Stupid guitar care question

UnclePsychosis

Fairly sure I've asked this before but I forget the answer.

My "music room" is south facing. Sunlight streams through the window all day (no really) with the consequence that

1. The room is pretty hot
2. My guitars can end up with direct sunlight on them for a few hours a day. 

Other than potentially fading the finish is there anything to worry about? Warping in the heat etc? 

HAL9000

Personally, in that situation, I’d keep them in cases or gigbags to smooth or minimise any dramatic changes of temperature. Direct sunlight can get surprisingly hot.

DulcetJones

I have a room like that as well, I got a set of "blackout curtains" that keep the temperature at bay quite well.  They also make it very dark and create a safer environment for my vinyl records along with the guitars.  I actually like cloudy conditions because I can open the curtains and feel less like I'm in a windowless basement. 

ICBM

UnclePsychosis said:

Fairly sure I've asked this before but I forget the answer.

My "music room" is south facing. Sunlight streams through the window all day (no really) with the consequence that

1. The room is pretty hot
2. My guitars can end up with direct sunlight on them for a few hours a day. 

Other than potentially fading the finish is there anything to worry about? Warping in the heat etc? 

Impossible, you live in Scotland.



To be honest I would probably think about putting some pale-coloured curtains in, if you haven't got them already. Direct sunlight and heat isn't good for guitars really... especially not black ones .

UnclePsychosis

Yeah we already have blinds in there, I'm just fed up of having them closed all day... 

mbe

UnclePsychosis said:

Yeah we already have blinds in there, I'm just fed up of having them closed all day... 

My boxroom studio has venetian blinds snd curtains closed 24/7 and I'm fed up with it too. I could do with some advice on decent SADD lighting to raise my mood.

ICBM

I wonder if there's some sort of reflective coating you could put on the windows that would both work and not look awful...

I remember some stuff that you could buy in the 80s that looked awful and didn't work though!

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

I wonder if there's some sort of reflective coating you could put on the windows that would both work and not look awful...

I remember some stuff that you could buy in the 80s that looked awful and didn't work though!

You can tint it like a car window i guess.

UnclePsychosis

Longer term we're having a reorganisation anyway so I guess I'll just cope with the blinds closed until then...cheers folka

grungebob

You can get sheets that reduce UV and heat. We used some at work for our changing room windows as it offered a degree of privacy too

Musicwolf

RaymondLin said:

ICBM said:

I wonder if there's some sort of reflective coating you could put on the windows that would both work and not look awful...

I remember some stuff that you could buy in the 80s that looked awful and didn't work though!

You can tint it like a car window i guess.

Tinted windows is where the glass contains increased amounts of Ferrous compounds which will increase heat absorption in the IR region of the spectrum (as well as some in the visible).  The clear glass in your house will likely have about 94% light transmission in the visible, your car's front doors 70% (minimum legal limit) and 'dark' tints behind the B pillar maybe 18% LT.

Tinted glass is fine when you're in a moving car because the glass absorbs direct heat from the sun and then re-radiates it outwards (because you have air flowing over the outside).  When you are parked it does nothing because the heat is also re-radiated inwards.

You can get glass with a metallic coating which reflects IR.  In your car this would be a coating within laminated glass (such as the windscreen).

https://www.pilkington.com/en-gb/uk/products/product-categories/solar-control 

UV protection is an entirely different issue.  Most UV absorbing glass will be laminates with a UV absorbing interlayer.

SRD81

I have a similar situation to the OP. I have direct sunshine on my guitars for much of the day, but they're all in hard cases - surely I'm OK here, right?

I did wonder the other day if the cases heating up would effect the guitars inside....

Sounds like a ludicrous thing to be concerned with until you remember you've spent thousands of quid on the guitars!

Mark1960

I always say as a rule of thumb never leave a guitar out of its case in temperatures / humidity that you would be uncomfortable in.