What I Did To My Concertina's 'humidifier'

[bellowbelle]

When I first got my concertina, I asked members here about keeping the climate right for the concertina. (It gets very VERY dry, here, and lots of extreme shifts.)

 

Upon suggestion, by...someone(s)....I decided upon keeping, in my concertina case, a film case (the kind used for a roll of 35 mm film) with holes poked in the lid and a sponge inside it.

 

(I also keep another film case with holes that has some dry rice in it...for some reason I feel like this exchanges moisture regulation with the other case, but, then again, maybe I'm just a case, myself....anyway...)

 

WELLLLL....the sponge was getting a bit old, though, it was a very good and anti-bacterial (so it was claimed) sponge. What to do? I added some drops of spicey essential oil to it, a type that particularly is against bacteria.

 

Now, when I play, the bellows smell very nice, too!!! Mm! Cloves, vetiver, patchouly, sandlewood....orange, cinnamon, juniper....you get the idea!

 

I must confess, some may say that even these few vaporous drops of oil are not good for the concertina, but...it's all okay by me, anyway.

 

EDIT: Should mention, I do keep the sponge wet with water!

Edited January 10, 2004 by bellowbelle

[Richard Morse]

I use a tobacco pouch humidifier which is similar to your homemade device but smaller and doesn't leak no matter what position it's in and how hard it gets knocked. It's the material in the cap that does the trick. Pretty cheap at about 3 bucks and easily fits inside my case.

[bellowbelle]

Hm, I'll have to try that one, sometime.

[Alan Day]

I have just had new bellows fitted to my CG & GD concertinas as a little present to myself and the bellows have been put together with flour and water which must have been years old.I could do with something to take the smell away as it is as though something big has crawled inside and died.

Al

[Guest]

Hi Alan,

 

A trick I was told many years ago to get rid of the a lingering smell such as stale cigarette smoke is to wrap the item in newspaper, which will absorb the smell, leave it for a week, and then repeat the process until the smell is gone. Unfortunately this is very slow and time consuming, and not great if you want to play your instrument

 

I have found that Sandlewood is a great aroma for dealing with unwanted aromas

 

Cheers

Morgana

[Dave Prebble]

Hi Alan,

 

Presumably yours will smell like a fresh baked loaf of bread when the weather warms up

 

If you think you've got problems; 20 years on and my G/D still smells of the bottom of the Macclesfield Canal !

 

For preference, my favourite smell would be a freshly filled hay barn on a hot June day....... Just how do you create that I wonder ?

 

Regards

 

Dave

[Pete Dickey]

Hi Dave

 

You could open the bellows and sprinkle a few grass seeds inside. By June just mow it and the smell should be there for you.

 

Another thought though. If the grass grows through the sides of the bellows it could look as if you are playing a green hedgehog never mind as to where you are putting your hands.

 

Pete

[Pete Dickey]

(......as though something big has crawled inside and died.(

 

Alan

 

I replaced some leather on a seat some years ago. after a few days the smell was awful - a bit like you describe. It turned out the leather wasn't cured very well although the smell did go away eventually. I think I put some sort of natural leather treatment on it which helped, although I would hesitate to use this on the bellows.

 

Pete

[Aquarussell]

Hello,

 

My Aunt Shirly, who passsed away last summer, was a warm hearted lover of all small animals. Which is how she ended up with a baby skunk dead in the heater of her car. I think we crossed half of Texas (in July) with it in there.

 

After the professional removal of said unfortunate creature, she was advised to cut up an apple and place the slices on plates inside the car. She closed the car and left it. The smell was gone in a day. She threw away the slices of apple, and the event was over, except for the telling of the tale.

[bellowbelle]

skunk dead

I wish I'd known about the apple trick, years ago....

 

though, it may not have helped, in my case. But, I didn't want to throw away all my personal belongings and clothes!

 

I lived waaaayyy out in the country in an old farmhouse for a brief time, when I was married (the first time...have been married for a second time for 21 years). we had some skunks in the basement, and, my (then) husband shot one (sorry to mention that....it seems so graphic and harsh, to some, especially here on the east coast, but...we had different conditions, then, out there!)

 

Anyway....you should not shoot a skunk in your basement. Very bad idea.

 

So, by the time I moved back east, all my stuff smelled like this weird mix of skunk and wood smoke. Nobody liked it....darn....!