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Location: Pittsburgh | A few weeks ago I posted NGD when I received my Balladeer Special S771. At the time I didn't mention that the guitar has an hard-to-identify odor. It seems like it may once have been owned by a smoker and a subsequent owner has tried to cover that odor with something vaguely citrus-scented. I thought the odor might be gone by now if I aired it out of its case, but it still lingers.
Any ideas on removing or diminishing it?
Thanks,
Vin |
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Posts: 6201
Location: Phoenix AZ | OZIUM |
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Location: Taxed To Death State | Buy a carton of activated carbon from a pet store, in the tropical fish section. Pour it into a sock or stocking and throw in in the case. Works great. |
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Posts: 359
Location: undisclosed | For a really bad case throw it in the shower and use Murphey's oil soap. It works great for heavy smoker stains and odors. Some of the cardboard features of the case might be a little "different" after drying if care isn't taken but it will be usable. This will also cleanup the worst amp cabinet AFTER the electronics are removed. |
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Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | My GCS771-4C smells funny. But I think that is a combination of Cedar and Plastic.
Also, I have cases that I made the mistake of spraying Febreeze on...
Do not do that! It will make them smell like Febreeze... FOREVER!
Contrary to the TV ads, it isn't a great smell. (but it won't smell like cigarettes anymore)
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Location: Central Massachusetts | Standingovation - 2016-06-22 12:00 PM
OZIUM
+1 |
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Location: When?? | Serious? There are actually people who don't have a cig (or whatever) burning somewhere during any given play session? Seems almost like blasphemy. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | The times they are a-changin'.
Old Farts have quit smoking so that they can breathe.
Young'uns ain't starting. Many are much smarter than we were.
You cannot smoke in Bars or Auditoriums.
You have to go outside to smoke, and you can't smoke in MY house.
May as well quit.
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edit: [my ALT Code "music notes" turned into question marks when posted  ]
Edited by Old Man Arthur 2016-06-22 9:02 PM
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Location: Pittsburgh | Thanks very much for the answers folks! |
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Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | Me trying to develop smoking habit but I always forgits to smoke!! Any suggestions?? |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | nerdydave - 2016-06-22 9:42 PM
Me trying to develop smoking habit but I always forgits to smoke!! Any suggestions??
You had to start with candy cigarettes, which are gone now.
Then you had to smoke in school with the cool kids, which doesn't happen anymore.
Then you had to smoke whiled drinking in bars, which you cannot do anymore.
Then you would go to Denny's at 2AM for 35¢ bottom-less cups of coffee and smoke until dawn...
Another thing that you cannot do anymore.
If you aren't smoking already, it is too late to start.
If you do start, even you smoking friends will tell you that you are a dumass.
Hope that Helps. 
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Location: When?? | Dave.. shampoo is better for you than smoking, so if you're looking to pick up a habit maybe consider getting hung up and strung out on rinse and repeat (but I don't recommend smoking in the shower).
On the puffing side, I'm most likely the most considerate and conservative smoker you'd ever know; and like the old saying says, 'there are none so over zealous as the born-again religious or the ex-smoker'. With that balance in mind, if my guitars smell different than theirs.. so be it.. they're my guitars. Personally, I enjoy the combo.. as do many others. If someone who smokes heavy around their equipment expects to sell it, then they should expect to get less from someone who is into the smell of equipment. Pretty simple math there. No complaints from me. |
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Location: When?? | Arthur.. come on you can dig deeper than Denny's at thirty-five cents. Let's talk Sambo's for a dime! |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Love O Fair - 2016-06-22 11:54 PM
Let's talk Sambo's for a dime!
In 1972 Miami FLA, Sambo's on Biscayne Blvd & NE36th coffee was 5¢.
Then when you paid your check they gave you a Wooden Nickel for Free Coffee next visit.
I miss that place...
First they accused Sambo's of being Politically Incorrect (Like the Redskins),
Then Sambo's went outta business. (I think that Denny's bought them out, or IHop)
But I remember that Sambo's had a 95¢ Waffle that covered a 12 inch Plate.
So, $1 for a killer 2AM breakfast: Waffle, Bottomless Coffee, and a 35¢ pack o' Marlboro. 
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Location: When?? | Our Sambo's was on Lombard & Pierce in San Francisco.. circa mid 70's when I was a teen. Always a gathering place after shows at Winterland. I remember the jumbo waffles and wooden nickles too... but I don't recall the coffee for less than a dime (though a wood nickle was worth a dime coffee). If we were stretched thin we would use the boysenberry table syrup to make the free water into punch to have with our food. Did you ever notice the stained glass panels above the counters in their restaurants that told the visual story of Little Black Sambo? (jeeze.. I hope I don't have to go to prison now for saying that.) |
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Location: closely held secret | There's still a Sambo's in Lincoln City on the Oregon coast. More of a tourist destination (gift shop in the middle of the restaurant). Pig 'n' Pancake has better food at better prices.
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Location: Caribou, ME | I smoked a pack a day of non filters since 1972. I quit in 1996 for over a year. I was still around others who smoked though. I quit again in 2007, this time for 26 months. Again, I was still around it, what with my wife smoking both Marlboros and weed constantly. She died of lung cancer in 2011 so that changed things. My new wife quit smoking in January of 2013 and I quit cold turkey in July of 2014. There has never been any smoking in the new house. We bought it from Jehovah's Witnesses so I doubt it was ever smoked in. Nobody here at work smokes, so I'm very much removed from the whole smoking dynamic. Now if I get within a couple hundred feet of a lit cigarette I want to gag. I've opened old cases from my collection and they reek. I've had pretty good success just giving the interior a brisk rubbing with a rough washcloth that has a little household cleaner on it. Not perfect but it does work. Most of my acoustics have aired out fairly well but my old Telecaster still smells awful. I've gone so far as to go over it with a wet soapy washcloth and passing it under the shower head briefly to rinse it off. I've left it outside in the direct sun all day. It still smells. It is a 1977 and it has a strange blonde finish. During that time, Fender did some odd things, layering nitro lacquer with polyester(?). The face of the headstock is so dark you can barely read the serial number but the rest of the neck hasn't changed a lot in almost 40 years. They sometimes used lacquer on the face of the headstock so the decal would stick better...but the top coats are leathery and sticky. My Tele started off as white but now looks at least as dark as a 50s butterscotch and there is wear through the edges where my arm rests and you can see layers of alternating white and clear. It's the weirdest finish I've ever seen. I've owned it since Day One, took it out of the Fullerton box myself. It cannot be polished and in fact even reacts to water; it will turn milky-like for a couple days...it's like the finish is hygroscopic and it soft and sticky most of the time. I know this strays from the topic but it is a quandary, since it still stinks of cigarettes two years after I quit and nothing takes it out. It never goes in the case, it's always leaning up in the corner somewhere. |
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Location: Jet City | So what you're saying is Fender has a stink on it that won't wash off? I agree. We had a Sambos in Alameda. It was my favorite breakfast place growing up. 
Edited by Damon67 2016-06-23 11:04 AM
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Location: undisclosed | Take the electronics out of the tele and try the Murphey's oil soap. The amp and car restore guys swear by it and it did wonders on my Pacemaker case. No odors left at all. The guitar itself is great now on the outside too but still has a faint smell on the inside but it was just wiped off internally then every now and then a shot of Ozium. I actually think a computer cooling fan hooked up over the sound hole for a while would do the most good there. I got this guitar very affordably from the son of a heavy smoker, it was so coated in tar the finish looked flat and the chrome was bronze. |
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Location: Caribou, ME | Damon67 - 2016-06-23 10:53 AM
So what you're saying is Fender has a stink on it that won't wash off? I agree.
Nice.
Thanks for that. |
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Location: Pittsburgh | The best part of asking a question at the OFC is enjoying the veers. Crack me up! |
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Location: When?? | @ksdaddy - "Now if I get within a couple hundred feet of a lit cigarette I want to gag."
Strangely enough, I am a smoker and I get the same gag when I'm in a non-smoking-type environment and I smell someone light up. The only smoking in my house is in my office, which has a very effective exhaust fan, so the room itself has zip for smoke smell. What truly grosses me out are people who eat/drink while they play and leave their gear looking like a used napkin at KFC. As well, people who smoke heavy inside and let their gear dwell in it without ventilation get what they deserve with stink and residue build up. It's not difficult at all to take the measures needed to avoid the intrusion upon ambient environments, objects and/or people no matter what your vice is.. so be sure to tune in next week when we discuss and dis upon blithering drunks, barking dog owners, public-space farters, cell phone texters sitting at green lights, public restroom non-flushers, and the full gamut of other daily nuisanceers.. especially those of whom which complain solely about the scent of smoke. There are hundreds of examples and one is no better/worse than another. We're ALL guilty at some point or another. Such is life on the planet. |
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Location: When?? | @ovie26 - "The best part of asking a question at the OFC is enjoying the veers. Crack me up!"
A great combo of Ovationlore and people being people :-)
I feel sorry for anyone compelled to dwell in the Fender club (if there even is one). How utterly ordinary they must feel. |
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Removing an odor from your guitar (and case)
