I have a couple of rather muddy pictures of a guitar belonging to one of our 'catters, with built in critic in the form of a rather large spider that took up residence inside it over night at our WVA festival.

The critic's reviews were generally not too bad.

The only serious "weather damage" friends have reported at WVA are from one fellow who concedes that leaving the guitar, uncased, shoved under a camper (trailer) overnight in a 5-inch freezing rain does not result in a good guitar kit. The glue doesn't all soften uniformly, so you don't get guitar parts that can be reassembled. You get pieces of kindling that were formerly guitar parts.

In a good hard case when not actually in your hands, in any conditions where you're not unduly uncomfortable, most instruments are unlikely to be damaged (but may need more frequent tuning). In crowded places of any kind, setting it down and looking away even for a moment or two is NOT a safe thing to do, as "opportunists" seem to be everywhere.

John