New Martin smell

[kdirk16]

I'm trying to find the wood that you can smell from the sound hole of a new martin. I think its ceder but I'm not sure anyone know?

[OhioBelle]

Hooray! Another Sound-Hole Sniffer!

Sorry, I don't know the answer.

[Brucebubs]

Originally Posted by kdirk16

I'm trying to find the wood that you can smell from the sound hole of a new martin. I think its ceder but I'm not sure anyone know?

Er ... well a rosewood Martin smells like ... rosewood.
And a mahogany Martin smells like ... er mahogany.
It all depends on the model and the timber of course.
I'm guessing a carbon fiber Rainsong must smell like carbon monoxide?
I've read all the Zager blurbs and they smell kinda fishy.

[kdirk16]

I've bought 3 new martins in the last 2 years all different woods. They all smell the same. New Taylors don't smell like that!

[Neil K Walk]

Spanish cedar. It's what the kerfing is made of. It's also an alternative to mahogany for Martin's necks. My D-16GT reeks of the stuff because of the Spanish cedar neck.

[gilleyc]

Originally Posted by kdirk16

I've bought 3 new martins in the last 2 years all different woods. They all smell the same. New Taylors don't smell like that!

It's called Guitar CASE.....get a clue!

[zoopeda]

When my new Martin arrived, my wife opened it and called me to say, "Your new guitar looks incredible, sounds great, and smells like toxic waste." I've gotta say she was right. For about a month, you could really smell the glue and lacquer--hardly any way to smell the actual wood at all. Much more mellow now, a few months later.

[duluthdan]

Its the Nitro Cellulose Lacquer gassing off - in my experience with new Martins and new Gibsons, that magnificent aroma lasts about a year, as the lacquer hardens it gets less and less. Enjoy it while you can !

[KarGuitar]

I just got up and started sniffing. J45 smells super strong and awesome, you notice it when you pick up the guitar. Taylor has a just slight cedar smell if you stick your face in it. Martin second strongest but not as nice as the j45 for some reason. There's a hint of the devils tears in that one.

They all smell like some variants of cedar to me. None contain any cedar. I think I'd fail the blind sniff test overall.

[Dreadful]

The Spanish ceder has a lot to do with it, but all Martin's that have different tonewoods will have their own aroma, and the various rosewoods all smell different - I have bought new EIR, madi, and coco Martin's the past seven years. If a person keeps them in the case when not in use, the smell will last for years, with each year a little weaker.

[Denny B]

My wife has been real tolerant of all the buying, selling and trading I've done in my first year of learning guitar...

But I'm pretty sure if she saw me sniffing sound holes, her good humor might wear a little thin...

[Padge1984]

My hummingbird smelt much much stronger than my Martin. Use to love to just pick up the gibby and sniff. My 000 sounds much better though lol


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[picker#1]

Smells like Adirondack spruce to me.

[Wade Hampton]

I've never been much of a soundhole-sniffer, but the walnut guitars I've owned and own have got that rich walnut smell that just emanates out of them. You don't have to have your face anywhere close to the top to smell it, much less the soundhole.

Walnut is one of the more common trees where I grew up, so it smells like home to me.


whm

[nedray]

It was injected sort of abruptly above, but there's some truth to the statement that a lot of the smell comes from the case materials. You'll even notice it on some new solid body guitars. Woods do have their own aromas, but they're usually more subtle than the face full of bouquet you get when you open a guitar case. Then of course there's lacquer and glue which lend their own aromas to the mix.