I just imported some vintage hardware from Japan that was listed as being refurbished, in excellent condition - and it is, except for the fact that all the rubber parts smell strongly of tobacco and it took two days before my hands stopped smelling of it after wiping it down with isopropyl, and using it once.
Never again.
If it’s silicone pad sheets, for my SP202 I had to bake them at a low temperature and then wash with dish soap to release the odor/oil. When all my other tricks failed, I read about it online, mostly related to cookware that had taken on strong odors.
I’d confirm it’s made of silicone first, but despite my skepticism worked like a charm.
By pad sheets, I mean like this (fwiw):
That’s absolutely disgusting, yikes. Hope you can get it deodorized! I’ve not had the problem yet but I’m always worried my next used purchase will be the one.
The first rule of Gear Club is Don’t Sell
I was surprised at how pervasive it was.
It’s a Yamaha QY70, and I had already used orange oil to remove a disintegrating foam pad from the battery door (no big deal) so my hands were smelling of that first (but that stuff smells nice).
After then wiping it down with isopropyl alcohol and thinking it might be okay, I used it for an hour or two. It seemed to get worse again as it was used/heated up.
I tried all kinds of soaps on my hands - bar soap, gel soaps, and mechanic soap - and a few hours later I’d get this faint smell of tobacco on my fingers again after the soap’s scent had disappeared. Nightmare.
I’ve heard that disassembly is complex (it’s a handheld device with multiple PCBs, from the '90s) and that the pads are quite fragile - so I’m hesitant to try baking and washing them when it’s in good working condition.
At this point, it’s sitting in two layers of plastic bags and I think I’m going to have to take a loss to get rid of it (because I will be listing this in its condition).
I strongly agree with all of this. If your financial situation is solid and you have done your homework, this is a great time to pick up bargains on older gear that is unfairly unloved. But it’s also a great time to hand off gear to your friend who is in a tight situation rather than try to squeeze out another $50 on Craigslist. Kindness always pays off, and I have never regretted selling stuff cheap.
I bought a second hand Adaptec 1542B SCSI card in '93 or maybe '94, and it reeked of tobacco. Not a big deal since I put the card into my computer and the box inside another box. But I held on to the card and package until 2016 or so when I finally sent it to recycling, and it still smelled of nicotine.
Smoking is common enough in Japan that midrange hotels and train stations often have smoking rooms where you can hotbox with the other nicotine enthusiasts. They are usually packed, and I was only able to get a photo of the one above empty because I woke up at 3AM due to jet lag.
Interestingly, I didn’t notice any tobacco smell when I walked through the music shops in Ochanomizu (Tokyo), but I usually notice tobacco smell in US thrift stores. I’m planning on buying some second hand camera gear in Japan next spring, so will pay closer attention to smells.
You might put an open box of baking soda in the bag with the QY70, but that is likely to just reduce rather than eliminate odor. It is likely that all of the internal surfaces are coated. You probably need to disassemble and clean everything individually with high proof alcohol. At that point, you are probably putting in enough labor to have bought a new MC-707 instead.
I’ve not had much success with that in the past - even when it has not been tobacco/nicotine.
As you say, the issue with nicotine is that it actually coats the device, inside and out - so every surface has to be thoroughly cleaned (if you can even get it out of the rubber pads).
I got a Buchla module recently that reeked of nicotine. first time I’d gotten a smokey smelling piece of gear in years. I’m usually very careful to ask about that before purchase, if they don’t mention it. somehow I’d forgotten to this time. I didn’t cause a stink (pun intended) over it because the seller had accepted my lower offer; also I felt kinda stupid and mad at myself at that point, because I had spoken directly with him and not asked. 
but man… there’s nothing like that punch in the face of nicotine stink you get when you unfurl the bubble wrap! 
def seems that way, been trading gear for 25 years, synths for almost ten. it is however a buyers market tho a lot of unexperienced sellers whether that be new musicians or older ones coming out of the woodwork to liquidate who aren’t very savvy to the market.
Yeah often with new stuff people can get it on sale and then sell it for less, and then the next person might pass it on for a bit less… I think the whole scalper mentality has leaked into the online used markets. Vintage VAs seems to be the current synths on the rise… pretty much all the great ones are a bit too expensive to be worth while at this point imo. I was looking at the waldorf Q Rack recently and every single one on reverb was asking like 500$ more that they had sold for in years.
The fees doubled when Etsy bought reverb. So sellers lose a lot more money on each sale, thus prices have gone up.
It’s the greedy platforms that are part of the issue.
First hand market is very different, at least where I’m from. People that aren’t musicians who want to become one, go there first, and sometimes spend a lot of cash. Yesterday someone buy an entire Yamaha PA band setup for personal listening (which, baddass, btw).
Anyone else notice that gear seems to me moving pretty quickly again on Reverb? I’m not a seller myself, but I tend to follow a lot of specific items for gear I’m interested in: Older MPCs, Tascam 4 tracks, new and legacy Elektron boxes…seems like every day I’m seeing 5-10 items I follow sell for pretty close to asking price. Compared to 3-6 months ago when a lot of things were sitting for ages. Maybe a good sign for the economy?
If you’re in the US, it could be partially because it’s tax season.
my $17 tax refund is burning a hole in my pocket!!!
The forever escalating exponential expectations of profitability that encourages such activity as well!
well I’ve noticed that my things are selling faster on Reverb than here or MW. a few items I had listed for a month or more and dropped the price on multiple times, I then listed on Reverb for higher prices and sold them within a day or two. of course, I still took less home because of fees… but yeah, right after xmas stuff started to sell pretty quick there.
My parents were some of the first folks on ebay. Before the company went public. My dad was an antique toy dealer prior, so when ebay came out it was like his brick and mortar shop’s doors opened nationally. It was wild to see the sale prices of things we thought would be junk skyrocket. Cereal boxes specifically. Ebay’s fees kept growing to the point where he finally left. Also so many people hope they have the golden ticket that’s sale is going to let them retire. I think the “Buy now” option changed the way people price their products. Prior we had no idea what something would go for until the auction was over. Plus, after years of data research, one could begin to see trends so folks believed their products were worth the highest price a similar item sold for in the past, and not always taking in to account the state of the economy. 08 nearly shut down a lot of ma and pop antique dealers.
I would also like to blame all those house flipping shows (somewhat sarcastically). So many americans still believe they’re displaced millionaires.
this is why my retirement is exclusively in ugly monkey jpegs and metaverse REITs!
Sigh, finding good deals on things on CL outside my state, but one DEFINITELY hinky price only had Venmo and another person tried to work it out through Paypal but backed out when he wouldn’t get his funds for 20 days.
It’d be nice if we had good alternatives for escrow/negotiation but I’m not really aware of any large ones for peer to peer transactions.
