Plastic Bags and chemicals? Jeez Louise. Ever since the invention we've used it for exotic or native wood, unless you have access to a good steam kiln.

In this case, given I worked in 15 sawmills, and used to have (I gave them away) 3 or 4 instruments to check the humidity of wood, I suggest I do know what I'm talking about here. Although a piece of wood (which is what a guitar is with added glue(s)) has a certain humidity content given the environment it's in, must adjust if the finish is not water proof (ie the inside of the body is not usually treated with varnish/lacquer etc.) the fluctuations are normally covered by 'nature'. Now given the same guitar, left in a place where the humidity varies, a good heavy duty plastic simply allows the guitar to keep the humidity content at about what it was the moment it was inserted into the bag. The reason for a few holes is to allow normal humidity to slowly allow the wood to adjust.

There used to be a theory that old houses were "tinder" dry due to the age..well that's bs, the wood takes on the average humidity of it's surroundings, acquiring a certain amount of moisture when it's damp, and if it gets hot and dry, losing that same moisture. It's simple really.

The problem with green or untreated wood as one might find in a 'new' guitar made someplace like china, is that the thing will possible warp in extreme humidity, or in a very dry climate. The fact that this instrument, in contact with the case, 'ate the fuzz' is partly environment, and a reaction between the chemicals in the finish and the synthetic material used in the case lining.

From a perspective that takes into account all the factors in play, one must surmise that the best environment for a guitar would be to ensure that it's at a proper level of humidity, and if it's expensive enough to warrant it, put it in a humidor with controls to keep it at a constant state.

If you ever played a horn in a snowstorm you'd have some idea as to the dynamics. All materials are subject to temperature and humidity, and therefore they expand or shrink. In the case of a guitar, the humidity fluctuations from the 100 percent humidity of the deep south vrs the winter humidity north of here where it's 5 to 8 percent will certainly cause the wood to react in a detrimental fashion.

To say that plastic would be harmful I am cognisant of the properties of modern plastic vapour barriers, as here, we have use them in the exterior walls of every house. It's illegal not to have them. To suggest that they give off harmful or detrimental levels of anything is to suggest every Canadian would become sick. The simple answer to that is every Canadian outlives the average American. That said, it could be bad health plans, or in reality, that the Average american has 25 pounds over the average Canuck due to the ingestion of Big Macs, but I'm not qualified to answer that question, I may have measured hundreds of thousands of board feet of spruce lumber headed south for moisture content, however I never studied the reason that the first reaction of Canadians traveling south is WoW those people are fat and waddle....

As for me, I'm sticking with the original comment, I'd put any wooden instrument, from my accordion with it's wooden parts, inside a plastic bag if storing it. I have every lens I own inside a nice plastic zip lock bag, because put in my car, it might undergo huge temperature variations, and I don't want that to mess the lens up, especially if it's worth over 400 bucks.

John Conley
Musica est vita