RE: [Harp-L] taste of tobacco

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

If it's a wood-combed chromatic you'll have to be a bit careful. You need to remove and thoroughly clean the mouthpiece and slider mechanism.  Make sure you whittle away any accumulated crud in the mouthpiece holes. If it were me, I'd then remove the reedplates to leave just the comb. If it's wood, you could leave it in a protected outdoor location for as long as possible to let the fresh air do its work. DOn't rush it. It mustn't get rained on or stolen for nesting material by rooks. Don't even think of immersing it in water. Someone else might suggest a safe solvent for porous wood. If you use anything with an odour, you might get rid of the tobacco smell all right but you'll just have a new smell to live with for evermore.  No probs if it's plastic - just wash in soapy water. As for the reedplates, if you're an expert you could remove and replace the valves, though I doubt that much of the odour is coming from there.  Just clean what you can without soaking or damaging anything (judicious use of isopropyl alcohol is beneficial) and give them the fresh air treatment.
 
You might guess that I've had to do this myself, and the above contains a lot of buried bitter experience...!
 
Steve Shaw    

> Hi. just bought a 12 hole chromatic off ebay in excellent condition but the previous owner was a smoker
> the taste is so strong that I feel as though I could get throat cancer from playing it anybody offer a method of removing the smell and taste so I can start to learn how to play the instrument, this effect
> is probably worsened by the fact that I have never smoked and the same applies to almost all my
> friends so I am not around the smell of tobacco. Hope you can help ------- John