bought a piano....how do i get the smell out of it?

[nataliemarie]

hello, all! as a background, my MIL is a piano teacher, my husband a drummer, the whole family is musical....we recently purchased a Wurlitzer from an estate sale. wonderful old lady passed who was a piano teacher herself for 60+ years.

from the smell and after cleaning it, it's obvious that she or someone in her home was a smoker.  needless to say, my whole family room now reeks of that smoky/old smell.

I have washed down the wood and keys with vinegar, and also used some wood oil on it. funny thing is, it seems to smell worse after i cleaned it!

If Anyone has any suggestions on what to do about the smell of this absolutely beautiful instrument, I'd love to hear it!  thanks so much!!!! natalie

[j_menz]

Tobacco smoke tends to leave a film that's pretty hard to get rid of in one go. It's also oil soluble, so your wood oil has probably livened it up a bit.  You should be able to get stuff for removing tobacco stains at your supermarket, though a few more repeats of what you have done should also work.

Alternatively, you could take up the habit yourself and, whilst the problem won't go away, you will no longer notice it.

[nataliemarie]

thank you for your input! won't be smoking myself though.....

[faulty_damper]

Hey, you should be careful of third-hand smoke.  It's found to be just as deadly as second-hand smoke.  I don't know much about how smoke adheres to furniture, but I'd definitely remove as much of it as possible simply due to the negative health effects.

[Bob]

How about an ozone generator?  Those are supposed to get smells out of things.

[j_menz]

How about an ozone generator?  Those are supposed to get smells out of things.

They work by killing bacteria, so there's a range of smells they work on - mould being the best example.  Tobacco smells, though aren't caused that way, so I doubt one would have any effect.

[faulty_damper]

Ozone is O3 and is a powerful oxidizer.  It can damage furniture, destroy leather, and also harm health.  It might work to break down the smoke chemicals, but I'd also worry about the potentially toxic byproducts that may be more toxic than the smoke.

[silverwoodpianos]

Charcoal blocks are available along  products such as nilodor,fabreeze and those things that stick on the wall in the bathroom or the one in the toilet bowl.

All of those product reduce or kill odour.