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.)
Should I be mindful of this or am I just being paranoid?
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.)
Should I be mindful of this or am I just being paranoid?
Oh yeah... you're right!
Whatever that smell, I love it. Grew up with it, so it seems comforting to me.
But it may not be just one smell. I recently bought a pair of Altec A7s. The insides of the cabinets had a "vintage" smell. Not mold or mildew
but something from the past. No quite the old amp smell, but similar. Vintage paint? Lead?Man, if I could bottle that smell there would be a lot of old geezers like us who would buy it.
Familiarity breeds contempt?
I think it's phenolics AND cigarettes. I lit up a HP 5245L (nixie counter) and immediately recalled the factory i worked in as a teen.
When you light up vintage ham radio equipment it never seems to quite rid itself of the nicotine -- and that's not the worst thing in the universe.
Should I be concerned at all about sitting in my office all day breathing this in?
Yes, this is a deadly serious problem. Your vintage electronics should be removed from your office IMMEDIATELY and given to someone who is an expert in the disposal and toxicology of electronic gear. Since this can be frightfully expensive and I wish to approach the issue as an altruist, I will PM you my address, where you can send the equipment to be handled safely.
LOL!
On the serious side, phenol is toxic and mutagenic. Formaldehyde can cause allergies and is an irritant. It denaturates proteins of the retina, causing blindness. This is why people get blind if they get intoxicated from methanol. Methanol is metabolized into formaldehyde in the liver.
I'd rather give up smoking than get rid of my beloved electronic stuff, though.
On the serious side, phenol is toxic and mutagenic. Formaldehyde can cause allergies and is an irritant. It denaturates proteins of the retina, causing blindness. This is why people get blind if they get intoxicated from methanol. Methanol is metabolized into formaldehyde in the liver.
I'd rather give up smoking than get rid of my beloved electronic stuff, though.
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