The smell of vintage electronics

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OK, old dudes!
If you love this stuff so much get yourselves to Bellingham WA, they have the most amazing collection of vintage electronics. Worth a day of exploring (American Museum of Radio & Electricity ). On a recent visit the curators gave us a grand tour! Thanks!
Another place to drool is in Mexico City, I forget the name and exact location somewhere NW of the Palacio Nacional, part of the university. Dedicated to 100+ year old transmitters, rail/ship communications, telegraphy and testgear. If you find it let me know, I need to go back!
 
Every morning when I open my office door, I take a deep breath in and enjoy the wonderful aroma of vintage electronics. It's just dawned on me however, that I don't actually know what that smell is ... and whether it may actually be doing me harm as I sit in my office all day with a dozen or so vintage amps and tuners.

I can definitely smell it every morning when I walk into my office though, quite pleasant and unseemingly dangerous ... BUT WHAT IS IT I CAN SMELL?!?

(These are all solid state components built in the seventies, Sansui, Mitsubishi, Dynaco etc., nothing older than early seventies and nothing newer than early eighties.)

Kewl :cool: I have more than a dozen of these stuffs. What can I say, I didn't smell anything... I think my ears are a lot better than my nose...

Wait, I will check my amps from that era...

Sheet, I couldn't smell anything!
 
I purchased an Eico signal generator at a flea a few months back - $0.99 - when I started dis-assembling the unit the aroma brought me back several decades.

Also found a role of Kester solder -- couldn't have been that old since it had a zip code on it! I used it soldering up a preamp with 20EZ7's -- the smell was, as Yogi Bera said "Deja vu all over again."
 
Some people already think that my accent is Dutch: not because I don't drink. Because my first English speaking country was South Africa.

Actually, there is an audio consultant who fled the draft in South Africa, who is quite successful, due to folks here mistaking his accent for British. It ain't his qualifications, he has a two year degree as a pipe fitter, used to require a consulting fee ($12,000!) to specify products, and has to keep his technical discussions to a minimum so he doesn't reveal his ignorance. His specialty is ripping off Southern Baptist Churches.

So mistaking your accent for Dutch seems like a good thing!
 
The smell of outgassing tolex, nicotine & fuzzy lining....

The smell of vintage guitar cases always brings me back a few decades. I imagine many of them have been saturated with nicotine over the years. It's gotta be the combination of outgassing nitro lacquer, cigarettes, tolex and the furry lining.......
 
thread resurrection!

I have just bought an 80's JVC Amplifier (A-X5)

When I unpacked it, I could smell something similar to a burning resistor or a leaky capacitor.

I have checked it out thoroughly, but can't find anything wrong with it - and it works perfectly.

I used to repair this sort of stuff back in the 80's and I don't remember it smelling like this (perhaps I was used to it - but I don't think so - it's quite a strong smell).

I also bought an 80's Realistic Tuner recently - that also smells the same!

I've read some of the comments in this thread - but I still wonder if it's leaky capacitors or something?

Surely it's not the PCB.. is it...?

Any ideas anyone?
 
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LOL..

Try sawing a piece of brown vero board..:D The dust is not very good for you though. The smell is quie nice..

I think the old transformers had a smell with black tar type sealant..

And the smell of the tolex on the amp boxes..

Wax caps and the solder resin/flux..I used to like the colours on the tropical fish caps..Then again I used to like the colours on a lot of the old components..:D
I have a few old valve radios that have this smell and with the gloss varnish and wood and the warm low level hum they seem alive..

I get this feeling with tube equipment that I have built in wooden cases, however not with all metal cases?? The old brown tube sockets had a smell when warm..

The red colour RS insulating varnish has an old world smell..I wonder if it has shellac in it? Thinking about it my SE EL34 has a shellac finish and it feels different to varnish..I would use shellac again on the case even though its not a tough as varnish and a pain in the neck to do..(You have to watch the level of heat though close to the tubes..)

Regards
M. Gregg
 
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