If you go 2nd hand check for nonsmoking nonfragrant environment. The "odeur" may cease but after a couple of years or two up to never depending on the graveness.

 

Hey Larry, you don’t seem so “Fowl” now. I appreciate you discussing your Autism. I have it too, and have tactile disturbances such as seams in socks, tags in clothing, etc. I have other problems as well, but I don’t want to derail your thread, so we won’t discuss them.

It seems that anything affordable is made in China with noxious chemicals. It’s not the instruments themselves so much as the cases. I got a Gibson and the case took four months to stop off gassin. It smelled and left a film on the guitar.

You might try Alhambra. They are made in Spain. And they are sold by Strings by Mail, and Guitar Center I think. Lacquer finished I believe. There is also Ramirez, but they are generally more expensive. Iv’e never had a problem with Ramirez being stinky. Though their new cases might be. Point is, try to find a used guitar that has settled for a few years is probably your best bet.

 

Hey Larry, you don’t seem so “Fowl” now. I appreciate you discussing your Autism. I have it too, and have tactile disturbances such as seams in socks, tags in clothing, etc. I have other problems as well, but I don’t want to derail your thread, so we won’t discuss them.

It seems that anything affordable is made in China with noxious chemicals. It’s not the instruments themselves so much as the cases. I got a Gibson and the case took four months to stop off gassin. It smelled and left a film on the guitar.

You might try Alhambra. They are made in Spain. And they are sold by Strings by Mail, and Guitar Center I think. Lacquer finished I believe. There is also Ramirez, but they are generally more expensive. Iv’e never had a problem with Ramirez being stinky. Though their new cases might be. Point is, try to find a used guitar that has settled for a few years is probably your best bet.

I actually bought an Alhambra before Cordoba. I liked it tho the action was high, but it was cedar and of course, it bothered me, maybe if I had gone with Spruce. I returned it tho

 

Not formally diagnosed but always been told I had AS by most everyone, I TOTALLY get this question. I am actually selling a guitar for this reason, well, one of two reasons (the other being I have no space left). I bought an RG520QS-OL, which although has a factory oil finish (not a refinish or strip job like some of the natural 520's out there), but it has a very slight oil finish smell to it, even though it's 23 years old now. I think I really only smell it when I take it out of the case, but it bothers me, not enough that I don't play it, but enough that it bugs me, especially being that ALL my other guitars are gloss and do not have a smell to them, other than the new case smell, which is actually a lot more bothersome, since it smells like aromatic hydrocarbons (styrene/benzene/toluene), but you can't really get away from that

Anyway, I have found that roasted maple necks tend to smell less FWIW. Also, while very common these days, polyester finishes seem to have the least smell out of any finish out there. They are UV cured, instead of using pounds and pounds of high VOC solvents to cure them (like with most Urethane finishes). Also, buying guitars from countries that have more strict enviromental regs helps. I often find that Chinese and Indonesian guitars have more potent smells, Japanese and USA made guitars probably have the least. This is all pretty obvious stuff. Most of the time I find that guitar cases smell far worse than the guitars themselves. Buying used definitely helps in any case as outgassing is the worst the closer you are to the manufacturing date. I actually buy older cars for this same reason, I don't like the new car smell, I swear I can feel my liver getting damaged by having to deal with those plasticizers. Some people probably think I'm nuts, and that's totally fine, I'm the one that has to live with these things, not them

On a similar note, I am actually having a custom guitar built in Russia right now and am SUPER worried about what sort of chemicals/solvents they might use in finishing the guitar, or how bad the case might reek when I get it. You aren't the only one thinking about this sort of thing. Hopefully you find something that works for you

Reread your post, saw you had issues with glue on the Spark amp, particle board and vinyl tolex material are fairly pungent. Urea formeldehyde glues are super common in the composition of particle board and in the adhesives used to affix the vinyl, not to mention vinyl itself outgassing vinyl choride gas. There are amps that are less pungent, typically lunch box amps made of steel and plastic (like the Katana Air) and Blackstar Fly don't smell at all, though speaker cabinets are very likely to have that formaldehyde smell when new, best to get a used speaker cab in that case...for whatever reason that urea formaldehyde REALLY bothers me, more than any "new guitar smell", I totally get that. Thankfully, my Katana amps, even the new ones with wood cabinets haven't had a detectable smell once they've been outside the box a few days.

 

Yes, I knew it was Formaldehyde glues, adhesives, all of that, which is probably why I always reacted to Ikea furniture as well.

I bought the Ibanez case as my genesis didn't come with one. It had that glue smell, not as bad as I thought it would be tho, I left it open in the living room for like 2 weeks and maybe 50-70% of it went away. If you leave the case open, ideally where heat is hitting it, but I read it may take 2 years for most furniture to off gas, this would include a case

I did buy the THR amp after the Spark, it didn't have a smell, but I returned it cause I didn't like the tone, is bright and kind of thin. I've also found that UV cured rarely has a smell to it. I've been researching desks to replace the old one I have. I got some samples from this company Uplift that UV cures the tops. I didn't detect any smell to it. I may buy this desk despite being more expensive than other options, as those "cheaper" options don't offer any samples and are probably not UV cured.

Have you had any issues with studio monitors? As they are mini cabinets with speakers, made of plastic, etc so then I have to research and find out where they're made

I wanted to buy a Katana 100, but I figured is better to get studio monitors to use with plugins and eventually buy a Fractal FM3

I may buy the Katana air thou if I can find it on sale or maybe used, just to have some little amp

 

Autism in not easy to deal with and I sympathize with your condition. My youngest has it and it is never easy raising a child with it either.

That being said, I will make sure I am more sensitive to your posts. Wishing you the best in your search for something that doesn't affect that sense as much. It's not going to be an easy find for you.

 

Autism in not easy to deal with and I sympathize with your condition. My youngest has it and it is never easy raising a child with it either.

That being said, I will make sure I am more sensitive to your posts. Wishing you the best in your search for something that doesn't affect that sense as much. It's not going to be an easy find for you.

I got diagnosed unofficially at my Psychiatrists office. They looked at some of the diagnosis’ I had as a kid in the 70’s, and said yeah these are all the spectrum now. Well, that and my symptoms. As there is no real treatment for it, we just let that dog ly. I am on meds for Schizoaffective disorder, along with a host of physical ailments.

I had two sons. One with Asperger’s and one with a few things on the spectrum that has managed to have a successful career. Is your son high functioning? One of my son’s is, and so am I. I just reached the point where I got sick of masking, and the SAD didn’t help. I am now out of the game.

 

avoid stuff from china then. I know there are a bunch of flooring that have been made using illegal chemicals and sold off at lumber liquidators. they are like dipped in formaldehyde. a lot of these house flippers use laminate wood flooring thats pretty much future off gassing on who ever buys the place. I think there are some lawsuits over it. Wouldn't surprise me if guitars have been finished in similar manner with these products. even it they are made in different countries they still might be getting the sealers and chemicals from problematic chemical companies. I buy vintage so I never had any interaction with this sort stuff but I know it happens. not everyone uses the polyester or lacquer finishes. Nitro is also all good. lot of folks cutting corners these days. this is also why I don't buy off of ali-express or alibaba or any of the cheap **** china online stores. no telling what you're buying.

 

For furniture, if you can’t afford solid wood and only laminate, you want to go with one that says “greenguard certified” it has low levels of formaldehyde and other chemicals, there is another one that is better “greenguard gold” which has the lowest level. Ikea is neither lol otherwise they would advertise it like crazy

going with solid wood, the problem is not the wood but what they use to finish it. Ideally, you want to go for a natural look with no stain on it. These stains usually off gas and can take weeks to cure.

The varnish applied on solid wood, ideally UV cured.