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humidity
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ozmous

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October 11, 2012 - 1:21 am
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ordered some electronic parts and i've noticed that they've added something inside:

this is the packet:

 

Image Enlarger

 

this are what inside; ic, silica gel, and a humidity indicator card!:

 

Image Enlarger

 

the indicator turns pink if the atmosphere is dry, and blue if it is humid, this should be a great hygrometre, since my cheap violin case doesn't have one:

 

 

now, for a question, what is a good atmosphere for a violin? humid or dry? cause i've search some stuff and they say that you need to put a wet sponge to make it humid...but some say that you need to put silica gel to make it dry...hmm??!!

cheers! - ⁰ℨ

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cdennyb
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October 11, 2012 - 1:36 am
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if you are comfortable with the temp and humidity then your violin will also be happy.

Humidity in the range of 40% to 60% is fine and temps between 60F to 90F are fine as well. Those are generlizations and I'm sure someone will find a statement by some renouned person that says 45% to 65% but whatever...you get the idea.blink

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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Fiddlestix
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October 11, 2012 - 1:45 am
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The temp and humidity in my home now are 76 degrees F and the humidity is 58 %, @ 1:45 am.

bedtime  sleep

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cdennyb
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October 11, 2012 - 2:10 am
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The biggest problem I have where I live is the difference between winter and summer. Although you'd think winter would be wetter it's just the opposite. The reason: Summertime we run a swamp cooler that really pumps the water into the air, and the humidity can easily go up to 80%...while the temps stay down around 60-70F and that is a damp environment. During winter we have a fireplace rockin and that makes a very dry heat unless we put a couple of tea pots on top of the insert filled with smelly water to add humidity to the air.

Playing outside has it's own set of issues, meaning the bright sunshine (which could easily damage the finish/varnish... or damp conditions that might pop in the form of thunderstorms or down right rain. Seldom does anyone go play in the rain but if you were at a fair or festival and it suddenly cut loose with a cloudburst, it might add a lot of wet stuff to your violin that you dont want. Hence the use of an umbrella.

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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Fiddlestix
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October 11, 2012 - 7:06 am
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Would a dehumidifier help in the room where you play and store your instrument's ?

 dunno

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ozmous

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October 11, 2012 - 11:51 am
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lol, can i use a hairdrier for the dehumidifier???!!! jk :P

cheers! - ⁰ℨ

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cdennyb
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October 11, 2012 - 8:24 pm
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It would if the humidity was too high. Your numbers looked fine to me.thumbs-up

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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Fiddlestix
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October 11, 2012 - 8:33 pm
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Dennis, I wasn't refering to the humidity in my home, I read your post and seem's your's is a bit wet from what you say.

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cdennyb
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I understand what you mean now. If I keep my violins in the back part of the house where the bedrooms are they don't have near the humidity as the part of the house where the cooler blows directly. LOL

In the winter time I have to keep my humidifier in the case or the numbers drop to around 20-30%. If it's raining and the house has a lot of inside outside traffic with the doors opening and what not, the humidity stays up where it's comfortable.

It's really interesting to watch the hygometer go up and down according to the weather. cheers

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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Fiddlestix
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October 12, 2012 - 5:15 am
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You're watching the hygrometer, have you paid any attention to the bow hair's, how they tighten and relax with the change in humidity, it's amazing.

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Fiddlerman
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October 12, 2012 - 8:29 pm
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Same for me. I've been at gigs where I start to play the gig with the right tension and later look at my bow to see that it is completely loose and the opposite where I am scared I could have done some damage when I see how tight the bow had become.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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Mad_Wed
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October 15, 2012 - 6:03 pm
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Fiddlerman said
Same for me. I've been at gigs where I start to play the gig with the right tension and later look at my bow to see that it is completely loose and the opposite where I am scared I could have done some damage when I see how tight the bow had become.

Happened to me on the first concert in the school. The hair became so loose, that the stick started to touch the strings... played until the first convenient pause and qiuckly-quickly tightened it =)

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Fiddlestix
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October 15, 2012 - 6:57 pm
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Several month's ago I had my pernambuco bow rehaired by the luthier. The next day the hair was so tight I had to bend the stick in order to release and remove the frog. I took the bow back and asked him why he made it so tight, as I was standing there talking with him (about 5 minutes) I looked at the hair's again and they were completely loose. He said, "see, your humidity in your house is not good".

Just today two of my bow's were laying on the table, the hair's were loose, about 30 minute's later the were so tight I could use them without tightening either one.

(gosh, I just trimmed the horse's tail and look at it now,, it's hanging in the mud).  facepalm

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cdennyb
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October 15, 2012 - 10:56 pm
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Fiddlestix said
(gosh, I just trimmed the horse's tail and look at it now,, it's hanging in the mud).  facepalm

ROTFLMAO... now THAT is just too funny. banana

"If you practice with your hands you must practice all day. Practice with your mind and you can accomplish the same amount in minutes." Nathan Milstein

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pky
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October 16, 2012 - 1:35 am
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Interesting topic! I never realize heat could affect the tension of bow hair until yesterday. I was at a fiddle convention (our first) and there were vendors. I was going to try on some violins and noticed that the bow was very tight -- the distance between the bow hair and stick was almost an inch! I told the vendor (his wife plays), he told me to loosen it (which i already did) and said the sun did it. After I loosen the bow, the bowhair did not go back to its tension and stayed loose! It touched the bow stick when I tried on it. The other bow, though, was still in pretty good shape, maybe it was not in the sun as long.

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Kevin M.
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October 16, 2012 - 9:25 am
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Hygrometers were made using hair.

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ozmous

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October 16, 2012 - 9:48 am
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this looks interesting:

http://www.explainthatstuff.co.....eters.html

it says that you can use pine cones as hygrometres

cheers! - ⁰ℨ

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