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I would say "Yes!" especially for the winter months.
The simplest (and least expensive) solution is to put a piece of wetted sponge--wrung out first--inside a plastic ziploc bag with a few holes punched in it. I have also used spent film canisters (remember those?) with holes punched in the top. In a pinch, an old prescription bottle works too (with a rubberband to keep the rig together.
You'll need to do this every 2-5 days depending upon how humid it is, the size of the sponge, etc.
Drug stores have a variety of little plastic jars and boxes that are great for drilling holes and filling with sponges. You can make them for 50 cents instead of paying $20 at a music store. They say that humidity should be at least 40%, and you can buy a digital humidity gauge for about $10 at Walmart or such (will pay $20-30 for the same thing through a music store). I try hard to support local music stores; pay a couple bucks extra for strings and such. But this seems to be one situation where you can do it yourself.
Yep, I'm aging well I suppose.
I totally agree with Yooper . I support my local store when I can, but humidification can be a real DIY.
Yep, diy solutions work fine.
I do own and use commercial gizmos. There's one from Dampit made for violins which I use in one mandolin. And I have a couple different types in guitars. I have a lot of instruments of different types. I could go broke buying humidifiers to put in each case.
The Planet Waves style humidifier is obviously a sponge in a nicely shaped plastic container. So, anyone can pull that off themselves. Pill bottles, film cans, M&M mini tubes, etc. all work. A walk around a decent dollar store will probably get a few ideas.
Your next question might be, "Do I need a hygrometer?" . Well, yeah! Some cases have one built in. Others may have space for one and a humidifier. Others, not so much. If you have one instrument to protect a case meter will do what you want. If you have a few instruments you can monitor humidity in the room(s) where you play. Again, no need to go to the music store. Many indoor weather stations have humidity features. I use one with multiple room sensors. Otherwise, hit eBay. Lots of solution for humidors and so on.
Edited by - Mandodennis on 04/14/2021 06:28:16
I hate to disagree, but I deal with humidity and humidity instrumentation as part of my job. Most weather "stations"--indoor or outdoor--just don't have reliable humidity sensors; built-in sensors in the case are even worse. Perhaps if your acceptable range is 20%, those kinds of things are fine.
If you want to be within 3-5%, and you truly worry about staying over, say 40% RH, something like this is way better:
https://www.onsetcomp.com/products/data-loggers/ux100-003/
$89 is a small price to pay to protect a $1000+ mando/guitar/fiddle. NFI.
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