Taming the temperature's and relative humidity's knowledge

Physics in bouzouki life !

Preparing a musical instrument for its overseas long trip during the hot months of the summer, became the reason to return back to my notes and calculations regarding Scylla and Charybdis, (the two ancient sea monsters) -Temperature and Relative Humidity in bouzouki's life.

Living in a tropical climate, the simple and misleading rule some people say, "When is hot is dry, and when is cold is humid" doesn't really apply in reality.  

To calculate how to pack and ship my musical instrument during summer time, I  had to return back to my old notes and basic physics.

In the past, I had written multiple articles regarding temperature and relative humidity in bouzouki's life 



The basic rule, "Keep your musical string instrument in a room with stable temperatures  between 65 F -75 F and 47% to 57%. relative humidity",  is well known.

 But what is the reason luthiers are recommending the above rule of thumb? 
And is it a way to foresee, how under different values of humidity or temperatures, my musical instrument can stay safe?
For example shipping a string musical instrument during a hot summer day, (or a very cold winter day).Using my instrument for an outdoor gig, or driving with my instrument to further location.

So I sat down and created a very handy diagram {accordingly to physics and wood's ideal recommencement moisture content  (9%-10%)}

In the diagram bellow, every time your crossed paths of temperature and relative humidity values, fall inside (or close-by) the green zone, sleep assure that your musical instrument is not endangered by the climatic conditions of your environment. 

From the following diagram also someone can clearly understand why most of the luthiers recommend "to keep your musical string instrument in a room with stable temperatures  between 65 F -75 F and 47% to 57%. relative humidity"
The cross section of these values gives us the ideal moisture content of wood= 9%

(C) 2020 All rights Reserved S. Dimis

Of course a  luthier may decide to construct his musical instrument (depending on the customer's living environment) with different wood's moisture content (example: his customer lives in a tropical environment with higher % of relative humidity, or in a very dry environment all year around  )  

On the diagram bellow someone can clearly identify the difference in wood's moisture content between two places with same values in temperature ( 37 C - 98.6 F) and different values in relative humidity  ( dry environment with 25% relative humidity , and tropical environment with 88%  relative humidity )

In both cases your instrument will suffer from the environmental conditions (if left for prolonged period of times, or if these values reached suddenly. Lets assume from the cool and stable environment of your house you stepped out and left your musical instrument exposed under the sun for hours). 

-In the first case ( dry environment with 25% relative humidity) the woods of your musical instrument will remove moisture from their molecular structure, and release it into the environment.

-In the second case ( tropical environment with 88% relative humidity) the woods of your musical instrument will absorb from the environment. moisture into their molecular structure 

(C) 2020 All rights Reserved S. Dimis

Having in mind the above diagram, someone can pre-plan and cleverly adjust the exposed time of their musical instruments, or take necessary steps to reduce the abrupt climate change on their musical instrument creating a smooth and prolonged transition . 

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