Mouldy case? Smokey smelling acoustic?

[Kerry Krishna]

How about THIS for a possible solution...http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-get-the-must-out-of-your-thr...

[Hesh Breakstone]

Hey Kerry:  I would have two concerns.

First and especially this time of year I have to wonder if the kitty litter would also suck moisture out of the instrument and perhaps result in some cracking or distortion to the plates.

Second - you don't have a cat do ya.........

[George Roberts]

Third - It would take on the smell of the kitty litter.  Almost as bad as the mold and the smoke.

[Kerry Krishna]

 Thats a good point Hesh. 100% clay cat litter,   as far as I know, only takes on the humidity of the environment, so I don't think it's an issue. That was always the case when I had a cat anyway... As far as smell George the cheap cat litter has no additives to make it smell better or too colour it. There IS no smell... 

[Jon Hiltbrand]

I considered doing this to some instruments I had that suffered heavy, heavy smoke (and heat) damage from a fire.  I would be shocked if it didn't help with the smell, but I didn't end up using it.  It seemed like it could be a pain to clean up all the dust after.  I ended up using a "soot sponge" to remove the soot.  These sponges are used dry and help to neutralize odor and do a great job of removing heavy soot.

Once it was cleaned up, I sealed it up with some charcoal inside. It took some time, but I can't smell anything anymore.  The first guitar I ever built was among these damaged instruments.  I call her "Smokey".

[Andrew]

Does it sound smokey?

[Jon Hiltbrand]

No, but it played horribly post-fire too.  I did a refret, replaced the bridge, bridge plate... the binding still needs some work.  I may get around to it one of these days.  But it sounds and plays great now.  It smelled like a campfire for a long time though.  Half cleaned off pic...

[Andrew]

Holy moley!

[Robbie Collins]

Services that provide post-fire amelioration services use an ozone generator to take care of mold and smells. Ozone is a super oxidizer so in high concentrations it is dangerous to lungs. I happen to have one so next time I have a cheap moldy, smelly guitar around I'll try to remember to pull it out and blast it into the sound hole 10 minutes at a time. I'll report back.

[Kerry Krishna]

Robbie, my goodness, how does one go about ' acquiring' an Ozone generator? That's incredibly cool...

[Andrew]

A quick googling suggests that it might be for his hottub :).

And also that they can be rented from places like home depot. I didn't look into them in depth but it seems there are at least a few different types/uses for them. However they contribute to smog apparently so Id rather try other methods first.

[Hesh Breakstone]

Ozone generators are popular with pot growers and smokers because of how well they can kill smells.  There are lots of them available for the grow market, just can't remember the rest of what I wanted to say....

[Ian Barker]

OK now we're officially off-topic.  I had an ozone generator back in 1970.  Actually it was a 10-year-old TV in my student apartment, but it did a far better job of generating ozone than generating pictures.  I think the ozone hole appeared the day it died...