How long the dampit lasts ? (my experience)

The dampit works well

The dampit is one of the most common little tool to protect our instruments from dry weather as you can see in another article: Protect the violin from dryness

However, I encountered a problem for the first time in my life using my dampit, so, I’d like to write about it.

The dampit gets old and brakes

It happened when I had to go to Japan in April 2021.

I put my dampit in my violin and traveled. It is very dry in the plane, as well as the area I live in in the US.

My dampit was so old (probably 7 years or so old) that I could see some cracks in the green rubber part, but I used it without worrying about it too much.

However !!

It was one day after arriving in Japan, when I tried to pull out the dampit through the F hole in the violin, that it broke; leaving 1/7 of it in in my hand and the rest inside the instrument.

I tried to get it out using tweezers and something similar, but it did not work and I found that I made some small scrackes at the F hole, which I never wanted to do.

It was annoying to hear it rolling inside my violin, but I left it there for a while.

I finally went to the violin shop and asked the professional to take it out, after I came back to the US.

Even at the shop, when the professional tried, it did not do it right away, and he asked me to leave the instrument, since he even thought “it may take some time.”

I was not very happy to be away from my violin, but I needed the Dampit removed.

I decided to leave it there and I was walking to the parking lot dropping my shoulders down,

but  heard his voice:

“I got it out!!”

He was running toward me with my violin in his hand !

It made me feel sooooo happy ! On top of  that, he did it for free, too. I appreciate it very much !

See some cracks on the dampit? It’s time for a new one

I hope people do not have the same experience as I did.

If the dampit gets too old, and starts to show some eveidence of cracks in the green rubber, then I never recommend to use it, but buy a new one.

I purchased a new one, of course, as you can see in the photo at the beginning of this article.

It came with the instruction and the indicator.

As I mentioned, it lasted 7 years or so even in the dry area in the US, which is pretty good.

The Dapit HP: https://dampits.com/

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