Musty Case

GSFV

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
196
Reaction score
57
Hey friends! Not really a guild specific question. But I recently acquired a guitar so I could start to learn the ins and outs and do some at home upgrades without the worry of ruining one of my main instruments. Anyway. Got a cool deal on reverb and picked up a guitar I'm quite happy with. But the case smells terrible. I have no idea how or why it happened. At first I thought it was just from shipping or something. But it smells bad. And it even transfers to the guitar. And makes the neck tacky and sticky.

it is an old Fender case that is their version of body molded. Kind of like the SKB Standard cases. Anyway, the interior is felt. And I've never had to clean one before or get rid of the smells. I've tried febreezing it and lysol-ing the interior. But it still stinks. And it still makes the neck tacky.

Any help is appreciated. Just trying to keep my goof around mod guitar fun and playable. Instead of stinky and tacky. Lol.
Thanks in Advance!!

P.S. As always, if this information is in another thread that I missed. Please send it my way for my reading pleasure. :smile-new:
 

gjmalcyon

Senior Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Feb 6, 2011
Messages
4,179
Reaction score
2,417
Location
Gloucester County, NJ
Guild Total
13
One of my guitars came to me with a case the smelled like an ashtray. 5 or so days outdoors in the sun on sunny, breezy and dry days mostly took care of it.
 

wileypickett

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2009
Messages
4,964
Reaction score
4,489
Location
Cambridge, MA
However bad it smelled when you got it, Fabreeze is 10 times worse IMO!

I bought a case that someone had tried to clean w/ that stuff. So bad it made my eyes water. I left the case out in the sun everyday for two weeks, tried baking soda to absorb the odor, vacuumed it — five years later I can still smell it when I open the case. That stuff is bad juju.

Don’t use anything heavily perfumed; rather use a damp (not wet) sponge, and baking soda or something like it to neutralize the odor, not something to cover it up. Sunlight and open air is good. You may have to try several applications to get results.

Don’t return your guitar to the case till the odor has dissipated — it will transfer to the guitar.

Good luck!
 

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
But it smells bad. And it even transfers to the guitar. And makes the neck tacky and sticky.

it is an old Fender case that is their version of body molded. Kind of like the SKB Standard cases. I've tried febreezing it and lysol-ing the interior. But it still stinks. And it still makes the neck tacky.
Ahhh, the old stinky case question.
Is the guitar NCL finished?
We had a report a few years back that a member (Qvart) Febreezed his case, put the guitar inside, and a couple of weeks later the guitar had become imprinted with the case lining's texture. So putting that out there as a public service message/reminder.
Part 2:
You say "molded", is it by chance one of those expanded polyurethane type things?
It's been discovered that as those age the urethane decomposes releasing formaldehyde (very stinky) and other gases proven to break down NCL.
Sadly even some Guild cases were made that way. I'm sure at the time nobody realized what happened to the polyurethane foam as it aged .
Part 3: Not sure if Musty ever actually made cases.

And oh, yeah: I'd take guitar out of case and be ready to let the NCL "dry out" for a while to lose the tackiness, I'm thinking literally maybe 6 or 8 weeks, it took almost 3 months for my D25 to recover from softened finish caused by sweat contamination.
 
Last edited:

GSFV

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
196
Reaction score
57
It's a mid 90's mexican standard strat. I doubt it's NCL. Does have a nice vintage type coloring to it though. I'm keeping it out of the case for now.
I don't live in the best area to leave the guitar case out for a while. It might find itself a new home. I'll have to try the Baking Soda method first. Thanks for the suggestion.

I also don't like heavily perfumed things. Both were the non scented kind. But I get what you mean. I definitely didn't hose it down, just a misting. I'll avoid doing that. Once it warms up outside I'll have to do the sponge and baking soda, then let it dry in the sun (while keeping my eye on it).

Thanks for the quick replies and ideas!
 
Last edited:

adorshki

Reverential Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
34,176
Reaction score
6,790
Location
Sillycon Valley CA
It's a mid 90's mexican standard strat. I doubt it's NCL.
https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/mexican-nitro-finishes.229273/
Informative post from Strat-talk forum; no definitive answer but apparently there's a chance it's a modern type of NCL, see Ron Kirn's post #10 there.
Thing is, we never hear about "poly" absorbing odors or getting sticky except from surface "grunge" which should be easily remedied with a cleaner polish.
(And just because I haven't seen it mentioned here doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but my understanding is that the nature of the beast isn't conducive to it)
Otherwise for the case itself, the best suggestions I know of are already offered.
My sympathies about the neighborhood, and good luck!
 

rampside

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
3,118
Reaction score
410
Location
Minnesota's Iron Range
Guild Total
4
Several applications of baking soda, air it out in the sun, vacuum, repeat. Activated charcoal works well for absorbing odors, also. Be patient.
Took some time for sure, but worked very well for me. No smell what so ever now, and my case smelled bad!
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,582
Reaction score
17,799
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
I've tried it all from leaving it outside, to activated charcoal, to everything in-between. I am very sensitive to smells and while all the tricks make things better, some smells just never go away.
 

geoguy

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
3,519
Reaction score
1,640
Location
metrowest MA
I would try a spray of Ozium (you can probably buy it at an auto parts store) on the case lining, & a few days of sunshine and fresh air. While leaving the guitar out of the case. That'll only cost you a couple of bucks, and it might help significantly.

If the case still smells, get a new case.
 

bobouz

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
2,228
Reaction score
1,827
I’ve never been able to fully eliminate an odd odor or stickiness from a case, and always end up buying a new one.
 

Nuuska

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2016
Messages
7,668
Reaction score
6,028
Location
Finland
Guild Total
9
First something with nothing to do with guitar cases - but definitively with smell.

Whe we were growing up and being at age of getting the first car - we would go to car dealers to see if they had something for us - surely some salesman told, that there is this one dirt cheap Volvo Amazon around, that is technically perfect, but has one problem - someone died in it in spring and was found next fall - and nobody could remove that smell from that Volvo. Naturally we thought it would be a piece of cake to strip and scrape and repaint the interior and put ne linings etc - so we asked who has it. He told us - we went there only to hear, that it is in another place . . . and so on - until it dawned on us that we just had been had.

Back to the case of the case - #6 by Al might be well worth better investigation. Can you pull the interior out as one big chunk? If yes - the the source of smell could be pinpointed better. Or rip all interior lining off and put new lining in?

Sumpting radically fast and easy - while a new case does not cost one weeks wages anyhow.
 

GSFV

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2018
Messages
196
Reaction score
57
The smell does transfer to the guitar. Which is a bummer. So I've been leaving it out of the case for now. I have a spare case that will work. I just like the style of the other better. Plus it has better storage. But i'll try the stuff y'all mentioned. Especially once it has warmed up.
 
Top