With winter in the midwest going back and forth, the two big things you really have to watch out for is humidity and temperature control. I have been discussing humidity with my students and they all know how important it is. At the end of this post is a link to a page on Larrivee's web site that has a lot of information about humidity and your guitar. While it is directed at us Larrivee owners, it has a lot of good information for everyone else!
Cold is bad for your guitar also. I don't have to tell you to not keep it in your car trunk. As you know, trunks get very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. But even in the back seat of your car for a half hour can really lower the temperature.
When you go into a house that's heated to 70/75 or so and open the guitar case, the poor chilly guitar experiences thermal shock! As the wood, glue, plastics and finish try to get up to temp, they expand at different rates. In extreme cases this can cause cracking of the finish. It's what's known as checking.
Allow your guitar to warm up in it's hard shell case. Let it get close to room temperature before you open it. The newer finishes aren't as sensitive but you should still avoid extremes.
The bottom line is that your guitar was probably made in a factory that maintained 70 degrees and 50 per cent RH. You want to keep your guitar's environment as close to that as possible.
Thanks. Keep playing guitar!
Terry
http://www.larrivee.com/5_features/educationEssays/humidityWood_essay.html
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