How to protect your instrument in autumn and winter

The cold, damp season is here. Instruments and voices need to be protected against extreme temperatures, excessively dry air and sudden climate fluctuations. Here are a few guidelines and tips on what conditions can be harmful to your instrument and how to make it winter-proof.

The natural enemies of your instrument 🥶

The main weather-related enemies of instruments are cold temperatures, extreme temperature fluctuations, and insufficient or excessive humidity. The good news first: you can take effective measures against all these external influences to ensure that your instrument survives the cold period without damage. You can put on gloves and a scarf, snuggle up in a blanket, and drink tea with honey. But your instrument isn’t particularly fond of tea and probably looks a bit silly wearing a scarf 🧣

Frosty facts: why cold weather is bad for your instruments ❄️

Cold weather can have a significant impact on your musical instruments. Wood is always reactive to changes in temperature and humidity, which can affect instruments such as guitars, string instruments, or pianos. For woodwind instruments like the bassoon or oboe, both the reed and the tube are also affected. In dry, cold conditions, wood can shrink slightly, become brittle, or even crack, potentially compromising sound quality and playability.

Between modern humidifiers and grandma’s household tips 👵

When we get cold, we turn up the heating. Who wants to freeze, after all? Unfortunately, however, this can result in low humidity in the room, which isn’t ideal – neither for people nor for instruments. The quick fix is to install a humidifier in the room where you usually store your instrument. This will ensure a safe environment when it is not in its case. By the way, Grandma knew how to deal with dry room air: just hang up wet laundry!

Humidify the case and control the internal microclimate 🏝️

However, we recommend storing your guitar in a case at home and especially when travelling, as the climate is much easier to control in a small enclosed space. It is important to choose a high-quality case in combination with a case humidifier. Guitar humidifiers are an inexpensive way of keeping the humidity in the case at a normal level. To be honest, though, we’ve yet to discover a case for your church organ.

Typical damage: Sharp frets, warped necks ☹️

Have you ever noticed that the fretboard edges of your guitar suddenly feel sharp? The reason for this is that the fretboard contracts when the humidity is too low, but the frets themselves do not. The neck can also warp for the same reason. Sometimes it is sufficient to adjust the truss rod, if available. In extreme cases of warping, however, the repair can be extensive and costly. Digital hygrometers, thermometers, and humidifiers such as the MusicNomad Humitar ONE MN311 avoid these risks and are nothing less than life insurance for guitars.

Paint only protects against mechanical contact 🎸

Varnish cannot protect wooden instruments from moisture or changes in the room climate. This would only work if they were also painted on the inside – which they aren’t. Regardless of this, extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity can cause cracks in the varnish and, in the worst case, also in the wood. Like the wood, the lacquer or urethane coating contracts and expands, but not at the same rate. Nitrocellulose-lacquered instruments in particular are highly susceptible to climate–related effects.

The problem of the temperature difference 🌡️

With woodwinds, another problem arises when playing in cold rooms. The warm air that flows into the inside of the instrument can cause tension, sometimes to such an extent that the reed cracks. And brass players aren’t out of the woods, either. In cold weather, a tuning slide may get stuck, the valves may become sluggish, or, in rare cases, even freeze. The pragmatic solution in such scenarios: Warm up the instrument thoroughly with your hands or body before playing. In addition, a low–viscosity valve oil should be used when playing in freezing temperatures.

Give yourself enough time, don’t rush the warm-up ⏱️

If your instrument has been exposed to cold temperatures, which can easily happen on the way to a gig, rehearsal, or music school, and even more so at outdoor concerts, you should warm it up carefully. Under no circumstances should instruments be placed next to a radiator, not even in a room that has already warmed up. Instead, allow sufficient time to bring it back up to “operating temperature”. Your instrument needs time to adapt to the new climate. And as long as the instrument, bow, or reed feels cold to the touch, don’t play it.

Play regularly and get a feel for how your instrument is doing 🎸

It goes without saying that you don’t want your instrument to become an art installation during the cold spell or hide it away in its case for the whole winter. After all, you want to continue practicing your skills. If you play regularly, you’ll also be able to sense and detect potential changes and problems as they develop. You should take even the slightest of these warning signs seriously so that the problems don’t get worse. It also makes perfect sense to have your instrument professionally serviced shortly before the cold season begins.

How silk and silicate can help 👝

Pro tip: Get yourself a silk bag. Silk helps to prevent moisture from penetrating your instrument from the outside. Silicate pouches (those little bags that say “Do not eat! Throw away!”) in the case can also help to absorb excess moisture and protect the metal parts from corrosion. Okay, you’re unlikely to pack a piano in a silk bag or stuff it full of silicate bags. But you know what we mean.

How do you protect your instrument from the winter blues? Let us know in the comments!

Simon's passion for music generated a long time ago, and led him to become a guitarist and self-produce his music with the band Onyria.

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