I just bought a guitar on ebay. Fantastic jazz archtop. After a few days I came to realize slowly that the smell I smelled when I held the guitar is smoker smell. It's awful but I only smell it when I have my face near it. I can sniff the finish and smell it. It's a nitro finish (Eastman).
I have spent the last couple hours reading thread after thread, in which people "suggested" a million things. Nobody has said they had the problem, they did X, and it solved the problem.
Lots of people say stuff like "I put a lizard coated in baking soda and rice in my case with the guitar, and several weeks later, the smell was gone" or "I put mentholated banana skins in my case and several months later, the smell was completely gone," or "I put my guitar on the stand out in the open air on my back porch in the afternoon sun after spraying it with febreeze and rubbing it with lemon oil and carnuba polish, and then, after a few months, the smell was gone." You get my drift.
Also lots of people say you could try Ozium, Odone, baking soda, an ozone generator, rice, charcoal, activated charcoal, febreeze, tea, coffee, dessicant. Nobody who suggests these say they used it and it WORKED. Some people say disassemble the guitar, clean the guitar, one person said take it apart, put it in the oven, then freeze the neck, then put it back together, use this or that wax, cleaner, lemon oil, abrasive cleaner to remove the top layer of finish, dawn, pine sol, lysol. Nobody said they tried one of these and it made the smell gone, nada, no more, fixed, no stinkum.
One guy made a neat list of all the ways suggested on the internet since neanderthal man and gave a summary evalution of each. The evaluations were of the ilk: might work, may not work, could try it, highly recommended, might damage your guitar, sounds promising, etc etc etc.
Lots of people say, I smoke so I can't smell it, who cares about smoke, smoke makes it cool, my guitar is like that too, it will never go away, it will go away, it might go away.
So, please spare me/us. Don't post any of this stuff, it is no help.
Aside from airing it out over time (how long?), have YOU HAD this problem, and done something that WORKED in short order, like in a week or less, your very own self?
Thanks for any ideas that you know will actually work because YOU TRIED IT YOUR VERY OWN SELF AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED FOR YOU.
I have spent the last couple hours reading thread after thread, in which people "suggested" a million things. Nobody has said they had the problem, they did X, and it solved the problem.
Lots of people say stuff like "I put a lizard coated in baking soda and rice in my case with the guitar, and several weeks later, the smell was gone" or "I put mentholated banana skins in my case and several months later, the smell was completely gone," or "I put my guitar on the stand out in the open air on my back porch in the afternoon sun after spraying it with febreeze and rubbing it with lemon oil and carnuba polish, and then, after a few months, the smell was gone." You get my drift.
Also lots of people say you could try Ozium, Odone, baking soda, an ozone generator, rice, charcoal, activated charcoal, febreeze, tea, coffee, dessicant. Nobody who suggests these say they used it and it WORKED. Some people say disassemble the guitar, clean the guitar, one person said take it apart, put it in the oven, then freeze the neck, then put it back together, use this or that wax, cleaner, lemon oil, abrasive cleaner to remove the top layer of finish, dawn, pine sol, lysol. Nobody said they tried one of these and it made the smell gone, nada, no more, fixed, no stinkum.
One guy made a neat list of all the ways suggested on the internet since neanderthal man and gave a summary evalution of each. The evaluations were of the ilk: might work, may not work, could try it, highly recommended, might damage your guitar, sounds promising, etc etc etc.
Lots of people say, I smoke so I can't smell it, who cares about smoke, smoke makes it cool, my guitar is like that too, it will never go away, it will go away, it might go away.
So, please spare me/us. Don't post any of this stuff, it is no help.
Aside from airing it out over time (how long?), have YOU HAD this problem, and done something that WORKED in short order, like in a week or less, your very own self?
Thanks for any ideas that you know will actually work because YOU TRIED IT YOUR VERY OWN SELF AND IT ACTUALLY WORKED FOR YOU.
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