A health warning

[Mediocre Polymath]

This is perhaps a little off topic, but I had to share this somewhere.

 

I'm currently working on an 1980 Ibanez acoustic for someone – replacing a lifted and damaged bridge, refretting the neck and generally giving it some TLC. It's a nice guitar, and in remarkable condition given its age and how much it has been played (frets 1–7 have string grooves that go almost down to the tang).

 

The downside is that it came from the house of my friend's late brother, and both he and his wife were heavy smokers. 

 

It smells.

 

Today I was looking at the tuners, which I knew I'd have to take off anyway. They're a sort of faded, brass/gold finish with a funny adjustable tension system (Ibanez called it "Velvetune"). A few were a little sticky to the touch, so I decided to get some vinegar and clean them up.

 

...

 

Turns out they're not gold or brass, they're nickel covered with a thick coating of nicotine residue. Here's a before and after picture. Bleurgh

 

[pst62]

🤢🤮

[BabyBlueSound]

To imagine my in-laws smoke 2-3 cigarettes every hour... oh my god.

[lemmywinks]

My parents were both long term smokers, lived in the same house for 40+ yrs (my mum is still there). Everything has this coating - the glass on their painting/picture frames, TV screens, the wallpaper etc. I took down some of their paintings when we decorated and you could see how yellow/orange the rest of the walls were in comparison to what was behind them. I got rid of their old CRT TV when they finally got a new one and the screen was orange, to the point you'd think there was something wrong with it as everything looked like an old Western movie with that filter! You only notice how bad it is when you start trying to clean items.

 

 

Disgusting habit that gives you cancer, makes you stink like a vagrant, empties your wallet and covers your prized possessions in horrible orange gloop. My mum has finally stopped smoking now, within a couple of weeks we noticed we didn't have to change our clothes after we'd been round.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

The lovely guild acoustic guitar I bought recently came with a rather smelly gigbag, presumably due to a previous owner smoking. After a wipedown the guitar itself has no residual odour, but after wiping down the bag and using febreze, the bag still whiffed a bit so I left it with my daughter who offered to steam clean it for me in an attempt to get rid of the pong. I'll have to ask her whether she's had any success. It would be a shame if I have to junk the bag due to the smell as it looks brand new.

[itu]

The last on line is an ozone cure. May help but in such a case where the smoke has been there "forever", ozone may need several hours. After a thorough cleaning, naturally.

[Mediocre Polymath]

46 minutes ago, itu said:

The last on line is an ozone cure. May help but in such a case where the smoke has been there "forever", ozone may need several hours. After a thorough cleaning, naturally.

With the tuners it all just scrubbed off, and I think I've gotten the gunk off the finish. I'm going to have to level and oil the fingerboard so that will probably be fine when I'm done. 

 

The only issue really is the inside of the guitar, where I think the stink has seeped into the pores of the unfinished wood. I'll think of a better plan at some point, possibly doing what you've suggested, but for now I've tossed a fabric bag full of lavender in there and taped a bit of cardboard over the soundhole.

[franzbassist]

I really don't miss the days of coming back from a pub gig and then the next time I get my bass out of its case being hit by the smell of stale cigarette smoke.

[tauzero]

I confess to once upon a time being part of the problem. I gave up in 2004, the second Mrs Zero continued (she always smoked a lot more than me). At the end of 2005 I moved in with the future third Mrs Zero, and in 2008 bought the second Mrs Zero out of my house in the divorce. It was a right state when the current Mrs Zero and I moved in, yellow doors and walls and the mirrors were all tinted. That's not to mention the dog piss in the main bedroom and guest room carpets. Still, we managed to get it all cleaned up eventually.

 

As for smoking and health - the current Mrs Zero has COPD from 35 years of smoking (she gave up at the end of 2004), and the previous Mrs Zero died of cancer, but as it was anal cancer and not lung or throat cancer, it was probably from being an alcoholic.

[FugaziBomb]

I dodged a real bullet it seems with the smoking.  I started when I was 13 and quickly went to a pack a day after highschool.  I finally quit in my mid 20s and never looked back.  No health issues have popped up yet at 41 years old, so I'm hopeful I kicked it soon enough 

[Woodinblack]

I bought a yamaha piano about 15 years ago from a smoker house. I spent a lot of time cleaning it, but it was only a few years ago when it stopped sending out a little whiff of smoke when hitting a less common note high up or low down

[Woodinblack]

I was part of the problem too - I smoked from 15 on until a couple of months before my 40th birthday, I am now a few months before my 60th birthday (20 years clear of smoking) and seem to have had no problems so far. So glad I stopped - even if it wasnt' for the health benifits, I saw how much cigarettes were the other day, I remember saying I would stop when they got to £2 a packet, but let it get to over £5 before I did, now, how can anyone afford that!

[BigRedX]

I was lucky. I've never smoked in my life. Not even one drag.

 

At school the smokers were all IMO dickheads and losers and not the sorts of people I looked up to or wanted to emulate. After school I probably did a lot of passive smoking as just about all my friends smoked, but somehow I was never tempted. It might have been the cost. I was always skint either as a student or because I was on the dole and there plenty of other things I would much rather spend what little money I had on - like musical instruments or records.