Removing body odor off of my guitar

[Hamer95USA]

Hey people,

Can anyone suggest a way of removing the smell of body odor off of a guitar. I have my '97 T-51 and it reeks of body odor. No, it's not me and I polish my guitars after I've played them. I've already polished all the crud off the guitar when I got it, but it still stinks. I've tried spraying Lysol on a rag and wiped the guitar body and neck, but the smell is still there. I've also sprayed the guitar case with Febreze and Lysol, but that stinky smell is on the guitar. It's previous owner really put his stink on it, quite literally. Any suggestions?

Guitar George

[BCR Greg]

Take it apart, clean under the pickguard, neck joint, etc. Anywhere that sweat and beer could run and hide.

At the shop, we find some REALLY NASTY stuff in old gutars. I use Simple Green, diluted to a shot glass to 8 oz of water. Under the bridge, neck and guard are the bad spots.

[Hamer95USA]

Hey BCR Greg,

Thank you for the advice. This is one of the stinkiest guitars I've ever owned. That will be my side project for guitars. Get the funk off of my guitar.

Guitar George

[BTMN]

If ya dont like, what cha smell here, GET the Funk out!!! Cue Nuno.....

[elduave]

I find a new guitar will often take on the smell of the case it's in. Maybe cleaning the guitar like Greg said and buying a new case as well...

[m chops]

A dryer sheet in the case may help as well.

[discountsounds]

Jerry: Boy, do you smell something?

Elaine: Do I smell something? What am I, hard of smelling? Of *course* I smell something.

Jerry: What is it?

Elaine: I think it's B.O.!

Jerry: What?

Elaine: It's B.O. The *valet* must have had B.O.

Jerry: It *can't* be. Nobody has B.O. like this.

Elaine: Jerry. It's *B*.*O*.

Jerry: But the whole car smells.

Elaine: So?

Jerry: So when somebody has B.O., the "O" usually stays with the "B". Once the "B" leaves, the "O" goes with it.

[LordOfTheThighs]

Maybe try some of this.

Or if it's really bad, this:

[pesocaster]

Clean EVERYTHING on the guitar... then 2 or 3 dryer sheets in the case (keep changing them every week or so).... that helped one of my guitars with the same problem... only mine smelled like sour milk.... don't know what the previous owner was doing.....NASTY!!!

[Hamer95USA]

Hey people,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try the dryer sheet in the guitar case. The case is not the problem. I have a stinky guitar that's all. I call the guitar, "Mr. Stink", right now. I'll do some clean up on "Mr. Stink" tomorrow on the work bench.

Guitar George

[Jeroen]

I find a new guitar will often take on the smell of the case it's in. Maybe cleaning the guitar like Greg said and buying a new case as well...

+1 If my guitars are in their flightcases for a while, they smell like new. I always keep those cases closed so that the smell won't dissapear.

Jeroen

[DaveL]

I am completely neurotic whenever I get a guitar

that has somebody's creepy grime on it. Here's what

I do in extreme cases if the thing is really gross...

I take the thing completely apart including stuff like

tuning pegs. I take all the components and individually

clean them. a toothbrush, fantasic orange with grease

cutting action, blue magic, goo gone (for sticker residue)

are among the things I use.... make sure you keep all

the screws etc so you can get it back together.

Then, I totally clean the body and neck, and go over

it with mirror glaze (pep boys maybe $8). I think there

are two grades that are good, one is a fine grade and

then is "swirl remover" If it's not too bad, you just use

swirl remover. I put it on liberally (mask the fretboard

if you want) and then rub it in with a soft cloth, or if you're

more adventurous, get a foam buff wheel with a power

drill attachment (stew mac $15.00). and then lightly go

over the whole body. It will give it a beautiful pro shine

and is safe and fine enough that it won't leave buff marks.

It likely will remove any of the stink residue and if

the guitar doesn't have many dings that are indentations,

it can turn your VG/EX guitar into a near mint...

[tgoss]

I never heard of a stinky guitar. Ok...well I have.

[cmatthes]

I was at a guitar shop in Annapolis yesterday, and one of the new F3ND3R products they were displaying was a case deodorizer. F3ND3R has apparently teamed up with Meguillar's to offer a complete line of guitar and guitar case cleaning/maintenence products.

Look for the G!8S0N and Turtle Wax line to follow...

[kurtsstuff]

Ya mean to tell me!!..After all these years and owning and playing guitars that reaked...it's just funk and crud??..I always thought it was "mojo" and "vibe"...Damn!! I usually paid extra for that...the bastards!!

[hamerhead]

Do it the Jimi way - lighter fluid and a match!

[DaxT1138]

+1 for the meticulous cleaning. use a Q-tip for getting really tough places. i actually turned down a good deal on a Music Man Steve Morse because the fretboard smelled like weed, beer and B.O. cigarette smoke is the hardest thing to get out because it gets deep into the wood itself

[straightblues]

The case for my import Hamer Echotone smells like weed. I have tried everything, and I mean everything to try to get is to go away and it won't. I have tried, dryer sheets, bottles of febreez, carpet fresh carpet cleaner, newspapers, dry laundry soap, pine needles, leaving it open for days. I have finally given up and just enjoy the smell. However, my tech has requested that I never bring the case back to his shop. The last time I brought it in, a policeman client of his asked about the weed smell.

[Brownsound]

Ya mean to tell me!!..After all these years and owning and playing guitars that reaked...it's just funk and crud??..I always thought it was "mojo" and "vibe"...Damn!! I usually paid extra for that...the bastards!!

"Hey buddy...ya got a littl mojo runnin' down yer leg"

[John E]

I had a bolt-neck guitar that had the same problem . . . I wouldn't be surprised if we bought it from the same guy.

I disassembled the guitar and cleaned the neck and body with water. I sprayed the case with this enzymatic cleaner used to neutralize the smell of cat pee. I put some of the same stuff in the pickup cavities and on the pickguard, front and back. I even put some of it on the fingerboard, although I was afraid of damaging the rosewood. I alternated that with putting both guitar and case out in the sun (sunlight is another natural deodorizer). It STILL took me the better part of a month to get the guitar to the point where I wasn't embarrassed to re-sell it.

Good luck! I'm sorry to say that you have your work cut out for you.

[Hamer95USA]

Hey people,

Thanks for your suggestions and comments. The dryer sheets were helpful inside the guitar case. My guitar case where the T-51 resides smells good now. The guitar itself, I will take apart and clean as BCR Greg suggested. I will let everyone know how it turns out. It's not cool having a stinky guitar. What if some girls come up to say hello and they smell that stinky guitar? They're going to think I don't have good hygiene or something.

Guitar George

[Hamer95USA]

I had a bolt-neck guitar that had the same problem . . . I wouldn't be surprised if we bought it from the same guy.

I disassembled the guitar and cleaned the neck and body with water. I sprayed the case with this enzymatic cleaner used to neutralize the smell of cat pee. I put some of the same stuff in the pickup cavities and on the pickguard, front and back. I even put some of it on the fingerboard, although I was afraid of damaging the rosewood. I alternated that with putting both guitar and case out in the sun (sunlight is another natural deodorizer). It STILL took me the better part of a month to get the guitar to the point where I wasn't embarrassed to re-sell it.

Good luck! I'm sorry to say that you have your work cut out for you.

Hey John E,

I bought the T-51 a couple of months ago from an auction house in Ohio. They also sold a Special, a Steve Stevens I and an Eclipse at the same time, so I don't know who the actual owner is other than he was a Hamer collector. When the guitar arrived at my house about a week later after I won the auction, it came in a gig bag. I took it out and that guitar looked it never got polished in 8 years of gigging. It had a ton of its previous owner grime, sweat and body odor all over it. I sat there for about two hours cleaning that guitar, removing all the visible sweat and grime accumulated all over it. I thought I was done with it and sent it to the local guitar shop for intonation and setup.

I went to take it out of its case a few days ago and oh boy, Mr. Stink (the T-51), is in the house. I couldn't stand the stench of the guitar. Now it's time for me to take her on the workbench, take her apart and clean the guitar up with some diluted Simple Green. Hopefully, this will resolve the stinky guitar issues. Lesson for today, boys & girls, is to be sure to clean & polish your guitars after you've gigged on them. You'll never know when you have to sell them one day and you want it to look & smell its best.

Guitar George

[kurtsstuff]

Ya mean to tell me!!..After all these years and owning and playing guitars that reaked...it's just funk and crud??..I always thought it was "mojo" and "vibe"...Damn!! I usually paid extra for that...the bastards!!

"Hey buddy...ya got a littl mojo runnin' down yer leg"

Well.....there always was that incontinent issue of mine....hehe

[mrhappy]

There used to be a Luthier in my neck of the woods that was 'stinky' and whenever the guy would do a fret job on a guitar it would smell like him for ages!!

[Cheap Chick]

What freaks me out about this story is.. how high up was the guy playing it that he got BO on it?