CFMartin Ukuleles 100th anniversary of uke building?
- Thread starter Pukulele Pete
- Start date
PeteyHoudini
Well-known member
Glad you stocked up on the Martins for your future medical bills!!! ;-) hehe We have health care in Canada so I get to keep my Martins until I'm ready to be put down like Old Yeller. lol Now that I think about a 100th anniversary Martin uke, it doesn't make much sense because would it be in the style 2 or style 3 pricing range. That is already prohibitive and we already know how sales went down that road of no returns. hehe Doesn't mean I wouldn't have liked to see something on the Martin front! Not a tenor though. Maybe a soprano or a baritone?!!!
My Kamaka review is basically ready but I wanted to get down a bit of Campanella playing better. John King had that inspiration on his mother's pineapple uke so it is appropriate to show some of that playing. That is new to me in the sense that I've learned to play some. It is not easy. Seems to be about muscle memory in a way with those rolling triplets. I even wrote a little instrumental (non-campanella) on the Kamaka called "Pineapple espresso." Seems there is a place in Seattle called that. hehe
Yeah, I forget the name of the friendly guy in that photo next to me. His wife is on the left of Fred K. She was picking up a custom tenor there and had arranged this tour. The only reason I got to go on the mini tour was because I got up late at the hotel, had a quick brekkie in the hotel buffet restaurant, and while walking across the lobby dressed in Johnny Cash black in Waikiki, one of the guys saw me and asked what I was doing and if I'd like to come along for an improvised tour to Kamaka if I'd split on cab fare. I said, "Sure, I'm game." Kamaka had never been on my radar before. I had been thinking mainly to buy a Ko'aloha during my trip. That little jaunt was an amazing start to such a great trip!
Django
Well-known member
It has been brought up here and in other posts that Martin's bridges look cheap and unfinished. If you play guitar or banjo this should not bother you because it seems as normal as a bare fingerboard. I had written to Martin to ask if there is any finish on their guitar or ukulele bridges. They told me that they do not finish any bridges but they do stain some and use Dr. Ducks Axe Wax to treat them.
I had thought that the steel string guitar bridges were usually bare, but I wanted to be sure before saying that this was the case. The Guitar Honey makes them less dull and should not alter the value of the instrument. I think that it helps the bridge to blend in nicely.
I had thought that the steel string guitar bridges were usually bare, but I wanted to be sure before saying that this was the case. The Guitar Honey makes them less dull and should not alter the value of the instrument. I think that it helps the bridge to blend in nicely.
aquadan
Well-known member
The Martin Owners club treats us as 2nd class citizens too. When you join, among the items you get is a set of guitar strings. I've asked whether they could swap them for uke strings if I joined, but the answer is sorry, we just have guitar strings.
Django
Well-known member
I think that it is like bicycles. More women started riding, so now they produce women's specific models. They cannot accommodate the small fringe and the fringe does not become the mainstream without being accommodated. Catch 22. I still love their instruments, but it would have been nice if they had at least made a token effort. Maybe they will still surprise us. Anyway, they are not the only game in town and you can still get a 2016 Martin Ukulele. Maybe someone will commission a Centennial Martin. A one of a kind, custom, Centennial Martin Ukulele would probably appreciate. Antiques Road Show, 2066. I'll be 111, so I will not bother.
coolkayaker1
Well-known member
That's a sad anecdote, brother Dan, about the strings. Bottom line, as you suggest, ukuleles are just not high moneymakers, and thus not high priority, at Modern Martin. Add to that fact that certain models made a couple years ago, like Style 2 Koa and mahogany, are no longer made, it's pretty telling.
Frankly, I will never forget the thread about how brother Houdini was treated by Martin, under full warranty, on his split Katalox fretboard in 2013. Not a star moment for Martin. Many reasons to buy the vintage stuff, not the least of which is that they are a relative bargain compared to Laughlin, Kiwaya, and even Martin Nazareth themselves.
Ukulele Eddie
Well-known member
That may be true for S0 and S1, but a Laughlin 5K replica new goes for $3,800 and there was a used one recently for $2,500. Haven't seen a vintage 5K for close to that. ;-)
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coolkayaker1
Well-known member
The $9k Martin 5k will be worth three times that in fifty years.
The $3800 Laughlin...not so much. (I'll leave it to the pundits to conject whether it'll be worth anything.Lol)
So, yea, the Martin is a relative bargain.
Ukulele Eddie
Well-known member
The $9k Martin 5k will be worth three times that in fifty years.
The $3800 Laughlin...not so much. (I'll leave it to the pundits to conject whether it'll be worth anything.Lol)
So, yea, the Martin is a relative bargain.
Haha. Maybe. But I'm not sure today's Martins will appreciate in the same manner as those of yester-year. But maybe...
I just got The Ukulele: A History by Tranquada and King so I would like to share this. Respectfully:
"Kamaka managed to stay in production during the Depression but suspended operations during World War II when labor and materials became unavailable."
"Unable to obtain wood and other essential supplies, Sam Kamaka Sr., who had started growing flowers in Kaneohe in the 1930s to supplement his slender ukulele sales, rented out his South King Street shop, worked part-time at Pearl Harbor, and began growing mangoes on a farm in Waianae."
After keeping up with this thread for a while now, I've come to my own conclusion. I could be wrong too, but this is what I think at the moment. Feel free to disagree and show me another way...
It seems to me that Martin now (in 2016 at least) considers the ukulele like a red-headed stepchild, and as such wants to ignore it as along as possible and eventually kill it off, even if only because there are SO MANY of us that want them to do something AMAZING for the centennial, at this is just SO painfully inconvenient for them, that it will likely not happen.
Martin and Gibson were both pioneers in so many instruments at the time, and what I do not understand is how and why they seem to want to refute the heritage that made them strong.
It is a sad, sad shame. I expect sometime in the next 5 yrs, Martin will outsource and move all manufacturing to an Asian factory, except for the 'Artisan' series $5k guitars or whatever it's called now. NAMM 2020 will have 'MADE IN CHINA' stickers on the back of the headstocks of all of Martin's instruments on display.
Oh, well...time for me to obsess about something else for a while.
It seems to me that Martin now (in 2016 at least) considers the ukulele like a red-headed stepchild, and as such wants to ignore it as along as possible and eventually kill it off, even if only because there are SO MANY of us that want them to do something AMAZING for the centennial, at this is just SO painfully inconvenient for them, that it will likely not happen.
Martin and Gibson were both pioneers in so many instruments at the time, and what I do not understand is how and why they seem to want to refute the heritage that made them strong.
It is a sad, sad shame. I expect sometime in the next 5 yrs, Martin will outsource and move all manufacturing to an Asian factory, except for the 'Artisan' series $5k guitars or whatever it's called now. NAMM 2020 will have 'MADE IN CHINA' stickers on the back of the headstocks of all of Martin's instruments on display.
Oh, well...time for me to obsess about something else for a while.
Ukulele Eddie
Well-known member
Eddie, thanks for your reply and giving some cash metrics to it all.
While it makes business sense, it does not feel good. Maybe it's just me.
gtomatt
Well-known member
E-mail I sent to Martin earlier today (rather than continue to wonder/speculate, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask):
"Greetings,
I’m wondering if you folks have any plans to release a centennial model to celebrate 100 years of Martin ‘ukuleles?
Due to the popularity of these instruments today and that they were an integral part of Martin production at one point, I would think that a definite market would exist, especially based upon the “buzz” on some of the ‘ukulele forums hoping for something special from you folks this year.
Thank you for your time
Regards,
Matt (a very happy Martin owner)"
Response I received a little bit ago:
"Matt,
Thanks for asking. Although we can’t disclose new model information, we are well aware of the timing of the Ukulele and its importance to our history.
Uke production, for protos, began in 1915 but really kicked off in 1917.
Stay tuned,
B"
"Greetings,
I’m wondering if you folks have any plans to release a centennial model to celebrate 100 years of Martin ‘ukuleles?
Due to the popularity of these instruments today and that they were an integral part of Martin production at one point, I would think that a definite market would exist, especially based upon the “buzz” on some of the ‘ukulele forums hoping for something special from you folks this year.
Thank you for your time
Regards,
Matt (a very happy Martin owner)"
Response I received a little bit ago:
"Matt,
Thanks for asking. Although we can’t disclose new model information, we are well aware of the timing of the Ukulele and its importance to our history.
Uke production, for protos, began in 1915 but really kicked off in 1917.
Stay tuned,
B"
uketeecee
Well-known member
So we'll be celebrating in 2017 then?
It's debatable when Martin ukulele production began. Martin first tried making ukuleles in 1907 but failed and it wasn't until 1915 that they tasted some small success.
However, in 1926 Martin ukulele sales really exploded. (See chart)
Great Chart...... What is the source and how does their product look after this time period. Great to hear we are likely to see some kind of celebrations model wise perhaps in 2017. 14,000 Ukuleles is a lot.........
uketeecee
Well-known member
The source is Jim Beloff's book 'The Ukulele - A Visual History' (Page 20) http://www.amazon.com/ukulele-visual-history-Jim-Beloff/dp/0879307587/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453004031&sr=8-2&keywords=Jim+beloff+Visual
Production totals after the first 20 years are also listed in the same book (page 21).
Martin uke production numbers were down in the second 20 years but spiked in 1950 when TV host Arthur Godfrey made the ukulele popular once again for a brief period.
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