[pianotech] smoke damaged piano

Douglas Gregg classicpianodoc at gmail.com
Wed Nov 10 09:44:45 MST 2010


I have a S&S in my shop that was half burned up . The top is all
charred and must be replaced. It was closed at the time of the fire
and the insides are only smoke damaged. The odor was permanently
removed using Ultra Odors Gone. It is used in museums after fires
without closing down the museum to visitors. Check it out a
www.ultraodorsgone.com web site.  It works amazingly well at
neutralizing odors. Mildew too.  It is a gel in a cottage cheese-like
container. Put the piano in an enclosed space or loosely tent it in
plastic with one of these tubs inside and the odor will be gone in a
few days to a week and won't come back. I have some of these burned
pieces in my basement now and have never smelled the smoke odor.

To clean off the smoke tar from the plate, action and case, I used
Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner. The brown tarry residue of smoke
just floats up with the bubbles and can be wiped off with a paper
towel.

The fire did not do much damage to to piano other than obviously
burned parts. It was the water damage from the firemen extinguishing
the flames  that can be the bigest problem.  Fortunately, in my case.
the firemen recognized the value of the S&S and did their best not to
soak it.

Douglas Gregg
Classic Piano Doc
Southold, NY


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