Guitar Smell

[paul s.]

My heritage and PRs cases emit a pleasant sweet / almond like scent when I open them. My peerless smells like elmers glue. What gives?

[Gitterbug]

My ES-175 case is definitely perfumed. A sapele Martin's ought to be...

[Jabberwocky]

I have a 2012 PRS JA-15. The case smells like sundried...prunes.

[mr quick]

Every time we get a new Gibson in at work, first thing I do when I open the case is smell the guitar. Nothing smells quite as good as a brand new Gibson.

[mr. beaumont]

My koa ukulele smells like black pepper.

[Wildcat]

My Gibson guitar case smells of lots of money spent!!

[Perdido]

And we wonder why more women don't participate in this forum . . . .

[citizenk74]

My heritage and PRs cases emit a pleasant sweet / almond like scent when I open them. My peerless smells like elmers glue. What gives?

Obviously, you have only gigged since smoke-free has been the standard. I always kept duplicate guitars - one for gigging, one for practice - because the places I played made me want to burn my clothes, and if I opened the case of the guitar I used, it smelled like somebody already had, and put the still-smoldering remains in my guitar case.

Count your blessings!

[BickertRules]

My Reverend Eastsider T smells like victory.

[Doctor Jeff]

Obviously, you have only gigged since smoke-free has been the standard. I always kept duplicate guitars - one for gigging, one for practice - because the places I played made me want to burn my clothes, and if I opened the case of the guitar I used, it smelled like somebody already had, and put the still-smoldering remains in my guitar case.

Count your blessings!

Yes I have a guitar—Peerless Sunset—for when we play in the cigar bar. I can’t say I notice too much of a smoke odor on it now though. That jacket on the other hand...stays in the garage for a couple of days until the stale cigar smell isn’t SO bad. Everything else including me gets thrown in the wash right away.



When I got the 1988 ES-175 recently it smelled of old wood...a very comforting smell to a woodworker and antique collector.

[paul s.]

I’m a long, long way from people paying to hear me

[Donplaysguitar]

My heritage and PRs cases emit a pleasant sweet / almond like scent when I open them. My peerless smells like elmers glue. What gives?

I also noticed that with a PRS Private Stock guitar that I owned once upon a time. It smelled great. At the time I wondered if it was fresh nitro finish, but probably not.


The flip side is a case with thick lining that traps moisture and smells like mold - because it is.

[v281]

And we wonder why more women don't participate in this forum . . . .

Point taken, post deleted

[citizenk74]

Yes I have a guitar—Peerless Sunset—for when we play in the cigar bar. I can’t say I notice too much of a smoke odor on it now though. That jacket on the other hand...stays in the garage for a couple of days until the stale cigar smell isn’t SO bad. Everything else including me gets thrown in the wash right away.



When I got the 1988 ES-175 recently it smelled of old wood...a very comforting smell to a woodworker and antique collector.

In my experience, the smoke from all-tobacco, hecho a mano Cuban-seed cigars is quite innocuous compared to the smoke of hundreds of cigarettes and cheap cigars made of floor sweepings and paper, mingled with the indelicate reek of chaws and half-snuffed butts smoldering in ashtrays or stuffed into beer foam at the bottom of dirty beer glasses, not to mention a lot of other scents that make their way into the miasma of the dive bar.

[Doctor Jeff]

I’m a long, long way from people paying to hear me

I am too but that doesn’t stop me...people show up and order drinks before they realize who’s playing!

[TedBPhx]

I understand the new Taylor GT made of eucalyptus and shamel ash, city street shade trees, kind of stink.

[gggguitar]

Every time we get a new Gibson in at work, first thing I do when I open the case is smell the guitar. Nothing smells quite as good as a brand new Gibson.

I bought my 330L brand new almost 11 years ago and I absolutely loved the way it smelled. I've played that guitar almost every day since the day I got it. All these years later I will still occasionally get a little whiff of that original new guitar smell again—for just a moment—and it simply makes me so happy.

Yeah, it's something that I don't think many people would understand.

[mr quick]

I understand the new Taylor GT made of eucalyptus and shamel ash, city street shade trees, kind of stink.

Had no such experience with the one we had at our store.

[TedBPhx]

Had no such experience with the one we had at our store.

Very good to hear that. The poster that complained did admit to a strong aversion to eucalyptus odor.

[Jabberwocky]

I am too but that doesn’t stop me...people show up and order drinks before they realize who’s playing!

I get lots of requests. But I carry on playing anyway.

[gggguitar]

I get lots of requests. But I carry on playing anyway.

Yes, I can play whatever song you like...as long as it's "Louie Louie".

[sgosnell]

To me, and most people I know, eucalyptus oil has a pleasant odor, but I'm sure there are some who think it's unpleasant, just like many other odors.

[mr quick]

Very good to hear that. The poster that complained did admit to a strong aversion to eucalyptus odor.

That is curious. I don't remember any particular smell on that guitar, and I do smell the guitars when they get here (yes, I'm single, why do you ask?). I'll keep an extra nostril out next time we get one in, to see if there's a discernable difference.

[Kirk1701]

For the OP, I wonder if it isn't the case itself? I have a hard case I bought with my first stratocaster back in 1997 and it still has the same odd perfumed smell. There's a line of Canadian-made instrument cases that have a similar smell.