I recently acquired an older aluminum tone ring Epiphone, 70's era I think with a gig bag for $100.
The 5th string peg had been cut off and whoever had it before presumably played it like a plectrum.
I eventually got the set screw and remnants of the old peg removed. I re-bushed the peg hole "violin style" with some glued in strips of mahogany, also added a few spikes. Planning on this being a "festival/camping banjo."
All is well, but the banjo clearly had a some sketchy ownership as the banjo and gig bag it came with just reeked of pot. an entry level drug sniffing dog would've caught this one in a heartbeat a mile away.
Anyway, a friend of mine loaned me his cheap ozone generator and I placed the banjo closed up in the back of my Mazda hatchback and after a 2 hour or so session with the generator, the banjo smells different, but nothing like it did before and that pot smell was totally gone.
Anyway, I had tried airing out the banjo and had even taken it apart and replaced the head and the smell wasn't going away. This little inexpensive ozone generator did the trick. I did have to run the banjo for a second 2 hour session to get the smell completely out, and I also took the resonator off and placed it with the banjo in very close proximity of the ozone generator.
Cautionary note, these things can be dangerous so proceed with caution.
We use ozone in cars regularly. It gets rid of all kinds of persistent smells without any chemical residue, other than the ozone which dissipates once we open the windows.
Online info says to use an ozone generator for no more than 15 minutes to be safe. That is just not long enough, especially for cigarette smell which is in all surfaces of cars. We usually do 45 minutes with the air blower on full. And have to repeat after airing out the car. I find cars tend to heat up while the ozone generator is on. Those shorter treatments with airing in between is probably safer for wooden instruments.
Since it is such a good oxidizer, it can attack plastic. I suspect finishes on instruments as well.
It has been a while since I had a smelly banjo, which would usually be mildew. It should work great on that as well. Great call! Be very careful not to breath the ozone, It can hurt your lungs. Let things air out for a while.
Edited by - lazlototh on 05/18/2025 02:42:32
I had a banjo with a funny smell from the 1970s. I sprinkle baking soda throughout the case and eventually it went away. I kept finding that baking soda for months after I had vacuumed everything out twice.
If you don't want to spend on an ozone GENERATOR, auto parts stores sell ozone in little aerosol cans, like the size of travel shaving cream cans. For killing stink in used cars or cars that had "accidents" happen in them.
Again take care, in an enclosed space too much ozone will burn your mucus membranes and lungs. It's a strong oxidizer -- although the strength of what's in the spray cans isn't maximum strength.
There are a number of ozone generators on Ebay. Some are quite inexpensive. And some of them are rather dangerous. Wiring can be dodgy and as mentioned before, ozone should not be inhaled. It is very nasty.
Caveat emptor
quote:
Originally posted by The Old TimerIf you don't want to spend on an ozone GENERATOR, auto parts stores sell ozone in little aerosol cans, like the size of travel shaving cream cans. For killing stink in used cars or cars that had "accidents" happen in them.
Ozone (O3) is unstable, and if you filled a can with it, it would very soon be a can full of regular oxygen (O2).
I think what you're referring to is "Ozium", a brand of air-freshener which does not contain any ozone, but has for decades been reputed to be the best one for killing the smell of weed smoke. It does contain benzine, though, and I wouldn't want to spray that on a banjo.
I would think most of the pot odor would be in the washable gig bag.
You can make an ozone generator pretty easy at home. Fold up a two decent sized sheets of aluminum foil so they're about 4x4" and a couple inches thick. Put one in a pint jar, the other in a quart jar. Put the pint jar inside the quart jar, so it's layered... foil/pint/foil/quart. Then get an old transformer, you can find them in junk yards free usually or might even have some laying around if you've got some old sheds in the back. Neon signs are a good place to look, and there's tons of them because nobody uses neon signs anymore so you can find them free all over the place. Run two leads from the transformer, one to each piece of foil. Then plug the transformer in, power it on. You'll hear some crackling, don't worry that means it's working. It will off-gas ozone. Don't touch the wires if you know what's good for you.
Really you just need to run air across two plates of metal with a voltage across them. You can do it any number of ways. Heck you could theoretically build one right inside the case, or inside the pot of a banjo. It's a fun project.
Edited by - KCJones on 05/22/2025 11:28:08
Sounds like a simple points ignition condenser.
