A weird problem

[Daveyo]

I just bought a nice Japanese made telecaster
Very good price
Sounds and looks fantastic
The problem is
The neck stinks a bit
I changed the strings that were on and they were some of the cause I think
But it still smells
I put lemon oil on it twice
It helped a little bit
Anything else I can do?
Thank you for the help

[TheGITM]

Can I ask what kind of smell? Are we talking about smoke-type smell... or more like dead animal carcass-type smell? Or just horrible human BO-type smell?

[YamahaGuy]

I've been told coffee beans can help get rid of smells. If the neck comes off, I'd remove the neck. Put the guitar and neck in a hard case with a bunch of coffee beans for a week and see (smell) what happens.

[LAPlayer]

Take it off and clean it thoroughly.

[LAPlayer]

Oops. Duplicate.

[Jamolay]

I bought a couple of guitars with filthy necks. What I did was first scrape fret to fret (with grain) to get the bulk of the gunk off. Gross, to be sure. I used a utility razor blade to scrape.

Then I did several scrubs with naphtha, until it seemed as clean as I could get it.

Then I used fine sandpaper, I think 1000 grit, maybe finer, again with the grain, and finished with 0000 steel wool (protect your pickups from the metal dust).

Finally, I re-oiled with whatever fretboard oils I had at the time. Now I use McKnights fretboard balm, although I rarely put it on again after the initial cleaning.

That seemed to bring the fretboard to nearly new condition.

[rollypolly]

Sometimes it’s the case that is housing the smell. If it came in an old case I would not store it in there any more and leave the case open to air out for days or weeks. Otherwise it’s a solid body guitar so the smell can’t hide , just wipe it down with a damp cloth, no chemicals, and use some elbow grease. If it continues to stink I’d consider maybe a scotch brite pad or steel wool but make sure those won’t warm your finish first.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Just leave it out of the case to air. This, too, shall pass.