[AlohaStyle]

First of all, stop wiping down your humidor with a sponge. You already did it once, that's more than enough. You can over-saturate the wood by wiping it down.

Secondly, as others have said, forget about the analog and simply use your digital. Yes, you need to calibrate it. Don't ever trust a hygrometer straight out of the box, you need to calibrate them.

From what it sounds like, your humidor is OVER humidified. I would calibrate your digital hygrometer and after 1.5-2 days of calibrating, stick it in your humidor. After a full day, see what the hygro reads. If it is 71%+, I would simply leave the lid open for a few days without any beads/water in there to dry it out. Unless your house is humid of course.

It's actually better to have more beads than not enough beads. I'm not familiar with the ones you have, but if they are like regular salt beads, you won't have any problems having a lot.