The Martin Smell

Several questions:

- What causes that wonderful Martin smell? It smells like a wooden box that was used to store nice pipe tobacco. Is it the wood? ...the glue? Is it the odor of the Martin Genie that lives inside the ukulele? What causes it?

- How long does it last? Do old Martins from the distant past still have it, or does it eventually fade away completely?

- Do Martin guitars have the same smell as the ukuleles?

- The 0XK isn't even "real" wood, but it still has the Martin smell. Why?

- Has anyone ever discovered a way to reproduce it?

Not exactly an answer to your interesting questions (anyone asked the Martin company directly?), but this is something I found around a year ago.

An article appeared in the Wall Street Journal about using olfactory points of sale applied to unusual merchandise: http://www.wsj.com/articles/should-companies-trademark-scents-1428965455. The ukulele quote, for your reading pleasure:

"Flotek is one of a small number of companies trying to trademark their efforts to grab customers by the nose. A U.S. ukulele company won trademark protection for a scent that—according to its application—lends its little stringed instruments a distinctive piña colada aroma. [...] Securing trademark protection doesn’t guarantee a marketing benefit. Eddy Finn Ukulele Co., the company that adds a tropical scent to its ukuleles, is a cautionary tale. Its slogan: “Play to your senses!” A division of SHS International in Indianapolis, the company sought and won a trademark for the scent of a piña colada—“the smell of the beach” as SHS’s founder Guy Petty puts it—and trumpeted the victory on its website. Only later did it realize that its biggest obstacle was technical, not legal. The problem was with the aerosol spray coating the inside of its instruments. Ukuleles shipped overseas lost their scent during the voyage, according to Mr. Petty, so by the time their international customers plucked them, they just smelled like ukuleles. “We just have to find a better way to keep the scent from evaporating,” he said."

The article continues with how reluctant patent offices are to trademarking scents that are not of practical use (e.g. not in the perfume-soap-cleaner aisles). Only in the UK did one company succesfully trademark the non-perfume-ish 'strong smell of bitter beer'. Hmmm.

- Do Martin guitars have the same smell as the ukuleles?

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In my experience, yes!

- The 0XK isn't even "real" wood, but it still has the Martin smell. Why?

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I'm guessing, the bracing, which is real wood. Also, the neck is real wood!

- Has anyone ever discovered a way to reproduce it?

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Chris Martin hopes not!!

I love the smell!

My 30's style 0 still has a faint smell, like my C1K, if I remember right.

Found this thread on a perfume site
http://www.fragrantica.com/board/viewtopic.php?id=70414

One person who has smelled a Martin says this smells like it
http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Diptyque/Philosykos-3865.html

Did you consider that maybe the previous owner ( I'm assuming it is vintage ) put pipe tobacco in the uke to cover up a moldy smell ?
I've got a 20's style 2 with vintage case that both have a mold/mildew/? smell. I've tried baking soda , deoderizer , right now it has ground coffee ( for a month ).
My last resort may be some nice smelling pipe tobacco. I have over a dozen ukes , this is the only one I have bothered to smell.

The intoxicating smell that emanates from the soundholes of new Martin instruments comes mostly from the cedar kerfing.

Kerfing is a wood lining that is glued to the inside of the top and bottom of the rim (sides) of guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, etc... to create an interior surface, onto which the top and bottom of the instrument is glued.




Scooter