Kill Mold, Keep Your Musical Instrument
by John Danenbarger, MusicSorbOnLine.com
In October 2015, “Mike” posted a question to the forum at Mandolin Cafe, a website for mandolin players:
Last spring I purchased [a] mid-80’s Kentucky (Dawg) mandolin from a guy in Hawaii. Both the instrument and case are fine except for the mold smell emitting from the case and the mandolin.
How do I safely get rid of the mold without damaging the case and/or the mandolin?
It’s a problem that can affect anyone with a wooden musical instrument or a case to hold one. And it’s serious. Mold infestation doesn’t just damage guitars and pianos (especially the felt on the hammers), violins and cellos. It can also cause illness. According to the Center for Disease Control, mold can cause nasal stuffiness, throat irritation, coughing or wheezing, eye irritation, and in some cases, skin irritation. People with illnesses of the immune system can even develop chronic lung illnesses and serious infections.
But mold infestation can be prevented. Mold needs four things to thrive:
1. Mold spores. These are tiny, at their biggest less than half the width of the thinnest human hair. And they’re everywhere. You’re not going to be able to clear all the mold spores out of your home.
2. Food. Mold feeds on organic matter. For mold, that means a guitar is a fine restaurant, a violin case is a quiet little bistro and a piano is an all-you-can-eat buffet that they never have to leave.
3. Temperature. When it comes to living conditions, mold likes the same sort of weather that humans like. Mold can grow happily at room temperature but they’re also a lot more flexible than humans. You can also find mold inside freezers and in ovens. When it comes to heat and cold, they’ll take almost anything you can throw at them.
4. Humidity. Moisture is mold’s weak spot. While different species of mold like different amounts of humidity (and the fungi to which mold belongs has more than 100,000 species) most are happiest at a relative humidity level of around 70 percent. Where you have damp, you have mold.
But that also means that where you have mold, you have damp — and you can do something about both by tackling one.
If your violin case has developed a musty smell, if your guitar strap has picked up a white fuzz, if the hammers on your piano are showing black dots on the felt, the humidity level around your instrument is far too high. Even if you remove the mold with a bit of vinegar and elbow grease, the high humidity will continue to damage your instrument.
Mold might be smelly and unpleasant but you can see it. Take it as a warning sign that your instrument is not being stored properly and is at risk of the real damage that high humidity can cause. Maintain the humidity level at 50 percent with a proper humidity pack, and you’ll both kill the mold and protect your instrument.
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