Heat can damage instruments. Here’s how to protect yours
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Smoke from wildfires has led to the cancellations of outdoor music events across Minnesota this week. High temperatures have also caused some to rethink outdoor activities, and while event organizers have to think about the health of performers and audiences, musicians also have to think about the well-being of their instruments in hot weather.
“Usually, the finer instruments are the ones that are more sensitive to the changes in seasons and environment,” said Adam Meyer, who is a luthier based in the Twin Cities—a craftsman who builds and repairs stringed instruments.
“If the humidity changes, the temperature changes, then it's going to change as well. Most of the time, the big changes happen between, like when we're going into winter or going into summer,” Meyer added.
Aside from the tuning of an instrument, extreme weather—both hot and cold—can damage instruments if they aren’t properly stored or taken care of, according to Meyer. This usually doesn’t happen when an instrument is played outside at a concert or a kickback, but when they are exposed to temperatures above 90 degrees for longer periods of time.
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“The really tough stuff when I have things come in that are needing repair because of the heat, usually because somebody left their guitar in the trunk of their car…if you're just kind of going out to the park to play at a show that's 90 degrees out, it probably won't shift around a lot for you,” said Meyer, who primarily works on guitars, which can bow or become unglued in some places in heat. Other string instruments, like violins, can also be susceptible to heat.
“I've heard of something recently here in town; somebody left their violin in the car, and the varnish melted into the velvet siding,” said Aaron Janse, a violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra. “When it hardened, it tore off that velvet siding, and then it went into the big cracks in the varnish.”
Janse, who is also a violin instructor, often checks his students' violins at lessons, sometimes having to remind his students of basic, but important, preventative measures.
“I have students that sometimes come in and their violins are obviously hot, and I have a few words with them that's important to not keep your violins out…whatever you do, do not leave your violin in a hot car,” said Janse.
The damage from heat can forever alter the sound of an instrument, and repairs from a professional luthier like Adam Meyer can cost hundreds—if not thousands—of dollars. Meyer has to maintain tight control of the conditions in his repair studio to make sure there isn’t any further damage to the instruments that come in to be fixed. This includes running room humidifiers in the winter and central air during the summer.
If you can’t provide your instruments the kind of meticulous environment that Meyer does, he suggests having a plan to store your instruments.
“I always advise people that if they're not able to monitor their guitar daily, do something like try and keep it in the basement. It may be cool down there, but it's going to be, you know, more stable,” said Meyer. He also recommends that if you don’t have air conditioning, to ask a friend who does to hang on to your instruments.
This seems like common sense, but Meyer said that even after damaging their instruments, some musicians don’t learn their lesson.
“They'll have a really nice guitar, and they have a problem happen to it, and they get it repaired, and then they still don't maintain it properly, and it just keeps coming back,” said Meyer.
