Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

jingle_jangle wrote:You're in the minority, Scott...most of us like the RIC case smell.

The cases are made in the USA. Unless they've changed the glue formula lately, it's the same pleasant "new Rick" smell that we've all come to know and enjoy.

A Custom shop Fender will have the same smell, as will many of the AVRI Fenders, and gosh knows how many other brands of guitars out there; RIC's case manufacturer uses the same glue as most other USA case companies.

Sorry it didn't work out for you...

These are the ONLY 2 cases I've had from Rickenbacker (lucky me, I've had 15+ cases over the years - mostly purchased new) that smelled "bad." Not pleasant in the least! Is it due to a new process or manufacturer? My previous Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker cases have all smelled great by comparison, and still do!

Wow! Then your guess will parallel mine--a change in glues by the supplier. Both cases from the same batch, perhaps?

I believe it's these "new" molded cases which have become the case of choice for so many manufacturers these days. My Modulus and Warrior basses all have that smell as does my '07 4003 which I just acquired today. Many of my students show up w/ those cases as well and I always recognize the smell.

I believe the worst though was my Dean 10-string. 6 years later the smell is still there.

Hard to describe the smell, but my first new Rick--a '04 smelled wonderful in its molded case.

My second new Rick--also an '04, bit with a silver vintage case--smelled the same.

I've bought new cases without guitars in them, both molded and wooden "vintage" style cases.

So, I'm assuming that you and some others find that smell unpleasant. I love it, and so do many others, 'cuz it's the smell of another Rick, at least to us...

Horses for courses.

jingle_jangle wrote:Hard to describe the smell...

To me, it's somewhere between caramel and vanilla.

Yeah, that's close, but toss in a hint of musk and you've got it.

My department at the University, has a large percentage of international students. One of them, a lovely Indian woman, wore such a delicious scent that I could tell if she'd been near my office or classroom in the last half-hour or so.

After a few weeks of this, I asked her what scent she was wearing. She was quite flattered and replied, "Why, it's WAH neellah!" and chuckled.

I didn't get the humor, but smiled anyway, as I puzzled out whether this was an Indian perfume or what...

She saw the puzzled look on my face, and kept repeating, "WAH neelah", over and over...

...until it occurred to me, she meant, "Vanilla". Accents don't usually throw me, but this time I was well and truly embarrassed. Oh...

She graduated and became a good friend. It was she who gave me the embroidered pajamas I'm wearing in my "Rishikesh" photo.

Musky Vanilla that about sums up the smell.

I'm confused again...

The woman or the cases?

Who cares?

Well, I don't like the smell of gasoline... And that's what my 3 recent cases remind me of (2 Ricks and 1 Fender). Think I'll be case shopping soon!!

Really? I must confess I like the smell of gasoline. Especially mixed with the smell of a freshly mowed yard. Ah, Summertime.

My '82 4001's case has kind of a funky smell. Musky vanilla is a great description for it. I figured that it's probably the adhesive used. Back in the '80s, Kaman's Windsor cases had a weird nasty chocolate funk smell that usually went away after a while. When I bought my Fender '57 Stratocaster reissue new in '83, it's case smelled like magic marker. It was almost overwhelming!

The "gasoline" and "magic marker" smells are probably from adhesive, too...solvent-based contact adhesives smell like this when they're de-gassing.

In contrast to obnoxious case smells, my '65 365 has the most wonderful guitar case smell. It's kind of a mix of old polish, old wood and magic dust that was sprinkled on this beautiful instrument!