Return a bass for....smell?

[Stratomato]

Dryer sheets and a few crumpled up newspaper in the case will help with cigarette smell. It takes a few weeks and you have to change the sheets and papers every so often. Probably works with other smells too.

Clean and the instrument hang it up. With any luck the smell will go away in a few weeks.

This has worked for me.

 

[Glenn Johnson]

I have a '90s Fender '51 P RI with case I bought new that has a somewhat strong vanilla-esque smell. My wife hates the smell and won't let me open the case with her in the room. After several years I sold it (not because of the smell) but I missed it and bought it back a few years later. I still have it and it still has some of that smell.

If that bass has a nitro finish that would produce that smell. I personally love it!

 

[Chrisenbacker69]

I bought a bass once and it was giving off a terrible odor. I investigated the issue thoroughly and was able to determine that it was actually my playing that stank so badly...

 

[wraub]

Plastics and adhesives outgassing, most likely... Just like that "new car smell".

I think that most SKB cases have a smell, a sweet smell like maple pancake syrup. I've noted it in SEVERAL different SKB molded cases.

 

[707GK]

Off topic but this reminds me of a time where our dog got to skunk under the house. EVERYTHING inside the house smelled like skunk for months, including my bass and gig bag.

Every time I played that bass over those months, my hands would smell like skunk all day afterwards. The strings absorbed so much of that smell.

Anyways, not sure I would return a bass for smell, I guess it depends how bad it is!

 

[wraub]

Easy fix, just cover everything you own with tomato sauce.

Off topic but this reminds me of a time where our dog got to skunk under the house. EVERYTHING inside the house smelled like skunk for months, including my bass and gig bag.

Every time I played that bass over those months, my hands would smell like skunk all day afterwards. The strings absorbed so much of that smell.

Anyways, not sure I would return a bass for smell, I guess it depends how bad it is!

 

[Fresh Eddie]

It should always be disclosed by sellers but not all of them do it.

Maybe some people don't notice the smell, or for some reason it doesn't bother them?

 

[joel the bass player]

If someone tried to sell me a case that a cat had pissed in I'd turn and run. It's the worst...

If I found a deal and the bass was ok I'd toss the case. There's no coming back from that.

 

[groooooove]

i've had cases show up with cigarette smells in the past. kinda annoying.

i wouldn't return it unless it was so bad i couldn't imagine it ever going away (unlikely)

 

[FunkyD]

Got one that smelled like a wet beaver. It was hard to put down. But then i found my ltd B-5E with its long neck and ebony curves i knew i had to get the funk out. lol never had a smelly one, just funky baby.

Wet beaver? Ebony curves? Keep it.

 

[logicman69]

When I worked at the music store, I would turn down trades due to the smell. Cat piss is probably the worst smell of all time. I can still smell it... so gross.

 

[ArteK]

I owned a 90's Fender Jazz '75 Reissue bass that had a funny sweet smell (maybe like the vanilla smell a previous poster mentions). I suspect it was the finish on the bass. Luckily, this wasn't a bad smell (it was almost pleasant). But it's the only bass I've ever owned that had such a scent. I kept it for over ten years, so clearly it didn't really bother me all that much.

It was one of the nicest playing basses I've ever owned, so that probably had a lot to do with it.

 

[707GK]

Easy fix, just cover everything you own with tomato sauce.

Oh I legitimately thought about it, more than once!

 

[Lammchop93]

i returned a new Traben case from musiciansfriend way back in the day because it smelled like weed.

 

[waveman]

I traded for an old cab to keep at practice. Well, the speakers were toast, I knew that already and had already bought the replacement. But the cab had a funny foul smell to it, especially when I played. Well, as I took the old speakers out, I found that a mouse had found it's way into the cab and had died, and it was in the cab insulation. I ripped all of the guts out of the cab and put it outside for a week and febreezed it every day. The smell did go away after that, and it became a really good sounding cab, despite the fact that I did not replace the insulation. Kinda wished I hadn't of sold it now. But that thing lived at the practice space from that point forward.

 

[Allegrus]

That's funny because my EBMM has a very distinct smell. Good thing I like it. I've never really experienced this on any other instrument, so I can only conclude there is something in the finish still 'working' it's way out.

 

[bassdude51]

If your dog or cat smell the bass/case and start "humping it"................yeah, probably should return it.

 

[Ric5]

Would you return a bass if the bass and accompanying case smelled bad?

New return it ...

Used air it out and play it …

 

[Ric5]

for something funny … look up the Porky's locker room video … lassie …

it can't be posted here

 

[Ric5]

I remember about 20 years ago I got a 70s 4001 in a case that smelled like an ash tray … the smell went away after a month or 2