Do temperature and humidity affect my guitar tuning?

Question

I'm using a Korg Chromatic Tuner CA-30 to tune my guitar and some days I'm flat across the board and other days I'm sharp across the board.

I was just thinking that maybe it has something to do with temperature and humidity.

I was sure it was temp and humidity affecting the wood and tuning since all 6 strings were equally sharp or flat from day to day and not just one string or another. Thanks!

Answer 1

of course, but its not the tuning, i mean, with heat and humidity, what happens to wood? it expands and contracts, right. so your gutiar would be out of tune daily if exposed to heat and humidity.
everytime you pick it up, ya gotta retune it, right?

Answer 2

Yes, both temperature and humidity affect your guitar tuning, but they may not be the only cause of the problem you describe.

Temperature and humidity cause the wood components of your instrument to expand and contract. This is easily demonstrated if you ever tune up then immediately drive to someone else's home. Let your guitar sit for a about an hour and chances are it will need to be tuned again. If you'd left it in the same spot in your own home, it would probably be fine.

I'm not recommending that you subject your guitar to such tests, by the way. The more stable the environment, the happier your instrument will be.

In addition to the problem you've already noticed (the stretching and relaxing of your strings caused by the body expansion and contraction) repeated temperature and humidity cause other problems. The joints, glue, braces, and other parts of your instrument are also affected. In general, keep your guitar in a stable environment whenever possible.

The other problem you may have is old strings. Problems keeping your guitar in tune is a classic sign of strings that have lost their resilience and should be replaced.

For more information on guitar strings, maintenance, and how humidity affects your guitar, see the sources, below.

Answer 3

Absolutely, Guitar strings like most things, contract and expand in cold and in heat. If an acoustic guitar is what you have, humidity will affect the tone, depending on the wood and finish.

Answer 4

It is most likely humidity and temperature. You may also have a guitar that just won't stay in tune.

When possible, buy Gibson.

Answer 5

yes temp and humidity can affect tuning. try to keep your guitar away from things like radiators, humidifiers, or air conditioners.

Answer 6

Yes.
You'll find that playing outdoors, in particular, really wreaks havoc on your tuning. Plan on tuning after every song doing an outdoor gig.

Answer 7

yes temp and humid. all affect your tuning.

Answer 8

yes, temp and humidity will effect your tuning.

Answer 9

Actually it doesn't sometimes it is just your strings so take it to a guitar shop and have them restring it with new strings.

Answer 10

Yes they do. Barometric Pressure does as well.

Cheers :-)