A weird problem
 

I just bought a nice Japanese made telecaster
Very good price
Sounds and looks fantastic
The problem is
The neck stinks a bit
I changed the strings that were on and they were some of the cause I think
But it still smells
I put lemon oil on it twice
It helped a little bit
Anything else I can do?
Thank you for the help

Can I ask what kind of smell? Are we talking about smoke-type smell... or more like dead animal carcass-type smell? Or just horrible human BO-type smell?

I've been told coffee beans can help get rid of smells. If the neck comes off, I'd remove the neck. Put the guitar and neck in a hard case with a bunch of coffee beans for a week and see (smell) what happens.

Take it off and clean it thoroughly.

Oops. Duplicate.

I bought a couple of guitars with filthy necks. What I did was first scrape fret to fret (with grain) to get the bulk of the gunk off. Gross, to be sure. I used a utility razor blade to scrape.

Then I did several scrubs with naphtha, until it seemed as clean as I could get it.

Then I used fine sandpaper, I think 1000 grit, maybe finer, again with the grain, and finished with 0000 steel wool (protect your pickups from the metal dust).

Finally, I re-oiled with whatever fretboard oils I had at the time. Now I use McKnights fretboard balm, although I rarely put it on again after the initial cleaning.

That seemed to bring the fretboard to nearly new condition.

Sometimes it’s the case that is housing the smell. If it came in an old case I would not store it in there any more and leave the case open to air out for days or weeks. Otherwise it’s a solid body guitar so the smell can’t hide , just wipe it down with a damp cloth, no chemicals, and use some elbow grease. If it continues to stink I’d consider maybe a scotch brite pad or steel wool but make sure those won’t warm your finish first.

Just leave it out of the case to air. This, too, shall pass.