For amateur musicians and professional artists alike, maintaining the right temperature and humidity levels are of vital importance when it comes to storing musical instruments. You might not be aware that low indoor humidity levels or drastic temperature and humidity changes can cause significant damage to wooden musical instruments as time passes. Therefore, maintaining ideal humidity levels in your guitar room or home studio is essential to protecting wooden instruments, like guitars, pianos, and violins, from cracks, warping, and shrinkage.

The Effects Humidity Has on Wood Instruments –

All guitars and instruments made from wood are crafted and built in environments where humidity is controlled and monitored. This is important because wood can be susceptible to warping, which can change the tone and timbre of an instrument, sometimes even splintering during the building process. This happens when natural moisture levels within the wood dry out. When damage occurs like this, it can make the instrument unusable and no longer able to be played.

Humidifying Your Guitar & Instrument Room –

If you own a large collection of instruments, especially wooden guitars or other musical instruments, then looking into humidification could be your best bet. Storing instruments inside cases, even specially made humidified cases, can also help but are often expensive or a hassle to lug around when it's not needed. Many people, especially home enthusiasts, hang and mount their instruments on a wall or a free stand that's open to the air of the room they're in for easier access.

If this is the case, then the first step you should take to determine if you need to control the humidity in the room is to invest in some type of humidity monitor or humidistat. These smart devices allow you to accurately monitor the humidity levels and temperature of any given room, allowing you to pinpoint ideal humidity levels and maintain them year-round. Once you've determined what your current needs are, you can begin the hunt for a solution.

Optimal Humidity For Instrument Storage –

Experts and instrument makers alike agree that an ideal relative humidity range between 40% and 50% is usually the best for storing any kind of wood instrument. More or less, it could lead to wood expansion or shrinkage, causing stress on the instrument. You may be specifically in need of an instrument room humidifier if you live in a very dry climate like the Southwest or if you frequently use air conditioners to cool your room, as they can dry the air out, lowering humidity levels.

The Best Way To Humidify Your Guitar & Instrument Room Using a Humidifier –

If you've come to the conclusion that the humidity level in your music room is too low, then you could benefit greatly from the use of a room humidifier. These devices are usually compact in nature and don't take up much space or effort to move around. In addition, they are a low-cost, effective way of controlling and sometimes even monitoring the humidity level of a room or space. Some models come with built-in humidistats, allowing you to accurately gauge real-time humidity levels.

It is important to remember these key points when purchasing a humidifier:

  • Size: - Always remember to consider the size or square footage of the room you intend to humidify. Specific models have specific coverage areas that can vary a great deal. Getting one that's too small for the area or too large could result in over- or under-humidification. Check out our humidifier buying guide for more information!
  • Humidifier Type: There are many different types of humidifiers on the market, each of them offering a slightly different approach to humidification. It's important to know the difference when selecting one for your music room. Types include cool mist humidifiers, ultrasonic humidifiers, evaporative humidifiers, warm mist humidifiers, and vaporizers or steam humidifiers.

Best Humidifiers For Guitars & Wooden Instruments –

Finding the right humidifier for your instruments could end up being a little overwhelming, which is why we've put together a few of our favorite humidifiers based on room size in hopes of making the process a little easier. Take a look. They may be exactly what you're looking for!

Humidifier For Smaller Rooms –

The Vornado EV100 Whole Room Evaporative Humidifier - Uses moisture wick humidification to humidify smaller rooms up to 300 square feet in size. Its sleek, modern design blends well with any room, and the clear tank design makes it easy to see when it's time to refill. In addition, it comes with a 5-Year Limited Manufacturer's Warranty for added peace of mind.

  • Best Fit: - Humidifying smaller rooms up to 300 square feet in size.
  • How It Works: - Set your desired humidity levels from 40% - 60% with the easy to use digital controls
  • Why Customers Love It: - The clear, easy-to-see water tank holds up to 1-Gallon of water, increasing run time and decreasing refill time, making maintenance much easier.

Humidifier For Medium Rooms –

The AIRCARE ESSENTIALS MESA Ultrasonic Humidifier – Offers both warm and cool mist humidification with a sleek and modern faux wood finish. Its compact design makes it easily portable and able to fit in smaller spaces without taking up much room. MESA's warm mist goes up to 75°F while its cool mist is steady at 66°F. It boasts a 6-Pint water reservoir with a 2.2-Gallon output per day.

  • Best Fit: - Humidifying small to medium-sized rooms up to 750 square feet in size.
  • How It Works: - Uses whisper-quiet ultrasonic technology to create a fine humidifying mist
  • Why Customers Love It: - Quiet operation, modern faux wood design, and the ability to choose between warm (75°F) mist or cool (66°F) mist.

Humidifier For Larger Rooms –

The powerful AIRCARE MA1202 Cool Mist Evaporative Humidifier - Produces up to 12-Gallons of daily moisture and covers a whopping 3,600 square feet. This makes it the ideal humidifier for the largest of open spaces. It features caster wheels for easy mobility from place to place and easy-to-use digital controls for maintaining accurate humidity levels. It holds 3.6-Gallons of water and can run for up to 36 continuous hours.

  • Best Fit: - Delivering powerful large room/open space humidification in spaces up to 3,600 square feet.

  • How It Works: - Choose your desired humidity levels between 25% and 65% relative humidity, and the onboard humidistat will automatically adjust to maintain settings.
  • Why Customers Love It: - The larger coverage areas make it a powerhouse humidifier capable of covering entire homes if needed. In addition, it features a mineral-absorbing filter to eliminate white dust.