[pianotech] Glass cleaner to remove cigarette tar and other piano-cleaning fun...

[Euphonious Thumpe]

      Got a "free" Chickering Ampico grand w/500 rolls last month. I put that in quotes because the stench of tobacco tar on this one is truly atrocious. ( Terribly stinking up my shop.) I was able to take all the removable case parts (refinished maybe 30 years ago) outside and spray them with "Purple Power" ( cheaper version of Castrol's "Super Clean" that doesn't have the lye smell "Super Clean" now has, that doesn't rinse out) and scrub them with a green Scotch-Brite pad and hose off and quickly dry. After 2 such scrubbings, the smell is only barely detectable and this remainder will come out during refinishing, I trust.
     The main body of the piano is a "different animal", though. So far I've hit it with glass cleaner and wiped with paper towels --- but how am I going to really get the smell out of the underside? (After removing the player system, of course.) Blasting with Purple Power and a hose sounds too potentially damaging. (Even if quickly dried, and after the plate and strings are out.) Suggestions appreciated. I'm anticipating a lot of hand-wiping and then bagging the thing and blasting with high-concentration ozone for a while, and I'll report on how well that works. But any other ideas on how to clean all the parts and get thje smell out would be appreciated.
     As far as the rolls goes: I've been vacuuming off the boxes and then wiping them with naptha-soaked paper towels, which seems to be getting some of the tar off the cardboard, without disturbing the ink on them.

Sincerely,
Thumpe
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