Mildew Problem

[greg jacobs]

I purchased an old 1966 - Hagstrom Acoustic H-22 Sammy. There is a strong mildew smell through soundhole. There are obvious mildew stains around kerfing and at base of braces. I normally dont mess with cleaning up insides of old guitars but the smell is very strong. Any ideas on what to use to clean up the mildew?

Greg Jacobs
Austin, TX

[Matt Haugen]

If you go to the frets.com index page I believe you will find this in there. I believe Frank uses rice to act as an abrasive to clean the inside up a bit, then puts some baking soda in the guitar to absorb the smells.

[Mark Dobbins]

ditto bakin soda

[Rob Mercure]

Cat litter also works as long as you either get the dustless type or screen it well yourself to remove all the dust and really find particles.

R