Taking some of the ideas discussed in the other thread about violins having  smell that is not always a pleasant or wanted one that can be there all the time or seems to appear as certain notes are played, I decided to put together one of the "custom scenters" we were talking about.

My acoustic violin isn't too bad, it just has a bit of factory and warehouse smell.  It also has a bit of the tung oil smell left from refinishing he fingerboard and neck.  Nothing I would consider actually bad (though I am betting it spent some time in a warehouse near a waterfront at some point), but I felt there definitely could be nicer scent options.

I decided to stick with natural materials that aren't uncommon around musical instruments to make it from.  So if someone saw it in an instrument case or on the instrument when it is in the case, it wouldn't look too out of place. 

I found a small cork that was just a tiny bit too large to fit in the larger eyes of the soundholes.  Definitely big enough that it couldn't fall in.  Then I drilled out the center of the cork to a diameter of maybe a little over 2 mm.  I packed a little bit of cotton (from a cottonball) into the drilled hole, making sure it was well enough inside that no stray strands of fiber could wick oil or cologne out onto the instrument itself.  Then I trimmed down the sides of the cork a little with a razor so it would just fit snugly enough in the eye of the soundhole to not fall out of place, but was not wedged in so tight as to put pressure on the wood.  Lastly, I wrapped a small rubber band around the top of the cork a couple of times to make a sort of grip for putting it in place and taking it back out and so the item looked a little more like some small piece of gear rather than just a little cork.

Ok, so then I tested it.  I used one single drop of an aromatherapy oil, sandalwood in a jojoba carrier.  Sandalwood is usually a fairly mild and neutral scent, but I thought it best to avoid a strong concentration of it until I knew how much it would scent the violin and case.  Good thought, there.  Even the mild smelling sandalwood oil has given a definite scent to the violin and case over the past 48 hours.  I left the "scenter"
 in the case while the violin was out, which may be why so far the case has a stronger scent than the instrument itself.  But that isn't a bad thing either, since it has pretty much wiped out the "new synthetic lining smell", which isn't such an unpleasant smell but the sandalwood is a bit nicer.

So there you go.  Simple enough to make, and with a bit of care it can be made and used so that it is very unlikely to harm the instrument or case.

People can laugh if they like, but scent is one of the aesthetic qualities of any instrument.  Wanting it to smell nice is no sillier than people wanting the varnish shiny or a certain color.  In some cases, like springer mentioning cigarette smoke smell, a used violin could have scents that one doesn't want and would prefer to replace with something else.  You may find a fiddle that is nice quality going used, but would one want to give it to their school age child to learn on if it smells like tobacco (or other) smoke or alcoholic beverages or whatever?  Or the other way around, you could get a really good deal on a used student violin and not care for it smelling of teenage perfume or whatever.

Anyway, not hard to do, and this simple design seems to work.  I would suggest going very light/dilute with scents though, since they will be a lot easier to get in than get out with instruments and cases.  Too much of even a nice thing can get obnoxious real fast.