The original guitar humidifier concept was started to be developed in 2009 and is still in service today albeit not the finished product.
Conceived over 10 years ago, the humidifier – formerly known as the Wet Willy – was first developed by Steve (our co-founder) for his own guitars. Back in 2009.
Steve was learning to play guitar and had acquired an old beater, an original 1966 Yamaha FG-180. Sadly, it looked like it had been stored in an attic for twenty years. The sound board was warped and the tone was beyond bad, not that anyone could tell whether it was his cacophonous playing or not.
Never afraid of a challenge, Steve began reading about the moisture content of wood and humidification, and wondered if simply by humidifying he could breath life back into a guitar that otherwise should be used for kindling. Not satisfied with other products in the market place, Steve set about building a better humidifier. One that had a large capacity, and large surface area – features that make it efficient at delivering humidity. And most importantly one that couldn’t leak. And so the concept started to be developed.
Amazingly, in just a few short weeks the humidifier managed to breath life back into the FG. It was quite astounding. The sound board returned to its original shape, you could smell the fragrance of the wood emanating from the sound hole, and most importantly the infamous tone that makes the old FG’s somewhat sought after, came back with vengeance. It sang with a deep full bodied sound, rivalling that of guitars many times its value, when played by someone other than Steve.
Eleven years later, Steve’s personal humidifier – the original Wet Willy – is still going strong, which is a testament to his concept, albeit not a product useable. With patent pending, the PET-1 Acoustic Guitar Humidifier has been born.
The PET-1 guitar humidifier is a thing of simplistic beauty with continuing efficacy – the humidifier that after 11 years in development does exactly what it says on the pack. There is nothing to replace, nothing to lose, nothing to break and completely leak free, which is why we are offering a lifetime guarantee with every one you purchase.
In 2021 we continued developing the concept of excellent humidity supplementation to allow players to continue to have their guitars in easy reach with the Vertigo Single and Vertigo System.
With the addition of another 15ml capacity and high quality end caps allowing it to be placed between the strings in the sound hole, the Vertigo is (for now) the ultimate humidity supplementation tool that is a must have for all guitarists, that want to keep their passion alive and enhance the performance of their instrument.
So we say to you – let there be guitar and may you rock, roll, folk, strum, jive or whatever you’re into, forever more.
Only humidify when your guitar needs it. Not all the time. Too much moisture can be equally damaging.
Only humidify when you need to
Drop in the humidifier when the action gets too low, and remove it when that sweet action returns.
If you keep your guitar in a case, monitor the humidity inside the sound hole. When it drops below 45% RH you will know it is time to humidify, and when it exceeds 55% RH you will know it’s time to stop.
Finally, don’t be fooled by the outdoor humidity. Relative Humidity is temperature dependent. As such, heated indoor air is often much drier than the air outside.
Feel the Action
In severe cases you can see a dry or swollen guitar just by looking at the profile. But long before you see it, you will feel it when you play.
Too much Moisture Content will cause the bridge to lift, resulting in high action making it much harder to play, while too little, will cause the bridge to sink, lowering the action and causing fret buzz.
The sound of the guitar is also another little tell-tale sign, albeit less obvious. A guitar with the right moisture content will have a fuller sound than one that is overly dry.
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