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My guitar STINKS!

7K views 34 replies 27 participants last post by  Eco 
#1 ·
I bought a RGA 121 off evilBay. Plays great, love the looks.

BUT IT STINKS!

It was supposed to be new and the tags were on it but why does the fretboard smell like it was urinated on or played for hours by some sweaty fat man with a 3 pack a day habit?

What can I use to DISINFECT it? Anything? I'm going to clean off the fretboard with lemon oil but geez, I'm not sure it's enough. What the *bleep* happened here?

Anyone else ever encountered a smelly guitar?
 
#6 · (Edited)
I bought a RGA 121 off evilBay. Plays great, love the looks.

BUT IT STINKS!

It was supposed to be new and the tags were on it but why does the fretboard smell like it was urinated on or played for hours by some sweaty fat man with a 3 pack a day habit?

What can I use to DISINFECT it? Anything? I'm going to clean off the fretboard with lemon oil but geez, I'm not sure it's enough. What the *bleep* happened here?

Anyone else ever encountered a smelly guitar?
If I were you, stay off your guitar for a while until you rectify the problem. Imagine this, you just played your guitar and you accidently pick your nose with your left hand finger.....:mrgreen:
 
#12 ·
oh god i bought a guitar from a pawn shop and the guitar didn't smell that bad but OH DAMN the case SMELLED LIKE STALE ASS . i fabreze bombed that bastard and then took dryer sheet and stuck them in there . It still sorta smelled when i sold it but i made sure the buyer knew the case still smelled funky .

as far as the guitar , others had some good suggestions .

send your guitar to this dude

 
#14 ·
I'm willing to bet that it was oiled with the stew mac fretboard oil, that stuff smells horrid like, a old metallic type smell an almost fishy type smell.

i used it on a guitar and almost hurled 8O

To get it off I used the gibson fretboard conditioner and scrubbed it hard with soft towell, and used excessive amounts of it and it went away.
 
#15 ·
I've got these lavender "teabags"-type things in my guitar case. They're actual twigs and leaves from a lavander bush and absorbs all nasty smells from the case- all neatly contained in a tea bag.

They aer meant as moth repellent for clothes in your cupboard. My Ibanez stank when it came brand new from the warehouse.
They work a treat.
 
#19 ·
I agree with the other fellas. Clean up the case first and foremost (both inside and outside). When I bought my JS1000 from this guy, the case kinda smelled funny. I vacuumed the case, and let it air for a bit, then I cleaned up the outside by pouring some rubbing alcohol on cotton puffs to get rid of anything. Once it dryed, I sprayed some endust and wiped it dry with a rag.

As far as the guitar goes, start by putting a new set of strings and while the strings are completely off, clean the guitar everywhere. Use any of the fret cleaners the rest of the guys suggested above and then clean the body with a nice guitar finish cleaner like the one martin makes. If you can't buy a guitar cleaner, then just use endust or pledge on the finish and it should do just a good of a job and it'll leave it with a nice smell.

Jimmy:smile:
 
#20 ·
I think its Ibanez. They smell bad. I have a clean as a whistle 1520 and it smells bad. I had one 540 which was awful. Don't want to open up one of these Gibson threads, but whenever i open a Gibson case they have a new guitar smell, even my 12 year old explorer smells great, almost like new. Most of my other guitars seem to have no smell at all. I's something about the case.
 
#21 ·
Thanks for the input and all the laughs! You guys are great.

I'll get the case cleaned out and then start on the guitar.

I hope I can get rid of the smell because I've had to put the guitar down it was bothering me so much as I played. But I also wonder if it isn't just the natural smell of the guitar. The case doesn't really stink. The smell is a bit undefinable. It isn't exactly cigarette smoke. It isn't exactly sweat. It isn't fish. It better not be pee.

But the guitar is supposed to be new. There's nothing to indicate it is not.

I'll see how the cleaning goes...
 
#27 ·
Most of my Ibanez cases have a smell to them, even the brand new ones. It's an odd smell, but I wouldn't say it's unpleasant. I've come to associate the smell with Ibanez guitars, kind of like you get to where you like "new car smell," even though that smell is typically adhesives or chemicals used in the manufacturing process (leather smell excluded, obviously).
 
#30 ·
hi guys,
i have just bought a jackson fusion with a hard case, and going on how rare this beast is and how good it plays i was pretty impressed. but then i realised just how bad this thing STINKS. i think that the previous owner used to keep roll your own tobacco in the case or a dog pissed in it or something. it is so bad that when i get it out to play i hold my breath and quickly get the guitar, arm and strap out before taking a breath. my band mates are disgusted by it even though it sounds unreal. it reminds me of seinfelds car with the stench in it. so if anyone can come up with a good solution that really works i would love to hear it. i'm either going to get rid of it, which would be a shame , or call in an exorcist.
 
#33 ·
I have a BC rich that smelled really bad(it was second hand so it smelled of the previous owner) What I did was get a T shirt that I had worn for a while, put it in the case with the guitar, and left it there for a while.

So after a while, it smelled of me, and since you are used to your own smell, it didnt seem to smell of anything.
 
#34 ·
i have a strat that had no finish on it and when smoking used to be allowed in bars, it smelt REALLY bad at home - the wood WILL pick up the smoke smell. Hopefully it was only the case - spring is here and if you can leave smelly stuff outside to air out, you're good to go.

:)
 
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