My apartment tends to get very hot in the LA summers. If I don't leave the AC on it can get up to 95 degrees and takes forever to cool down. Even with the air it will hover around 80 at certain points of the year.

Can temperature harm a strat?

Not that kind of heat, it takes a lot of heat to soften glue or melt plastic. High humidity or lack thereof would cause more damage.

More the humidity than anything else. Subjecting it to extremes of heat and cold are worse. It was over 85 degrees today. Pretty hot for the Phila area in early April. Something like 25-30 degrees above normal.

Definitely more the humidity. I was more worried when I had my guitars in Florida or New York during summers than I ever did in Scotland or Ireland. We are lucky in the British Isles in that respect that humidity is never a worry.

A good humidifier should do the trick.

CC

_________________
Fender Stratocaster (parts build)
Fender Telecaster 72 Custom RI
Fender Telecoustic Deluxe
Gretsch Electromatic Pro-Jet
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus
Gibson ES-135
Zenith Type-17
Marshall 70's JMP Superbass 100w
Blackstar HT-5

Thanks gang. Good to know.

I have the same situation here at my house. Thanks to a crappy insulation job it is over 80 for most of the summer months, even with the air on. I've never had any problems with my guitars that were heat related. Although they generally need a set up at least once a year, but that's normal no matter where you live.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

I've lived in LA (San Fernando Valley) for 18 years now, rarely turn on the A/C and I've never had a problem. The valley is a bit more humid than years ago, but nowhere near enough to harm a guitar. (You might want to use a humidifier in winter though.)

For that matter, I grew up in the Mohawk Valley (in upstate NY) which was very humid and could get seriously hot. My parents never had A/C back when and I didn't either. Never noticed any effects on my guitars, so yours should be fine.

I'm sure somebody sells an insulated case if extreme weather is an issue. Just ask Google. I wouldn't mind having nice cases for my guitars. Especially the ones that sit on stands and don't always get enough attention.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

Lack of humidity will dry out the wood and cause fret sprout (the fret edges get noticeably sharper and stick out from the fretboard).

Sharp changes in temp are bad because the wood will expand and contract. Especially on acoustic guitars. So allow air flow amongst the rooms in your apartment of if they are in a cooler room you may want to leave the door closed.

Don't leave the guitars in direct sunlight. If its in a room that gets a lot of sun draw the shades and leave the door open. Direct sunlight and lack of humidity is about the worse that can occur.

Store the guitars in hard cases if your not using them is best.

I store my guitars more or less like Shockwarrior has his. As long as you have a closet that can close which will keep the temperture down and avoid direct sunlight you should be fine. Usually the worst that happens in a years time is you need a set up.

60% of relative humidity is what a strat needs!

I was told these figures by the fender dept. here in France.

avoid rapid change of temprature too, but the main factor is humidity!

For solidbody and laminates, heat and humidity should not be an issue... But with any solid topped hollow body/acoustics, keep your guitars inside... that can be bad...

I have left many a guitar in my 125+ degree F Dry heated garage... the only issue I had was with a solid topped Ibanez acoustic...

But laminates and solid bodies are extremely durable to the elements.. as theys should be...

I don't care how many humidifers you have running.. That would be pretty much impossible to achieve here in an Arizona...

I absolutely agree with what everyone has said about humidity being a bigger concern however I would add one small detail...

If the guitar(s) are in one room or whatever that has a fairly constant temperature, this really isn't a problem....I know some folks may argue this but to me 95 degrees isn't really that hot! LOL! As long as the temperature is constant though it shouldn't be too much of a problem, however if you take the guitar to practices or gigs or something where someone has the AC cranked up, you will want to allow the guitar a bit of time to "acclimate". In other words, if the guitar has been sitting in your 95 degree apartment all day and you take it to a basement or a bar where the AC has it cranked down to 65 degrees, you're talking about a 30 degree difference and it could give you some tuning problems until the guitar cools down a bit. Significant temperature changes can and do affect tuning...nature of the beast. Any time I do a gig in the middle of summer...or the middle of winter here in Ohio, I always try to get there at least an hour and a half early so the guitar(s) can cool down...or warm up...before we start playing.

Just something to be aware of.
Jim