When I received her after being flown all the way from Arkansas 7 years ago, I didn’t pay much attention to the Planet Waves gizmo and plastic syringe that came in the Michelle’s hard case.

It is a humidifier for acoustic guitars, something which I only figured our some time last year. Yeah, shoot me.

Then, whilst playing the Taylor some time last week, I came across something horrifying when I ran my finger on her mahogany back. It was a fine linear crack slap bang in the midline.

I swear I didn’t drop her at any time in my seven years of owning/playing her. After trawling multiple online fora, the likeliest cause I found was that the wood had dried up. I remembered that late last year, she was pretty much near-ish the room’s radiator (she was in her case!). But the main culprit was likely the dry nature of the room. Yup, you got it right. Serves me right for not paying attention to what the Planet Waves humidifier can do.

Thanks to a reassuring vid by Bob Taylor himself on YouTube, I found out that it is possible to rectify the problem by humidifying the guitar back to its optimal humidity which should “close up” the crack. I loosen the strings and started humidifying Michelle straight away. I even bought an extra one (ironically made by Martin) to try humidify her as quickly as possible. I started the process this Sunday past and pray that I could see the results after two weeks.

Hope she gets better quick!