I've successfully taught my other half to recognize and seek out the "This is legitimately vintage electronic equipment in fair condition." smell, since she and her family go out to odd places where our kind of things can turn up. She's had a few hits so far, but none of them proved worthy of purchasing.
Now I just need to teach her the difference between:
"Old electronics operating mostly normally."
"Old electronics that are mildly unhappy but probably OK for evaluation purposes."
"Old electronics that are extremely upset and are likely to fail very soon."
"Somebody just plugged it in fresh out of Grandma's basement and wrecked it."
"New electronics that have packed it in beyond economical repair."
"Hot resistor."
"Overloaded transformer."
"Over-current condition in PVC jacketed wire."
"Prolapsed Electrolytic."
"Those bloody annoying tantalums!"
"You failed to concentrate on where the operating end of the soldering iron is at all times and it just met some of your long beautiful hair."
I know what a recently failed selenium rectifier smells like, but I would prefer not to actually teach her that one...
I'll let her do that class module as homework.
Back to the original subject:
I think the actual smell is some combination of the plasticizers used in phenolic parts, rosin flux, adhesives, and something involved in how they printed manuals back then. Could also be plasticizers in the hook-up wire. I don't think it makes a difference if the unit is wrapped in fake leatherette, painted, or hammer-tone finished, or at least I can't notice a difference.
I should see if there's a mass-spec at a local Educational Edifice that could possibly analyze it. I'd seriously be interested in reproducing it. On the one hand it could be misused by adding it to a not genuine electronic device. On the other I'd be curious what kind of people it would attract when used cologne/perfume style. I may be onto something here. I'll bottle it and name it "Thermionic Musk." Who's with me?
On a side note, I think I just had a "the honeymoon is over" moment with Chrome. Seriously, neither plasticizer nor phenolic were recognized as legit words? Plasticize and Plasticine are both fine you say?
