Price Case with an odor.

Hey folks,
I took delivery of a custom Price guitar case back in December. When the case arrived there was an issue with one of the pick boxes and some of the padding being loose (it appeared as if it hadn’t been glued). I spoke with Gary and he told me that it was rare for that to happen. He had plans in the near future of being in the area and said he would come by and check it out. He determined that it would need to be repaired by applying more adhesive, which he did. The smell of that adhesive is pretty darn rough. I asked him how long it would be before it dissipated and he recommended leaving the case open for a “few days”. I left it open for two weeks. That didn’t help any. I securely placed a small bowl of vinegar in it for a week and closed it up. That didn’t cut it either. I reached out to him for suggestions to eliminate the smell. But that resulted in him telling me that out of hundreds of cases that only three or four people had ever “complained” about this particular issue. I was told perhaps there was a reaction with something in my house, or maybe it was “rare thing with some folks sense of smell”. So I am left with a $1000.00 guitar case that makes my well seasoned 40 plus year old Martin HD28 smell like a chemical factory which I highly dislike. Has anyone out there with a Price case ever encountered this issue and if so is there any hope of getting ride of this smell? Like I told Gary I am completely satisfied with the case visually and more importantly structurally. But this smell need to go!

Put it in the sun outside open each day for a few weeks so it can air out. Hopefully that will help. I would not put your guitar in the case until it airs out. I would not place vinegar inside with the case closed, in fact I wouldn't close the case at all until it airs out.

Haven't had this issue with my Price mandolin case, but did have it with the case that came with a Collings MT-O - the adhesive smell inside that case was so strong that it was nauseating! If I recall it took a couple of months for it to dissipate - one thing that helped was placing a container of baking soda inside it: I poured baking soda into a small plastic container that formerly housed cream cheese, laid the case flat in an area where no one two or four legged would knock into it, put the container of baking soda inside and closed the case up. I also put a sign on the case that said "DO NOT MOVE AT ALL!" on it both to ensure no one else moved it, and also as a visual reminder to me that there was baking soda inside. Once the smell was gone it was gone for good, no faint lingering odors, etc.

I'm on the 2nd month of trying to get this smell out of a new Calton Case. I've left it in the sun, used activated charcoal - you name it, I've done it. The smell has lessened, but it's still there.

You might try odor absorption product. I have some lava rock product called Gonzo Odor Eliminator, it has worked for musty smells, is available through several avenues, and is pretty cheap...
I have a Price case from 14 years ago, no odor except for the varnish smell of my Weber.
Best of luck, they are very sturdy cases.

Do you have a cat? is it Male?

OK here is the serious method. Wrap some charcoal, a lot of charcoal, in a lot of newspaper and put it in the case and close it for a week. Take it all out and do it again if it needs it. I did this with a freezer that a friend accidentally shut off when I was gone and every thing was spoiled. The freezer was new and I didn't want to lose it. Two of these treatments of a week each and there was no smell of rotting meat (sorry) left in the freezer, and it was fine after that. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by pops1

OK here is the serious method. Wrap some charcoal, a lot of charcoal, in a lot of newspaper and put it in the case and close it for a week. Take it all out and do it again if it needs it. I did this with a freezer that a friend accidentally shut off when I was gone and every thing was spoiled. The freezer was new and I didn't want to lose it. Two of these treatments of a week each and there was no smell of rotting meat (sorry) left in the freezer, and it was fine after that. Good luck.

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Did you use “real” charcoal? Isn’t the manufactured stuff full of petrochemical?

I used manufactured charcoal, whatever was around. This was at least 35 years or more ago tho so. Charcoal and newspaper will both absorb odors and worked very well.

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Originally Posted by PDMan

I'm on the 2nd month of trying to get this smell out of a new Calton Case. I've left it in the sun, used activated charcoal - you name it, I've done it. The smell has lessened, but it's still there.

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I LOVE the smell of a new Calton Case...especially in the morning!

My Calton Case had a smell for a bit, but it went away pretty quickly. *shrug*

It's my playing that stinks! (I'm working on it, though)

I've successfully deodorized a vintage Vega banjo and it's case using one of the little $25 ozone generators from Amazon. It was the worst cigarette odor I've encountered. I put the instrument and case in the shipping box and ran two or three 40 minute cycles a day (that's one of the preset modes) for about 4 or 5 days. It removed almost all of the odor. I was very happy. I have no idea how it works on chemical odors. It may take a while until the glue stops outgassing. I don't know for sure. Might be worth a try.

The Cedar Creek case my Clark GOM came in still stinks - and I bought that in 2011!