Smelly case from cigarettes!

[Dustyrider]

This beautiful Essence was purchased on ebay..cleaned it up...but case and bass smell like cigarettes, pretty bad...going to "sun" the case tomorrow, and put baking soda in it (In a container, of course) can the inside of the case be cleaned? I imagine there is probably residue from the cigarette smoke.
Thanks!!
-Dave

[edwardofhuncote]

In addition to baking soda, airing/sunning, you might also try; (in no particular order) Febreeze, Fabric softener sheets, coffee grounds. I've had varying degrees of success with these on smelly upright cases. It might be tolerable or you might end up with a combination of stale stogies and those things.


If all else fails, just order a new case. Mica can fix you up through one of the dealers close to you. Not cheap, but not outrageous either. Definitely worth it if you're going to carry it around. (that new fretless Essence is sweet, by the way!) You could also trigger the great Alembic-in-a-gig-bag-or-not-debate. We haven't done one of those for a couple weeks. 


Good luck!

[Dustyrider]

Thanks for the help!! Coffee
 grounds are a  good idea, was not sure if there was a  way to actually clean the inside or not (vacuum, mild cleaner etc.)

[edwardofhuncote]

DRY coffee grounds.    (sorry...)


A ShopVac works pretty well for cleaning case-fur out... coffee grounds, baking soda, what-have-you. 

[StephenR]

Sprinkling the baking soda into the fabric then vacuuming it out later would probably work pretty well. Hate the smell of fabric softener sheets. I played up in Reno, NV a while back and a friend of the band's comped us on rooms at a cheap motel. The smell of cigarettes in the rooms was awful. One of the guitar players bought a can of spray room deoderizer and emptied pretty much the whole thing spraying his room, unfortunately it smelled even worse with the sickening smell of fake roses mixed with tobacco smoke.

I don't think you will need a new case, when I lived on the East Coast and gigged in bars in the pre no smoking era my cases always smelled terrible after a gig but would eventually air out. I am sure huffing all that bar smoke was terrible for my lungs, too.

[Dustyrider]

You guys are super awesome!!! Thanks for all of the feedback!!!

[edwin]

Fabreze just covers the old smell with a new smell. A not so good new smell.

I have a '68 EB3 and the case smells like the 60s. I just love it!

[Pandastylebass]

Baking soda or carpet deodorizer.
Put it in the case, leave the case out in the sun for a few hours, then vacuum it up. I have gotten a few cat pee/cigarette flavored cases over the years this work very well.

[mario_farufyno]

Get rid off cat pee is a real challenge!

[keith_h]

To resolve the cat pee problem how about just get rid of the cat?

[rv_bass]

Will the baking soda and sun bake eliminate mildew smell as well?

[glocke]

What about a vinegar solution?  Vinegar is a household cleaner, and odor neutralizer.
https://www.hunker.com/12002353/how-to-use-vinegar-to-remove-a-smoke-smell

[hammer]

Ciagarette smoke is one thing but mildew which is often accompanied by mold is quite another.


I received a mildew and mold infested leather gig bag with one of the Series I bases I purchased. I tried all sorts of things to try to get the smell out including everything suggested here but to no avail. I finally brought the case to a guy who primarily does leather work which includes building heavy duty gig bags. After inspecting it he told me the only way to get rid of the smell and not make the case a mobile health risk would be to entirely take it apart including all the stitching, rip out the liner, treat the inside of the leather, and then construct a new liner. Apparently the dark (and probably moist area between the leather and the liner) was a perfect place for the growth of mold and mildew. Needless to say, given that the cost would be more than a new hard shell case from Alembic the repairs we not undertaken.