 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jbutler
Date: 2001-09-30 16:37
I think I've found an odor elimator for those of us who get the old "musty" or even foul smelling instrument case. It has enzymes that eat the bacteria. After only one application and fifteen minutes later I can not detect any foul ordor. The jury is still out, however, but it seems to be very promising...not just a "cover up". It is labeled "Champ Odor Be Dead" and manufactured for HCC, 3700 Reveille, Houston, Texas 77087. No sign of original manufacturer. I came across it when I went to pick up the wife's Hoover steam carpet cleaner from the repair shop. The man suggested it for the "pet" accidents on the carpet. I asked him about use on instrument cases and he didn't seem to find an objection. I'll try to cotact the distributor and see if any objections arise for use on instrument cases.
John
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2001-09-30 18:56
Interesting, John, I have quite good success with sunlight exposure, but on Sunday, it may be Let Us Spray!! Don
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Author: mw
Date: 2001-09-30 19:05
I have also found that (Extra Strength) FEBREZE does a great job. <It is also Vet-Pet friendly > Good info, JB. mw
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Author: madvax
Date: 2001-10-01 00:34
For really smelly cases, I have had great results using Lysol or Clorox disenfecting spray. Hold the spray very close to the fabric and then give it a good, thorough soaking. Let dry before putting your clarinet back. This also kills any bacteria or "rug bugs", and you get your choice of scents.
For cases that are only a little musty, the drier sheets work very well. Place one or two sheets in the case, close it, and wait one week.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2001-10-01 05:52
I use a about 5" square soft, thin, and flexible sheet with charcole ingredients inside pached inside my case. It works. No smells.
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-10-01 11:00
Good suggestions all. I guess that the treatments and the end results all depend on the source of the odor. If mold and mildew are the problem then eventually you have to kill the spores or lower the humidity to a point where the will not grow. The source of other odors is many fold - my primary beta testing grounds are the local high school band students with the help and encouragement of the director. Smelly cases abound and in one we traced the odor to the remnants of a PoP Tart in the assessory pocket.
Some of the oils leaching from wood instruments onto - into the case lining material can rancidify (oxidize) and the food particles in the horn and mouthpiece can decompose to form odors. I would suggest cleaning the horn and mouthpiece first - then the case. I am not knowledgable about all the mechanisms of the new cleaning and deodorizing agents (some of the enzymes combine with ammonia and others break down proteins, some combine with volatile organic compounds that are responsible for the smells, etc..) I would be careful about using anything containing chlorine bleaches on the case fabric because it may ruin it. It is best to clean the material with a fabric cleaning solution appropriate to the case materials and then using a product to "cover up" residual smells if the former does not remove the odor. Sometimes the smell is deeply imbedded in the case materials and will come back to haunt you forever! += New case.
The Doctor
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Author: jmcaulay
Date: 2001-10-01 18:02
madvax wrote, among other things:
"For really smelly cases, I have had great results using Lysol or Clorox disenfecting spray."
I tried some Lysol "Scent II" on a really stinking case, and the thing now smells like the embalming room at a mortuary. Maybe a different Lysol spray would be in order.
A similar problem I have right now is a recently-acquired clarinet that reeks of smoldering cigar, as if some clown blew smoke right through the instrument. Not H. Upmann or Macanudo, either, but some really cheap stogie. Anyone have ideas on how to deodorize the instrument? The usual peanut oil and alcohol blend doesn't quite seem to do it. Suggestions, please.
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Author: Anji
Date: 2001-10-01 20:41
My 'solution' comes from MBT, and totally eliminates the odor of musty cases.
The new case travels with the rebuilt horn, the old case I keep around for 'Odorama' effects (ya know, when ever they show an X-files inna cave).
Dryer sheets seem to make the funk well, too.
If you need to deal with Pet mess in your clarinet case, you have serious obedience school issues. It IS pet mess, right?
anji
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-10-02 13:00
So what is the peanut oil - alcohol treatment? Just interested since I am relatively new to the cleaning the wood and deodorizing game - not in years but just in the lore of the repair world. I could think of some interesting concoctions that would not leach the essential oils from the wood but also might not work on the "smell appeal" desired.
The odor control industry is a multi-billion dollar business and some recent research has indicated the complexity (not to this world of niche science - which is ultra sophisticated - but just to uneducated me) of the compounds and how our olefactory system processes the information. Certain of the newer odor control products do not actually control the odor per se - but block our olefactory receptors or change the message delivered to the brain about the qualities of the odor. I guess that we have a certain noxious vocabulary (some general - some individual ) that is triggered by certain chemical receptors in the olefactory system when specific volatile chemical compounds bind to these receptors. Since in general we do not have the visual clues (goes way back to my baby tending days) that prime the vocabulary we depend on the receptor array to tell us what the "smell" is and how to put it into the relational matrix of historical and pre-programed odors in our brain.
Certain volatile organic chemicals trigger receptors in the (PPM-PPB - parts per million to parts per billion) range while others require much greater concentrations. We are certainly low (although recent genetic comparison analysis indicates that we now use 1/100 to 1/10,000th of the potential olefactory capability programed) on the scale of "animal" olefactory acuity.
The Doctor
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Author: jmcaulay
Date: 2001-10-03 17:15
Peanut oil and ethanol (denatured) can be used to clean the bore or exterior of a clarinet without severe ill effects, or so I have been told. The alcohol is a grand solvent, and the semi-polar alcohol blends well with the non-polar oil, so that they "go in together". While straight alcohol would complex with moisture in the surface of the wood and assist its evaporation (undesirable), the oil helps to slow down that process, at the same time maintaining the surface lubrication of the wood while everything else is going on. So rub the surface well with about a three-to-one mixture of peanut oil (I suppose some other vegetable-based oil would do, perhaps olive or almond) and denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol may also be labeled "methylated spirit," or "alcohol solvent." Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol should not be used; as most commonly supplied, it is mixed with 30% water. I would think that methyl (wood) alcohol should work well also, but I do not know of any reported use. Promptly wipe it off as much as possible, then apply a *good* clarinet wood oil.
I would recommend a proprietary substance which is made for just that purpose, but to do so might violate the Phorum's proscription of advertising. And I do need to order some of that stuff, Doctor.
Application of something like formaldehyde would certainly, as suggested, keep the instrument from having an adverse aroma -- or any aroma at all, for that matter. And no one within several feet would be able to smell much of anything. But that's not my goal... I'd like to really get rid of the odor-causing substances. And no, I also don't want it to end up smelling like rancid peanut oil.
Regards,
John
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Author: L. Omar Henderson
Date: 2001-10-03 20:22
Dear John,
Thanks for the education - we are never too old to learn, so I guess that I am getting younger. Your explanations, and especially cautions are great. I am not a fan of peanut oil for clarinet wood but for the stated purpose it is probably OK. Why not use an oil-ethanol, oil-methanol cleaning mixture that approximates the oils already in the wood? This is not a commercial plug, there have been several plant derived oil formulations mentioned in our posts on oiling grenadilla wood that are closer to the oil used to impregnate the wood during manufacture. I will probably incur the wrath of the Georgia Peanut Growers Association for "dysing" any use of peanut oil -- and be deep-fat-fried at the next meeting.
The Doctor
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Author: al
Date: 2001-10-05 13:30
I have been using Odoban , in my shop on the stinky cases.
It does the best job yet of all the things i've tried, i.e. carpet cleaners.Frebreeze,
baking soda, orange peels, just to name a few. It get mine at Sam's Club.
Just mix one half,Odoban to one half water in a spray bottle and go nuts.
Good Luck!!!
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