I know of a person here in Phoenix, Arizona, who loves the old band
organs and larger instruments.  He does not do the work for a living
but only for his own enjoyment and satisfaction.  He does beautiful
work and is a master craftsman.  His workshop is a large room on the
side of the house and he does keep the humidity higher than the outside
air (how much I don't really know).  All I can say is that when you go
into the shop, it feels damp.

While talking to him, he had a story about a band organ or orchestrion
which he had sold to someone here in the valley that stopped working
after about one month being out of his workshop.  When he went to
investigate, the problem was that the wood had shrunk and major air
leaks were everywhere.  He tightened up all that he could but his best
solution was to add a room humidifier to solve the rest of the
problems.

I don't completely agree with this philosophy but, if it solves the
problem, then go for it.  What I am getting at is that it would have
been better to do the rebuild in an environment more normal to where
the instrument will be used.  In this case, trying to keep a room at an
artificially high humidity did not help.  Yes, the unit did play better
because of the high humidity, but you have to keep it at this level to
keep the instrument playing.

Here in Arizona we have fairly dry winters but the summers get very
hot with the dew point climbing to over 60-80 degrees F.  When this hot
humid time comes, we turn on our home refrigeration units, close up the
doors and windows and wait for September to bring the less damp and
cooler days.  The refrigeration brings the inside temperatures down to
about 80 degrees F. but it also removes a great deal of the moisture.
Because of this, most homes here don't see the extreme swings you have
in the eastern USA.  We don't usually see these types of problems
unless a home uses the old 'swamp cooler' that uses blowers that suck
air through a water-soaked pad to cool the home in the summer.

Your best bet is to keep things constant, either dry or moist, cold or
warm, extreme change can cause all sorts of problems.

Pete Knobloch