CFMartin Ukuleles 100th anniversary of uke building?

Pukulele Pete

Pukulele Pete

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I just read on the Four String Farmhouse that it has been 100 years
since C.F.Martin started building ukuleles .
There is nothing about this on their website.
Do they not care ?
I was hoping for a 100th anniversary soprano but there doesnt seem to be any mention of the 100th anniversary anything, anywhere, on their site.
I'm hoping that I'm wrong but ,..............:confused:
 
Not sure, you could try putting a call or e-mail into Dick Boak @ Martin as he is usually the guy who oversees or announces such campaigns..
 
I've sent a few emails to Martin in the last year asking about this and the closest thing I got to an answer was " that's a good idea " .
 
From the looks of their site, it appears that they have stopped making the 2, 2k, 3 and 3K ukes. I hope that's not a sign that they are going to pull out of the uke market again.

Kurt
 
Seems like their plan for the 100th is to stop building ukuleles . Maybe there will be an announcement to the contrary in the near future.
 
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kdmccullum said:
From the looks of their site, it appears that they have stopped making the 2, 2k, 3 and 3K ukes. I hope that's not a sign that they are going to pull out of the uke market again.

Kurt
Click to expand...

Those have been off the site for awhile now. I opted to order a C1K which comes from their Mexico factory and was quoted a January delivery to the dealer... I understand orders from Nazareth are on par with that time as well. So it sounds like production in more spread out time frames, but the remaining 8 are available if the dealer orders them in. Some dealers actually had the discontinued models in stock if you call around. Martin customer service can also tell you which dealers may still have discontinued models, but they don't post these typically online as they do like their discontinued guitars..
 
The Martin Dreadnaught Guitar will also be celebrating it's Centennial anniversary in 2016. Because they have said nothing regarding the Ukulele, I would be surprised if they had any intention of marking this milestone in a meaningful way, ( I hope that I am wrong). Like it or not, Martin is a business and the ukulele is still an offbeat instrument. I also believe that the ukulele's popularity is declining at the moment and there are many perfectly good instruments being made by companies with an unfair advantage over Martin. For me, there has always been something special about a Martin, so I remain loyal.

I have 5 Martin ukuleles including a recent 3K, 3 Cherry and 5K. They are pricey, but in my humble opinion, still worth the money and I am glad that they reissued them. Despite the complaints that I hear, they are responsive and a joy to play and look at and I prefer the more refined sound over that of my vintage Martin style 1.

I am a little disappointed that Martin is unlikely to have a 100th anniversary ukulele, but I am glad that they got back in the game, at least for long enough for folks like me to be able to own a 5K for less than the price of a middle of the road Martin Guitar, (I got mine new from Reno's for just over $3,000.00). That is a lot for me to spend, but Martin has not made very many and if they stop, it will become a limited commodity. Anyway, my daughters will have to worry about that, as I have no thoughts of ever letting this one go.

I have played guitar, (mostly Martins), for the best part of my 60 years and I have only played the ukulele for 11 months, but I have to say that in that short time I have learned to love and respect this happy and versatile little instrument and that I don't pick up a guitar or banjo very often anymore. The real shame to me would have been if Martin had not entered the ukulele business, in this century or the last.
 
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From what I can figure , The 100th for Martin Ukuleles will be 2016 . Maybe when they announce the anniversary of the Martin Dreadnaught , they will also mark the 100th for the Ukuleles.
 
Django said:
I have 5 Martin ukuleles including a recent 3K, 3 Cherry and 5K. They are pricey, but in my humble opinion, still worth the money and I am glad that they reissued them. Despite the complaints that I hear, they are responsive and a joy to play and look at and I prefer the more refined sound over that of my vintage Martin style 1.
Click to expand...

Glad you like the new Martin ukes like me! My 3 cherry is the uke of my dreams. Seems Martin is still committed to making the 3 cherry model. :cool: Though, they require a king's ransom to buy one! ;-) hehe Luckily, I have my style 2 soprano as well. It is amazing as well. I also have style 3 soprano, but I don't play it. I have both the concert style 2 and 2k. The 2k is just fantastic. I see they are still making those concert ukes.

I would have liked to have seen a "100th" anniversary uke...

Petey
 
PeteyHoudini said:
I also have style 3 soprano, but I don't play it.

I have been looking for a Style 3 Mahogany, but now I am wondering why yours doesn't get played. I always liked Hog-top guitars, (I don't know how to do the better quote). I do enjoy your Paris in the 20s. Great tune and clever lyrics.
Click to expand...
 
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PeteyHoudini said:
Glad you like the new Martin ukes like me! My 3 cherry is the uke of my dreams. Seems Martin is still committed to making the 3 cherry model. :cool: Though, they require a king's ransom to buy one! ;-) hehe Luckily, I have my style 2 soprano as well. It is amazing as well. I also have style 3 soprano, but I don't play it. I have both the concert style 2 and 2k. The 2k is just fantastic. I see they are still making those concert ukes.

I would have liked to have seen a "100th" anniversary uke...

Petey
Click to expand...

I am finding out that the C1K I have on order will have a 2016 production date and delivered to the dealer sometime by the end of January. I didn't plan that, but maybe there will be some nod by Martin of their 100 years of their first entry into the Uke market. I put my Nazareth-made uke purchases off to be able to buy one made in their Centurian milestone of their first Uke in 1916. We'll see what happens... Either way, I plan on acquiring a new 2K Concert before this time next year.

Den
 
Django said:
PeteyHoudini said:
I also have style 3 soprano, but I don't play it.

I have been looking for a Style 3 Mahogany, but now I am wondering why yours doesn't get played. I always liked Hog-top guitars, (I don't know how to do the better quote). I do enjoy your Paris in the 20s. Great tune and clever lyrics.
Click to expand...

My style 3 soprano has some slight intonation issues. I need to change the strings, add lemon oil, and then test it again before Christmas. I just left it for a few years since I mainly play my style 2, 3 cherry, and 2k tenor. I'm such a procrastinator! Though, I just tested the style 3 now (hadn't been tuned for ages) and the intonation seems fine! Weird. It seems ok now. I had left it out of its case for 4 months when it was really humid here. You can always tell bad intonation when you move do a Bm chord or B major and move it up the neck and play.

Thanks. "Paris in the 20s" is my little mad scramble in Ab major and Fm. Very tricky to play but very fun to sing and play!

@ukuleleden: If Martin has something cooking for the 100th anniversary, I assume it would appear at NAMM.

Pete
Click to expand...
 
PeteyHoudini said:
Django said:
@ukuleleden: If Martin has something cooking for the 100th anniversary, I assume it would appear at NAMM.

Pete
Click to expand...

It would be nice if they did something for the 100th anniversary of their first ukulele. But I am not over the moon to own something designated a 100th anniversary, especially if it means paying more for that designation. I'd be content with just owning a nice example of one of their regular Style 2 or 3 models.
Click to expand...
 
The death of this wave of ukulele has cometh. High-end ukes not selling; Collings cut back to return to guitars; Breedlove stopped production altogether; previously "too busy" Mya Moe has added plenty of ukes to their already-built "store"; K brands are reselling at, literally, half their original price, if that; NAMM ukulele vendor attendance is way, way, way down; some ukulele players now adopting guitar (Danielle, J Nunes, V. Vox, etc.); significantly less new YouTube ukulele videos, performances and tutorials; Jake's brand new CD has been met with a collective yawn (relative to his prior CDs).

And, ever-savvy Martin has decided to focus on their under-$1000 imported stuff (until pulling the plug on even that when sales sag in 2016-2017). Heck, I was in a new, huge mega-Guitar Center in Illinois just last night. Know how many ukes they had on display? Zero! No kidding, not even their usual Lanakais and Lunas. I asked the sales manager and was told there's not enough "shelf space" but they could order me whatever I wanted. This is a new 12k-square foot mega store with everything from tambourines to rainsticks.

I think it's all Iz's fault. The Martin ukulele "jumped the shark" when they commissioned that fruity Iz model that sold about as well as Venus flytraps to a flea circus.
 
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coolkayaker1 said:
The death of this wave of ukulele has cometh. High-end ukes not selling
I think it's all Iz's fault. The Martin ukulele "jumped the shark" when they commissioned that fruity Iz model that sold about as well as Venus flytraps to a flea circus.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Steve, I think you are quite right about the high-end uke/high-price being out of most ukulele player's league and killing off such ukes. Luckily I got the ones I wanted and especially when the Canadian dollar was at par with the US $. I've always had a sense of timing and very often before the trends. (i.e. started ukulele in 2006, made my first web pages in 2005).

As for the IZ biz... not sure I would bandy about in jest about jumping "the shark" and IZ's internment at sea with his Martin tenor. I have all the other new Martin tenors except the IZeroo one. I saw one hanging high above in Honolulu at the Puapua shop last March 2015 but I didn't ask to play it. I saw it like Mauna Kea there... a bit-sacred in a way... so, I passed on playing it despite my obvious past with the new Martins.

Pete
 
Pete, I have to agree with you and Steve about the sense of a spiral, especially in the $1K+ Uke segment. My local Martin dealer who isn't shy about stocking high-end Martin, Gibson and Taylor guitars (several over $10K) hasn't ordered for store stock any new Martin ukuleles in about a one year. Actually, they only have had a few T-1's and a pair of S1's they got in in 2014 and have sat unsold until I recently purchased a new in the box S-1 as they were willing to discount it and accepted a no-cash trade from me of several lower priced tenor Ukes I had sitting around I wasn't playing.
They're so negative about ukulele sales, they're not stocking any new Martin Ukes for their store stock and sell them now by special-order only. Heck, they even dumped Lanikai completely and the only uke brands they actually keep in stock now are Córdoba and Kala and not many of those either. Keep in mind this is a dealer with 3 retail sites in the NYC suburbs where disposable income isn't typically in short supply, so this is all a bit telling to me and supports yours and Steve's position about a soft uke market.

In the last several years, I have been mostly buying from what I consider the Ukulele 4. Those for me are: UkeRepublic, TheUkulelesite(HMS), Elderly, and MIM's. With the amount of mentioning they all get here by so many members, I would guess they are doing the best among most uke dealers, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear from any of them that they have experienced an overall slowdown. I'm sure there may be some exceptions somewhere, maybe like very low production boutique makers like Chuck Moore and others, but only they can say for sure. However, as Steve pointed out Breedlove ceased production, Collings cutting down, Mya Moe availability up and used examples of higher-end Ukes requiring to be significantly discounted to make a sale. It's all indeed evidence of the fall from the peak which seemingly was in the last 3-5 years.

It may be hard to grasp by some based on this forum as there are lots of NUD's here, but we have to remember as many as there are here, we're a very concentrated group with probably the highest amount of online interactivity of the ukulele so it's no surprise to get that activity measurement here, but probably not enough to support where the peak of the overall market was.

I'm not sure if any dealers who are forum members are willing to share their number trends, but I have to believe the uke market continues to be soft.
 
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As some people have pointed out, UU is certainly not representative of the overall ukulele market. Even those among us who think they have "cheap instruments" have better ukes the most of the market. According to NAMM data*, 2014 sales were up ever so slightly over 2013 ($ up about 6%; units up about 4.5%), which was the first year/year decline since 2009 (the earliest year of data for this instrument). Still, the overall ukulele market in North America (sorry ROW, don't have data for you), is minuscule at less than $70MM dollars. Clearly, the growth has slowed the last two years but it is still up 123% on value and 100% on units. See page 12.

https://www.namm.org/files/ihdp-viewer/global-report-2015/#?page=12

All this doesn't mean that many ukulele makers aren't hurting. It is very evident given the growth in the market, that many new suppliers came in and supply simply exceeds demand. Some will leave, so will stay.

* This does not capture luthier direct sales.
 
ukuleleden said:
Pete, I have to agree with you and Steve about the sense of a spiral, especially in the $1K+ Uke segment.............. It may be hard to grasp by some based on this forum as there are lots of NUD's here, but we have to remember as many as there are here, we're a very concentrated group with probably the highest amount of online interactivity of the ukulele so it's no surprise to get that activity measurement here, but probably not enough to support where the peak of the overall market was.
Click to expand...

Totally agreed with everything you wrote. :cool: The NUDs here are a lot, but we are an intense group devoted to the ukulele and we take our uke buying seriously. hehe Hey, any Black Friday deals on ukes??? lol hehe

@Ukulele Eddie: Thanks for the great info! Indeed, UU is not representative as we buy a ton of ukes here!

Pete
 
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