go between adding water to the system. Part of my interest in a cabinet is having the ability to leave things unattended for 2-3 weeks in the winter and not have to worry. Thanks

[Kenneth Ellwood]

I looked at a lot of different off the shelf options for humidification but decided to go the DIY route. I have under $100 in the complete humidification system. Going this route allows me to have a larger water reservoir than anything I could find. I have not had to add any water to the system after more than a month BUT the weather has been unusually hot and humid this fall so far. It has run some and seems to work well.

I too will be interested to see how often I have to fill the tank. I did add a few drops of water treatment. Currently the fan is set to run at a very slow speed. If I find that the system is not keeping up then I will look at sealing the doors. For now I like the idea of some air turn over in the cabinet. My guess is if you are not opening the cabinet very often then 2-3 weeks should not be an issue but time will tell.


I used String Swing slat rail and hangers. I don't think anything is 100% safe for Nitro finishes. Some materials are better than others though. So if your guitars have this finish do be careful what you use.

I'll put this to test this winter and see how my design works out.

[Craig Shewmake]

I just recently converted a walk in closet to hold my guitars. I live in the desert with an average humidity around 10%. Not good.

I tried about 5 different evaporative and ultrasonic humidifiers over a several year period and it was never close to ideal. I could not find a decent humidifier with an accurate hygrometer. Trying to maintain a certain humidity level was hit and miss at best. I have over 20 guitars so going the case and humidifier route was a chore I did not want to return to.

Enter the Venta Air Washer. I saw a post on a rare instruments forum where this guy had some high dollar violin and he recommended the Air Washer hands down used in conjunction with a Green Air Products THC-2 controller.

I have never looked back. The Venta is a simple concept. Basically something similar to a paddle wheel on a ferry boat that spins in a tank of water with a fan above that tosses the moisture in the air. No mist. No white dust. Just moisture. The THC-2 is plugged in and hangs on the wall and has a stellar hygrometer in it. It simply turns the power on an off to whatever is plugged into it dependent on the humidity level you set.

It's very simple and the least maintenance of anything I have tried prior. There is a water treatment you can buy additionally but I have not needed to use much of it. A $10 supply lasted more than a year.

The Venta is not cheap. It has been flawless for me for 2 years now where no other traditional humidifier lasted more than 4 months.

[Steve Milito]

One of the advantages of the salt based humidifier packs is that they will absorb excess moisture to maintain a constant humidity. Certainly not an issue in the desert southwest but here on the east coast we have hot humid summers and dry winter air. Having said that, none of my acoustic or hollow body guitars have cracked from humidity changes.