Clean all surfaces that you can access as well as possible, and then place a prodigious quantity of activated carbon or charcoal (real charcoal, not the barbeque briquettes made of charcoal dust and a binder) inside the piano. As long as it is charcoal or activated carbon, just about anything should work. Poorly made charcoal will have a creosote-like smell of its own (not likely unless it's homemade), but properly made charcoal is totally odor-free and will absorb odors well. Charcoal dust is something you DON'T want so you should use large pieces, placed inside a piece of cloth or something that allows air to pass through but not dust. Charcoal works better than activated carbon but has more of a dust problem. An aquarium supply shop will have probably have activated carbon "gravel" available for filtering aquaria. This approach can be augmented if necessary by a household air purifier unit in the same room as the piano. (Such a unit also removes odors through the use of activated carbon.) > John & Ruby wrote: > > Dear list- > While my efforts are usually focused at improving the sound or > touch of a piano, a new client has thrown me a curveball. In addition > to the sound, her recently acquired piano also smells bad - like > cigarette smoke to be exact. Does anyone know how to remove smoke > stink from a piano? Please help. > > John Harrell > Associate Member > Research Triangle Park Chapter, NC
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