Mike's Oud Forums

Really stinky instrument

AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 05:35 AM

I've got a question for the luthiers:

I recently bought a bağlama at a store in Istanbul. It's a student model, but it had a pretty decent sound for the price.

When I got it home, I noticed that there is a really strong odor coming from within the instrument. It smells very chemical, kind of like acetone, and kind of fruity/sweet. I assume it's coming from the glue that the luthier used?

My question is: is there any way to get rid of this odor? It's a really noxious odor and distracts me while playing.

I know this question isn't directly related to ouds, but I thought some of you might have familiarity with bağlamas.

Thanks for your advice!

SamirCanada - 4-9-2018 at 05:44 AM

it could be that they sprayed the inside with lacquer or polyurethane.

honestly, best way is not to keep it inside the case in a area with lots of airflow. Maybe setup a fan to blow the inside for a day.

AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 05:54 AM

Hi Samir. To my eyes, the inside still looks pretty rough and unfinished. I'll try to figure out how to sent up a fan to ventilate the inside.

MattOud - 4-9-2018 at 05:59 AM

I had this problem on an oud, and the oud was many years old so it was not a drying issue, but just stinky as well, more like bad perfume in my case :)
What i ended up doing is buying cheap odor balls made of cedar that you can put in your shoes....these made the oud smell much better but it took along time. I had to live with cedar and stink mix smell for the first couple of weeks :)
It ended up smelling good. I hope you can fix it.

Jody Stecher - 4-9-2018 at 06:05 AM

Since you did not notice the smell in the shop could the origin of the smell possibly be coming from the case? I had such an incident some years ago. The case lining had developed a mold infestation. For the first few months there was nothing visible, only an off-putting smell. Then one day it appeared all at once. Red, orange, blue, green, yellow, black, purple. Hundreds or thousands of moldy spots everywhere! I didn't even try to save that case. I took it to the dump and threw it over the edge.

AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 07:03 AM

Hi Matt and Jody,

Bağlamas luckily have wide open sound holes like Iraqi-style ouds, so it might be worth trying the cedar balls. However, the fumes are giving me some serious headaches and making me quite dizzy, so I'm looking for something that will eliminate the fumes and not just cover it up. I wonder if there chemical fume absorbents? Maybe I can trying making some activated charcoal sachets?

Good question about the case. I just checked it out right now, and there's no particular smell coming from the case (except for a light cigarette smoke smell... they really love their cigarettes in Turkey). It's definitely coming from the interior of the instrument itself.

Jody Stecher - 4-9-2018 at 07:26 AM

Is there a dead mouse inside the baglama?

AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 07:28 AM

For the luthiers: if Samir's air ventilation trick doesn't work, I think I'm going to try to put some activated charcoal into the instrument. Any idea how much would be necessary for a bağlama? Would you just pour the powder in the instrument, or put them in little bags than can be retrieved?

AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 07:29 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  
Is there a dead mouse inside the baglama?


Haha, no, definitely not. It's definitely a smell of acetone, not rot.

SamirCanada - 4-9-2018 at 08:52 AM

Yeah it's worth trying anything in combination.

but if the smell is acetone (which is a lacquer thinner) it probably just needs to gas off for a while. like you can imagine they probably don't use the highest quality fastest drying stuff in a Turkish tourist instrument factory.



AKCinBE - 4-9-2018 at 09:08 AM

Quote: Originally posted by SamirCanada  
Yeah it's worth trying anything in combination.

but if the smell is acetone (which is a lacquer thinner) it probably just needs to gas off for a while. like you can imagine they probably don't use the highest quality fastest drying stuff in a Turkish tourist instrument factory.





Without a doubt. My saz also isn't the best there is, but the quality of some of (most of) the instruments I saw was abysmal.

For the activated charcoal, would you put them in something like a teabag that you can fish out later, or would you just pour the charcoal pellets in? The first is easier to clean up, but the second would be more effective, I imagine.

Marcus - 4-10-2018 at 12:54 AM

Hi:wavey:

you can use ground coffee to get rid of the smell, probably.
I did it on a Sukar-Oud that starts smelling very bad because of high humidity(?) when I bring it from germany to India.
The glue somehow starts to get alive again;-)).
After 4 Days with a half kilo ground coffee inside the bowl ,the smell was gone.

Good luck,

Marcus

MattOud - 4-10-2018 at 04:00 AM

^^ use an arabic blend if you play arabic style, turkish if you play turkish...etc... :)

Marcus - 4-10-2018 at 05:02 AM

Quote: Originally posted by MattOud  
^^ use an arabic blend if you play arabic style, turkish if you play turkish...etc... :)



:D:D:D LOL!!

AKCinBE - 4-10-2018 at 02:32 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus  
Hi:wavey:

you can use ground coffee to get rid of the smell, probably.
I did it on a Sukar-Oud that starts smelling very bad because of high humidity(?) when I bring it from germany to India.
The glue somehow starts to get alive again;-)).
After 4 Days with a half kilo ground coffee inside the bowl ,the smell was gone.

Good luck,

Marcus


Hi Marcus... thanks for the tip. Were the coffee grouds fresh or used? Also, I assume you put it in some sort of container to keep the coffee from staining the wood, right?

Marcus - 4-10-2018 at 10:06 PM

Hi:wavey:

I used fresh grounded coffee,indian blend btw;-)),and put it in the bowl without any sort of container. I tried to find a linnen-bag in India-no way-only plasticbags there.

I kept the coffee inside the bowl till I get home,removed the strings and used a vacuumcleaner to get it out again.
Now,6weeks later, the oud still smells a bit like coffee but the bad smell is totaly gone.

AKCinBE - 4-13-2018 at 02:27 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus  
Hi:wavey:

I used fresh grounded coffee,indian blend btw;-)),and put it in the bowl without any sort of container. I tried to find a linnen-bag in India-no way-only plasticbags there.

I kept the coffee inside the bowl till I get home,removed the strings and used a vacuumcleaner to get it out again.
Now,6weeks later, the oud still smells a bit like coffee but the bad smell is totaly gone.


Hi Marcus. I went the activated charcoal route because it seemed the most cost effective, but I will keep the coffee trick in mind for the next option if this doesn't work. :)

AKCinBE - 4-13-2018 at 02:28 AM

Just an update: I put 250g black charcoal / benonite mix in a pantyhose and put it in the bowl. The coal is really dry and I was worried about low humidity, so I moistened a sponge and suspended it (so that it wouldn't direclty touch the wood). I'll change it out whenever it's dry. I plan to leave the coal in there for 3-4 days.

Is there anything else I need to be aware of?

Dr. Oud - 8-17-2018 at 08:59 AM

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