Do you smell your guitars

kitniyatran

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AS to the actual topic, aside from dogs, tobacco smoke & the like, I think instrument smell is mostly a factor of age. Of course, all woods have their own smell, so there is that, but sticking your nose in a pre World War 2 soundhole, at least to me, always yields a distinct "old" smell, that I relate to both sets of grandparents old rural farmhouses. Aside from those with the smokey bar smell.
 

stonge

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I love the smell of lacquer from a new guitar fresh out of New Hartford (Guild, Ovation, or Hamer there is something about that smell that warns me I'm about to really enjoy a new guitar lol). Also that slightly musty smell of a 50's Gibson archtop acoustic...
 

adorshki

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It has been said that of all our senses, our sense of smell is the one that is most closely associated with memory.
Reviving a necro-thread here in anticipation of further input soon, but that comment spurred some speculation on my part about why that would be.
The evolutionist in me posits that smell is the primary component of taste and that in turn means a refined ability to identify and locate "good food".
So having a memory of whether or not a smell was good or bad food likely had competitive advantage in the old survival of the species game.
For me, sounds and songs transport me. Smell doesn't quite as much, but sometimes I smell a particular fragrance and I remember an ex that I'd like to have forgotten...
Or in JCWU's case, whether or not a smell meant good or bad mate.......
 
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Razz

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My archtop guitar does not produce an odor that is detectable to me. I have an D40C that emits the odor of cedar as soon as you open the case. Everyone who has handled that guitar has sniffed the sound hole.
 

Westerly Wood

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I dont smell mine as much as I used to.
like once or twice a year.
mine has the old westerly hard wood smell, faint but there.
i cannot equate it to salad dressing, nor do i wear purple spandex.
not that there is anything wrong with either :)
 

walrus

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The soundhole, and even the case, of my D64 still has a great "wood" smell. In fact, even though the case came original with the guitar, it is not a Guild case. I have thought about replacing it with a Guild case a few times but the smell makes me keep it!

walrus
 

rampside

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I dont smell mine as much as I used to.
like once or twice a year.
mine has the old westerly hard wood smell, faint but there.
i cannot equate it to salad dressing, nor do i wear purple spandex.
not that there is anything wrong with either :)

Oh come on now, Wood. You don't have to be so nice :barbershop_quartet_
 

Ken Powrie

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Actually had a similar experience. I used to use a particular Gibson guitar polish [Which I haven't seen in the shops for a long time.]. Anyroads it transports me back in time when I smell that particular scent......maybe its just old age.
 

killdeer43

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I picked up a D4 on EBay a while back that reeked so much of OLD cigarette smoke that I sent it back. I didn't take time to smell it because I didn't need to, I could smell it as soon as I opened the shipping box. The seller must have been smoking when he packed it and that's one smell that I can't handle.
:eek:nthego:

Joe
 

Quantum Strummer

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I've found that sometimes the apparent smell of a guitar turns out to come from its case. I've had one of my old Rickenbackers, a Model 450, sitting on my work table for the past ten days while I've cleaned & lubed its bridge parts, touched up the nut slots, installed heavier flatwound strings (12–50), tweaked its trussrod (which replaced a damaged original dual-rod system), adjusted intonation and also played it a lot. Sounds big & bold with the heavier strings, and just feels altogether more substantial. This guitar has never been out of its case for more than a day or two at a time since I bought it in mid-1997. Now the woody smell I've always associated with the Rickie itself has gone away, while opening the case lid emphatically reveals where that woodiness actually originates. :)

-Dave-
 

949Norm

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Great topic, One of the most thrilling things in life for Me is to open an old Guitar case with an old Guitar in it, (especially if its been sitting a long time) and get a whiff of that old musty wood.
I LIVE for that
 

JohnW63

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Ah....no. I don't smell the insides of my guitars. I'm not going to a guitar store with ANY of you guys, either ! I'm thinking trench coats would be involved.

This forum has cost me something like $2600 in the short time I've been hear. I'm not letting it take my respectability.
 

Guildadelphia

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Same thing for me. I thought my Guild NS 175B had a sweet woody smell (from the combination of woods and poly finish) but then I got an ESP/Edwards Les Paul copy from Japan that has a real Nitro Cellulose Lacquer finish that had the same smell. Turns out the smell emanates from the TKL cases they are both in.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I have a couple TKL cases, and they do for sure have a distinctive woody/tolex-ish/glue-ish smell when new. I like it!

Just hauled out my Fender Mustang for the heavier flatwounds upgrade I've been giving some other guitars recently. Now this guitar's (nitro) finish does have a mild & pleasant scent, something I even look forward to whenever I play it. ;)

-Dave-
 

Sleeko

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I do! They all smell different and I love them all. My Gibson and my Guild both have a TKL case but smell totally different.




 
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gibsonjunkie

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Not so much, but when I got my J-200 it had been built in July 2003 and it was delivered to my dealer on August 28th. opening the carton, and then the case - it just smelled of wood and lacquer - heavenly!
 

marcellis

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Back in the States I have a Yanaha APX6na a/e nylon string that smelled really beautiful. Dunno why.
I suspect it was some marketing gimmick.But that's the only guitar whose smell I have noticed.
 
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