Silica gel will save your guitar, or will it?

Manfred-Klose

You know the DO NOT EAT packets one gets in a box when buying a new TV,Guitar,AMP....etc.

Well it basically keeps the moist out of your guitar, especially is you live in a coastel area, Cape Town,Durban...
Always keep a packet in your guitar case.(To preserve the life of your guitar)

Agree or disagree, would like to hear your point of view.

here is a link of what it looks like:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silica_gel

Riaan

Manfred
I wonder about that, because I've also seen guitar humidifiers for sale.... ??? I'm sure Alan would know best about this, but I would guess that exposure of a guitar to a sudden change between dry and humid conditions, rather than a constant dry or humid condition is the issue. So my take on it would be that your guitar would settle according to the humidity (or dryness) of your environment, and that's it. Go from the coast up to a desert however, or vice versa, and that's when you'll need to readjust the truss rod, etc. Personally I doubt that the silica gel packets are very effective.

Renesongs

+1 Manfred - Don't eat that stuff man, It gave me bad indigestion for about 3 days - The granules are too big to snort - I think you supposed to smoke it or something

Manfred-Klose

I'm talking about the moist that builds up on your strings and body wood, that causes rust.

Strange that even it warns a person not to eat it, kids would go and eat it anyway, and end up in hospital.
learn the hard way.......same applies to music.

AlanRatcliffe

Sudden change in temperature or humidity is the big problem, as is one extreme or the other. Guitars can take a fair amount of extremes of either for a short amount of time, but if there is a sudden change, going from one extreme to another (like coming out of a hot club and into a cold van - the prime cause of finish cracks) it's a good idea to leave it in the case for a half hour to let the temperature and humidity stabilise before you take it out.

However, if you are getting visible condensation - drops of moisture on the guitar - something is wrong. If it's happening in the case I would probably not store it in the case, but rather have it out in the open. If I were to store it in the case I'd use a few packs of silica gel to keep the air inside dry.

Any long term storage needs to be done in a fairly consistent humidity and temperature - like in a climate controlled room with an air con that can add or remove humidity as needed as well as keeping the temperature constant.