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I received a call to prep and service a used (trade in) console piano. Case work is nice, wrest plank tight! Problem, came out of a home where people smoked and soon as you open up the top, the aroma of stale cigarette smoke almost knocks you out!!! I know that felts will absorb oders and especially that of smoke! How would you attempt to rid the piano of the odor so that if someone buys the instrument and puts it in their home that they would not notice the odor??? Thanks

Sell it to a smoker.

LOL!!
I'm not sure there's a better answer.

If I were a buyer and I sensed anything like that, I don't think I'd be able to get past it.

If you clean it really well...pull keys, clean keytops, and pull the action and take it out of the piano, blow out all the dust and lightly sand the hammers, you'll see the smell start to lessen...we've done several fire/smoke damage pianos here for insurance, and in every single case we were able to remove all the oder...cig smoke is a little different perhaps, but that's what we do...

Without a thorough cleaning, you'll never get ahead of it though.

RPD

After a basic cleaning, I paint a thin coat of shellac on all of the inside surfaces including the key bed and even the keys themselves. There are several unscented odor removers out there for the action. I like Zorbx.
http://www.zorbx.com/
A light spray on the sides of the hammers and the rest of the action won't hurt a thing, and it seems to help. You won't get rid of 100% of the smell no matter what you do.
Steve

After cleaning and lightly sanding the hammers as above, I would remove the kneeboard et alia and direct an ionizer at the problem area for a day or so.

Only some of the better negative ion generaters also produce ozone, and these are the types you should use. Negative ions only deal with airborne particles. Better yet, a huge dose from a ozone generator (using a tent or a wrap on the piano) will take care of the odour permanently.