Problem With A Stinky Guitar

[Giant]

help! ha ha

over the holiday, i got back a Seagull 12 string that i used to own about ten years ago. long story, but its nice to have it back.
here is the rub...the guy that had it all this time is a smoker. so, there is a smoky smell that oozes from the soundhole. its a horrible smell and i would love to make it smell "normal" it if possible. any suggestions? i dont want to spray anything inside it like febreeze, because of the glue joints, but i may have to do that in the end...sucks to smell old stale smoke everytime i wanna play the thing.

long story short, what can i do to remove the smoke smell from the inside of the guitar? im thinkin of baking soda somehow, but i would like to know if there are any "old tricks" that i am missing. thanks in advance.

[furrfurrfurr]

dryer sheets?

incense?

[Giant]

Originally Posted by furrfurrfurr

dryer sheets?

incense?

dryer sheets sounds ok. do ya think they will get rid of the smell or just mask it? thanks again.

[e-merlin]

A match and some lighter fluid?

Honestly, I would never buy anything from a smoker, even if it was my first guitar.

[furrfurrfurr]

Originally Posted by Giant

dryer sheets sounds ok. do ya think they will get rid of the smell or just mask it? thanks again.

not sure.

good luck, whatever you decide

[Giant]

Originally Posted by e-merlin

A match and some lighter fluid?

Honestly, I would never buy anything from a smoker, even if it was my first guitar.

ok then...

[morroben]

I'd come up with some kind of thin fabric bag to fill with baking soda and just drop it in there for a while.
Also, if there's a case, get that as clean as possible.

[Giant]

good idea. guess its dryer sheets and baking soda. ha ha. thanks for the input guys.

[Justinvs]

If the baking soda doesn't work you might try charcoal in the same kind of set up. The little pellets used for aquarium filters would probably be best. And, I know this is going to sound weird, but if you have access to a fog machine you could fumigate it, just be careful not to get too close to the finish when you run it. We had a nest of skunks get under our house, and about the only thing that worked to get rid of th esmell was fill the house with artificial fog then open all the windows to let it air out.

Justin

[JamonHamon]

On the outside put a lot lemon oil on it fretboard and all and then wipe it clean

repeat as many times as you can and of course put new strings on after the fretboard quites stinking

for the inside try just airing it out with a fan outside for a couple days but I think if you have a friend with small hands and arms and wash out the inside with mild soap and water with a small amount of febreeze mixed in is your best bet

one time I had a old Gibson Dove that laid in the bottom of my pool for a couple of hours and it dried out and sounded fantastic it did nothing to the glue joints

just clean her up and don't worry about it!!!

[sneakyjapan]

what is it with people who think they can keep stuff thats loaned to them? I don`t lend anything that I want back anymore...been burned once too often.
I put one of those air freshners into a soft case that had that odor once...worked OK, but the best thing I did for a musty smell was open the case in the sunshine everyday for several days...brought it back in at night though...that worked well. Theres a local shop where every salesman is a smoker...I don`t even go in there anymore.

[HOBBSTER01]

seal the guitar in a plastic bag filled with dryer sheets and crumpled newspaper.
get ready for the guitar to smell like dryer sheets.
Clean the case and fill it also with dryer sheets.
The lemon oil will also work but sometimes you will still get a faint whiff of smoke smell.
If it were mine I'd trash the case if dryer sheets do not do the trick and it still stinks.
Then lemon oil the guitar and forget it.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by morroben

I'd come up with some kind of thin fabric bag to fill with baking soda and just drop it in there for a while.
Also, if there's a case, get that as clean as possible.

If the baking soda doesn't work try using ground coffee instead. Use the grounds right from the can or bag - not used coffee grounds form the coffee maker.

My wife came up with this idea to remove some odors from our RV and it worked well.

Might even want to put a bag of coffee and baking soda in there.

[superchicken_VI]

Why not go for the gusto, and try all of the methods? I'd start out with the baking soda tied up in coffee filters (I'd do 3 or 4 of them), followed up by coffee in filters (3 or 4 of them), some activated charcoal, followed up by chunks of aromatic cedar. I'd also seal it up inside of a garbage bag while doing this, so you're really trapping the odors, and probably leave it for a few days with each absorbant.

For the case, I'd do all of the above followed by hitting it with carpet shampoo, then vacuuming it out. I'd try the shampoo several times. If it doesn't work, sell the case on Craigslist and get another.

[jkingma]

I've used dryer sheets in an empty case that was a bit musty and it worked fine. Should work with a geetar in it as well... just might take longer.

[mudbean]

How about mildew?

I bought a late 80's MIJ P-Bass recently, came with a beautiful tweed gig bag that smells a bit mildewed. (Bass was O.K. - whew!)

Maybe the 'out in the sun' trick?

mud

[getbent]

call a local carpet cleaner that does smoke damage repair... he'll have an ozone machine... ask him if he can help you out... the next time he does some smoke damage removal... he'll use the machine and it takes the smoke right out of your rig...

[rkwrenn]

You can also try stuffing it with newspaper. Leave it in for a week or so.

Cheers and HTH,

Bob

[gionnio]

It might be the guitar case. I once traded for an LP that smelled bad because the chainsaw case was mildewed. I got a new case for it and it's fine now.

The chainsaw cases were supposed to be great guitar protectors, but IMO they were butt ugly. Some guy in the Bay Area has been trying to peddle one on CL for about 6 months. He's asking $400.00. Can you believe it? I donated mine to a local used guitar shop...

[studio1087]

I've heard the newspaper and coffee tricks from luthiers. They do work

Cold air works great on case interiors but you're in Florida. It's about 5 above zero here. If you left the case open in my garage overnight, the case smell would be gone.

Try the newspaper trick!

John

[charlie chitlin]

OK...this may sound weird, but...grass clippings.
Clorophyll has long been known for it's anti-funk properties (do they still make Chlorettes gum?).
As a long-time motorcycle rider/racer I've long filled my helmet with grass clippings...helmet funk is a terrible thing!
After awhile I had all my rider/racer buddies filling their helmets with grass.
And when I could no longer wash the funky smell out of my kids' cloth diapers (hate disposables!), the only thing that would work was lying them on the grass...it wasn't just the sun, because I always line-dryed them.
The smell of dryer sheets would bum me out as much as smoke, I think.
They smell like toilet bowl cleaner.

[Sollophonic]

This is an old Simon and Patrick acoustic that I got hold of very cheaply becasue it has had a hard life


When I first got it it smelled of all the places it had been played in as well as having all the knocks from all the pub tables, mike stands, etc it had been knocked against. In fact not only did it smell of cigarette smoke, but it smelled like the odd pint had been spilt over it as well. Now I am a non-smoker, and at first the smell was a bit strong in our house. All I did was not only play it a lot, but when I wasn't, leave it somewhere that it didnt bug anyone else. Now it just smells like a well gigged, well played guitar. The smell goes over time, but to me, in my opinion, its the smell of the guitars life. Now this guitar smells just right to me, it has a whiff of its former life, but it is now getting the smell of its new one as well.

I tell you. Guitars lose funky smells much quicker than used cars do!

[casterway]

Originally Posted by getbent

call a local carpet cleaner that does smoke damage repair... he'll have an ozone machine... ask him if he can help you out... the next time he does some smoke damage removal... he'll use the machine and it takes the smoke right out of your rig...

Yeah. I was thinking of ozone generators too. I know that...umm...indoor farmers...use them to mask a...certain...smell...effectively.

[emiller45]

I brought an old Tele out of retirement recently that hadn't been played or uncased since laws were passed against smoking in bars. I let the guitar and case air out for a few days and it was fine. If it were a big deal to me, I would go with baking soda in some sort of porus bag.

It just smelled like a working axe to me. Come to think of, I probably smelled the same way after a hard night gigging in a crowded bar where smoking was allowed.