Nitrocellulose Smell?

[bons]

Just picked up a Fender with nitrocellulose finish. It smells sweet like perfume. Is this typical?

 

[bajaandy]

Yep.

 

[sleddogn]

oh yeah

 

[bholder]

Sweet, sweet lacquer!

 

[BassyBill]

My Tony Franklin fretless had a scent like God’s own Heaven the first time I opened the case.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

IMO, Gibson does it the best. Smells like vanilla

 

[g-dude]

It’s probably not great for you - sort of like the smell when you’re pumping gas - but it’s low on the worry list.

 

[timmus]

I LOVE the smell of fresh nitrocellulose paint in the morning

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

Ain’t nothin’ like the real thing, baby.

 

[KidAmnesia]

IMO, Gibson does it the best. Smells like vanilla

IIRC that's something they put in their cases, not the actual lacquer. Nitro keeps evaporating solvents for years (that's why it keeps contracting and checking; it smells great (to me at least), but nothing like the Gibson vanilla/chocolate thing.

 

[ArteK]

I had a 90's Fender '75 Reissue Jazz (thick clearcoat over ash) for over ten years that kept that smell throughout.

To this point, it's the only instrument I've ever owned with that strong a scent on it. (And you'll have to trust me, that's a large sample size.)

I never knew where the smell came from. You learn something new every day.

 

[joel the bass player]

My nitro AV P smelled great. So did the Stingray Special with that roasted neck.

Maybe the next bass needs to have both smells combined!

 

[Jb1027]

Just picked up a Fender with nitrocellulose finish. It smells sweet like perfume. Is this typical?

Love that smell. I’m a retired furniture finisher, sprayed that lacquer for years. Really like how it ages on guitars/basses.

 

[covermego]

Cellulose nitrate is made from absorbent cotton (cellulose) reacted with concentrated nitric acid.
Hmmmmm..... So THAT's why my wife always says my bass smells like cotton candy!

 

[michael_t]

Nitrocellulose Smell Aroma?

 

[rebellovw]

My AVII smells wonderful - but my 2013 American Standard Strat (non-Nitro) also smelled really good - different - but a wonderful smell - that smell is long gone as the Strat has been sitting outside its case on stand. I keep the nitro finish AVII in the case.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Just picked up a Fender with nitrocellulose finish. It smells sweet like perfume. Is this typical?

It was owned by someone who lived in an okiya.

 

[2F/2F]

No. Lacquer smells like lacquer thinner – a sharp smell. It’s a great smell, but not sweet. The “sweet” smell is the smell of the case. I have many, many urethane finished instruments with this smell. For a while, either G&L or their case supplier was deliberately dusting the case linings with some sort of scent. Not so much the case any more.

 

[Rabidhamster]

I had a 90's Fender '75 Reissue Jazz (thick clearcoat over ash) for over ten years that kept that smell throughout.

To this point, it's the only instrument I've ever owned with that strong a scent on it. (And you'll have to trust me, that's a large sample size.)

I never knew where the smell came from. You learn something new every day.

For that one it was almost certainly from the original hard case, those have a glue that releases a really sweet smell fairly similar to nitro

 

[Rabidhamster]

No. Lacquer smells like lacquer thinner – a sharp smell. It’s a great smell, but not sweet. The “sweet” smell is the smell of the case. I have many, many urethane finished instruments with this smell. For a while, either G&L or their case supplier was deliberately dusting the case linings with some sort of scent. Not so much the case any more.

Some manufacturers add scent to their nitro, but nitro lacquer does have a sickly sweet chemical smell too