Hi,
I was in a music store at lunch and saw a small guitar humidifier made by ‘HERCO’. It states that the humidifier can be used for all wood instruments. It is a small plastic box with two holes punched in the lid and a soft ceramic tablet inside. It says to soak the tablet, then place it in the box, and then place the box in your instrument case. Has anybody used one of these things in their pipe case? If so, what was the result?
Thanks!
Products page:
http://www.musicdealer.com.pl/dunlop/herco/default.htm
Places that sell the Herco humidifier:
http://www.earfloss.com/violin/2300286.html
http://www.guitarspot.com/2300286.htm
http://www.encoremusic.com/recorder/2300286.htm
If you want to try a junk-yard wars aproach
to the humidifier, start at a local gardening store. Ask them to give you some old terra cotta pots that have broken. Get a plastic travellers soap container at the dollar store. Drill a couple of holes in the top, fill with moistened terra cotta fragments and there 'ya go. Should work. I think I’ll try it too. Thanks for the idea.
Marc
P.S. Just looked at the links. 1&1/2 diameter cylander? Film cannister!
[ This Message was edited by: marcpipes on 2003-01-23 15:51 ]
Marcpipes, (I love Jumkyard Wars BTW) the canisters look like those old film-strip holders in the school days (daze) before computers. (Do you remember turning the advance when the cassette went “bing”?) I’m sure just about any plastic container would do and if they don’t give you any broken pieces at the garden centre, buy one for a couple of bucks and have a blast! (I might just have several thousand film canisters around here somewhere).
Good luck!
edit spelling
[ This Message was edited by: Paul Reid on 2003-01-23 17:39 ]
These thing were $5 CDN at the store I went to.
[ This Message was edited by: JamieKerr on 2003-01-23 17:40 ]
I’ve always heard that small plastic containers with lids (like the tupperware products) and synthetic sponge cut to fit inside work fine. Drill or poke a few holes into the container. Note: you must squeeze out the excess water from the sponge. Don’t leave it so wet that it drips.
You should be able to find these items in a closeout or often called 99 cent stores.
I just use a ziplock bag left open with a make-up prism sponge pilferred from my wife with a tiny bit of distilled water on it.
Camera film containers with holes poked in the lid work great too.
WARNING: don’t make the sponge too wet! Just add water and squeeze off excess.
This is fine for the case but to let your pipes adjust as much as possible to their natural surroundings is a good idea. If you live in a drier climb, adjust the set to suit that as much as possible.
Patrick.
[ This Message was edited by: Patrick D’Arcy on 2003-01-23 19:23 ]
Hello all. Just make sure you open the storage case REGULARLY — a closed moist case is a perfect mildew and mold factory. as long as you are regularly playing them, you will be fine – ventilation is the key --so if you got ‘em keep on playin’'em.
DR
I’ve had my case lined with green velvet… so you can’t see the mildew!
Patrick, I thought about your distilled water comment. Isn’t that pure like rain water? My dogs water bowl only gets alge when it rains. What happens if you used clorinated tap water in the sponge?
For any who live close to a local smoke shop (I mean a REAL smoke shop, with Dunhill pipes, and Fuente cigars) you may want to look into a humidor there. You can find a fairly inexpensive humidor (the bit that does the humidifying, not the ceadar cigar boxes) for probably around 10-20 dollars. It’s designed to do just one thing - humidify.
You can also buy a sort of propylene glycol seasoning solution that keeps the moisture release a bit more constant as well as helping to keep the growth of any little critters such as mildew and the like to a minimum.
For those who are REALLY curious as to the humidity levels in the air, you can also get digital hygrometers from around $20-30 to start. Avoid the little analog needle style - they’re not all that accurate.
So for under $50 you can set up a nice steady system, and monitor it as well. just a thought. And YES, I DID used to sell this stuff for a living… 
Bri~
…best job I’ve ever had too!
Hey, Brian, that’s a terrific idea, about the humidor! I will look into that…
But I think D’Arcy has a better idea:
“to let your pipes adjust as much as possible to their natural surroundings is a good idea. If you live in a drier climb, adjust the set to suit that as much as possible.”
But how to do that, there’s the rub, for in that adjustment what frustrations may come, when we have tampered with its natural form, must give us pause…
Couple of things here…
Distilled water, what I was actually getting at was a clean water, a tiny miniscule drop of bleech in the water will help reduce or eliminate mildew/tarnish/green stuff etc.
In the process of adjusting your set you learn a lot about your pipes. I wouldn’t recommend either scraping, clipping tips off reeds if you don’t know what you are doing or if you don’t have a very good spare reed or reed maker near by that is willing to work on your pipes.
What I am saying is - as the problem arises, sort it out. In preperation you should go to tionóil, ask advice and take the reed making class. There is no skill in waxing and wrapping hemp and it is a massive waste of a reed makers time to ask them to do this at a piping event, they are there to make reeds not do piddley work a 2 year old is capable of doing.
Sticking keys can be fixed without making any permanent changes. You can remove the key and scribble with a pencil inside the key block where the key touches the wood. If the sticking is more severe use a light oil, brass instrument key oil is ideal, almond oil is also good and Geoff Wooff suggests using regular 3-in-1 oil! Be careful to use only a tiny drop of the stuff. What I do is place the oil in the bottles lid and dip a paper clip or bent guitar A string to pick up and apply the oil to the required area, this way you won’t end up with oil inside the bore or anywhere else you don’t want it.
There is very little to moving a bridle or a reed in it’s seat and these are the fixes I’m talking about and in my experience have been all that has been required to get a set used to it’s environment… of course I am assuming that the reeds you’ve been supplied by the maker are capable of being played in tune!
End of rant 
Patrick.