Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases

Subject: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 07:28 PM

In the middle of this weekends marathon of gigs... a weeks worth of gigs in 4 days... no rest for the wicked eh...

But I'm getting my stuff ready to head out tonight, and pulled a guitar out of the case and moan oh nuts! I feel like I just smoked half a pack myself, and that's just from the contact buzz off the guitar...

So without Windex or Bleach or a good clean fire, what do you folks suggest for taking the 'stank' out of my axes and cases? (Smart ass, pansy-wanker comments about the evils of smoking will be ignored!)

I'm wondering if maybe kinda an 'odour eater' thing living in the case would help??

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 07:32 PM

Take a huge, hairy, smelly, dump in your cases CH! That way you'll never notice the smokey smell!!!

Good idea huh?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 07:32 PM

A fabric softener sheet in the case
A hollowed out 1/2 of lemon filled with salt and left in the case several days.
For the case only--open in the sunshine.
Activated charcoal
This powder stuff I have that I can't remember the name of but I'll ask at "Church"(pub)tonight.

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 07:38 PM

Activated Charcoal?? Isn't that what's in Odour Eaters anyway? So maybe shoe inserts living int he bottom of the case might not be a half bad idea after all...

I'm not a big fan of fabric softner sheets, and I'd be suspect of one being in direct contact with my guitars...

I'm also not likley to find several days in a row that I can leave my cases alone...

And what's wrong with open in the sunshine for the guitars? If the weather was better I'd put 'em outside for half an hour or so and let the wind blow the stank off'n 'em...

And spaw... you should know by now, my shit don't stink!

LOL!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: 53
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 08:20 PM

I have a Takamine that I used when I played in bars, and when I quit the odor in the case just sort of went away.

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 08:24 PM

Ya, but I don't wanna be a quitter, 53!

LOL!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:27 PM

CLEAN the GEETAR before you put it in the case, if it's been soaking up 2nd hand smoke. Just wipe her down. Won't get the innards but better than letting the finish soak that stuff in.

VACUUM the case innards, wipe off the case outards. Calgon in water will cut through built up smoke oils on vinyl, chipboard. etc. NOT ON THE GEETAR.

And THEN use the other stuff that's being suggested.

And... see about an ionizer air purifier. That's what takes the smoke stink out after a housefire. Open the case and let it run-- minus geetar. Run a fan too to circulate the air.

If it's really a problem I'd keep a second clean case around the house for in-house storage, and just use the stinky one to go gigging.

And quit having sex (alone or with others) in or on the case!

The rest is "patina."

~Susan

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Dani
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:43 PM

Don't laugh! Odor Eaters work great in stinky cars. Learned it from Click n' Clack. Put a couple of those bad boys under your seats and there's no smell AT ALL! Be sure they're the super deluxe charcoal SneakerTamers, though.

Dani

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: E.T.
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 09:51 PM

There is a new odor eradicator - first one was "fabreze" but there are now others. It really does work.

It does a good job of eliminating odor from fabric/ upholstery/and fiber. I haven't tried it on vinyl. It isn't that expensive ($4-6 a spray bottle). But I agree, wipe down the case first is your best bet.

And for years, I've been getting rid of smoke and mildew by leaving smelly stuff in a window for 2-3 months (mostly books). Sunshine is still the best odor eater.

There is another odor eraser that the garbage trucks use - all I know is it's orange scented usually and that you can get it from the people who sell custodial supplies.

Now all I gotta find is something to take away the smell of MOTHBALLS (arrgh). Two years and the trunk still stinks. ET

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 10:47 PM

Well, Clinton, actually I was thinking about the heat from the sunshine on the guitar---heat is not a good thing. But if it's not too hot, then yea, set the guitar in the sunshine too. I still prefer either the activated charcoal or the lemon/salt trick.

I had a fiddle and case that was full of "wet basement musty smell" and I never did get rid of that in the case. The fiddle did fine with the lemon/salt trick and another case, but the case went to the landfill.

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 15 Mar 02 - 11:59 PM

My old hardshell STILL has the faint odour of lobster in it from the banquet I played 15 years ago. The booker told us to have our fill of the crustaceans before we left so I thought, well it it's free.....I'll take a dozen, or maybe fifty. I stuffed them all in the case (NOT with the guitar in it!) and quickly realized when I got home that fifty lobsters can NOT be re-frozen. I ate another three, got sick, and threw the rest out......but the smell is still there.

Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 05:24 AM

Thanks for the odour-eaters-in-the-car tip, Dani. I've never smoked and no one has ever smoked in my car, but after a few pub gigs, or even sessions, you'd think I was a fifty-a-day man!

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: mooman
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 06:13 AM

Following heavy duty gigging or sessioning, I always take my instruments and their cases outdoors and purge the smoky residues by blowing as hard as I can half a dozen times into the soundhole (no rude jokes please!). This certainly reduces the residual smokiness in the cases and instruments although probably doesn't completely get rid of it. But it is at least free and avoids the problem of getting noxious substances in contact with your pride and joy (again, no rude jokes please!). I always keep the cases shut at gigs.

This method will certainly be used several times at this weekend's knot of gigs!

mooman

P.S. Of course it doesn't help with the physical damage to the lungs from the often very smoky atmosphere at pubs and other venues (I have never smoked) and this is one reason I gig a lot less now than the several times a week I used to. But there have been whole threads on that subject before!

mooman

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: RichM
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:04 AM

Put a piece of clear plastic wrap, the clingy kind, over the soundhole, before the gig. Invisible, and cheap.

Rich

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Amos
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 09:47 AM

Rick,

ROTFLMAO at the notion of you coming home with a guitar case crammed with lobsters!! Had they been cooked yet? Or were they still crawling around and dripping saltwater alll over your fingerpicks?

A

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Peg
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 10:23 AM

Febreze has its own kind of unpleasant smell (I have six cats, I know). And dryer sheets leave fibers behind sometimes.

Wipe the guitar down with a DILUTED mixture of apple cider vinegar and water (use a damp, soft cloth to do this). Then, when dry, wipe with a soft cloth slightly dampened with plain water.

For the case: spritz with an atomizer (plastic plant mister is fine) using the same vinegar mixture. This will deodorize it. Then, when it is thoroughly dry, spritz with water containing a few drops of any deodorizing essential oil that has staying power and is pleasant (lavender, eucalyptus, and patchouli all work nicely and are very inexpensive for this purpose).

E.T.--I have not yet found anything that gets rid of the smell of mothballs. Whoever invented these confounded things deserves a special place in hell. To keep moths away from clothing, store muslin bags of lavender with them; or when washing, add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the final rinse water. Smells great and keeps the critters away. Also, moths go after dirty clothes; have them cleaned before storing and you won't have a problem.

Peg (collector of vintage clothing and aromatherapist, on the side)

p.s. that lobsters in the guitar case is a great story, Rick!!!

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 10:32 AM

Springle it with chopped garlic that will get rid of the cigarette smell

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 10:39 AM

Nope, the lobsters were red, cooked, and in a Maritime display corner of a huge hall. Huge fishing nets, an actual dory, Sou'westers, thousands of oysters, clams, and three cute little girls doing Cape Breton step dancing completed the package.

This is what agents get big bucks for. A client says "I'm bringing in 100 Japanese (or German, or American) businessmen, and I want to show 'em a good time, and some Canadian culture. Get me a Big room, some actors in Mountie outfits, a buncha fish, and a band that can play Canadian Folk songs.

Oh, and the seafood display ALWAYS has some giant Tuna that stares at the band for three hours, and despite all the ice, starts smelling worse than Clinton's guitar case, as the night wears on.

Inevitably the conventioneers start wandering up to the band and say (they rarely speak much English) "Play us zum reeeel Canajun muzeek...dat Rocky Top, and King uf ze road"!

Aren't you glad you've got a day job Amos?!!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: Dead Horse
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 04:53 AM

So you wanna play with no atmosphere? Try that new Russian space taxi thingy, only cost yer 70,000. for 3 minutes. That sure beats a seven dollar whore!

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 06:46 PM

Lemon oil works to absorb the smell - don't put it on the beasts, put them in a cupboard with a saucer in which a little lemon oil has been spilt. To mask the smell, spill a little peppermint oil into a saucer and apply similarly, but after the lemon oil treatment (or for the car interior). Lemon oil can be used to polish the guitars, or to stop strings squeaking, but that will absorb the malodorous components onto the guitars ( to remove, use copious amounts of the lemon oil!).

Subject: RE: Help: Smoky Stinky Guitars and Cases
From: 53
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 10:43 PM

Clinton, Where do you play?