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blueprints of these guitars and was the consultant for the Ibanez CSL copies. Before the current rise in interest in Django and his guitars, other
European builders produced instruments that emulated the Selmer design with their own variations. These instruments began to appear in the 1930s with Busato, Di Mauro and—from the 1940s—Jacobacci, Favino, Anasatasio, the Gérôme Brothers, Olivieri, Rossi, Bucolo, Patenotte, Siro Burgassi, and a few others. In the 1970s, Selmer copies were produced in Japan for CSL and
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had appeared, with an oval hole in place of the large D-shaped hole, no internal resonator, and a neck with 14 frets clear of the body in place of the original 12. It was officially called the "Modèle Jazz", but also known as the "Petite Bouche" (small mouth) or "Oval Hole". These later guitars also have revised internal bracing and a longer scale length of 670 mm (26.38 in). The vast bulk of guitars produced after the
Maccaferri period were sold in Selmer's native
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guitars were made in several versions, including gut string (classical), steel string, seven string (Hawaiian) and four string ("Grand" and "TĂ©nor") versions, plus a special four string "Eddie
Freeman" model (see below). Many of these guitars, produced during 1932 and 1933, were sold to the UK market via Selmer's London showroom (which also distributed the guitar to regional dealers) and it was during this period that the guitars became known as "Maccaferris" to Britons.
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musical and non-musical plastic products. Produced first under his own name, and after 1964 under the name "Mastro", the guitars were of short scale, but accurately fretted and intonated. These instruments were not a huge success at the time and are now considered oddities. However, the many variants of
Maccaferri's plastic
630:, and Doug Kyle in the U.K., Michael Dunn, Shelley D. Park and Michael Whitney in Canada, Leo Eimers in the Netherlands, Risto Ivanovski in Macedonia and Rodrigo Shopis in New York City. More recently, inexpensive factory instruments from Asia have become available under the Gitane and Dell'Arte/John S. Kinnard brands.
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Maccaferri designed the original guitars and oversaw their manufacture, but his involvement with Selmer ended after 18 months. Over the next few years, the design evolved without his input (including some transitional models with round soundholes). By 1936, the definitive version of the Selmer guitar
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did in
America: it was loud enough to hear over other instruments in a band. The "petite bouche" model has an especially loud and cutting voice, and remains the design preferred by lead players in Django-style bands, while the accompanying rhythm players often use D-hole instruments. (This was the
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Following his severance from Selmer, in 1939 Maccaferri moved to the United States and became interested in plastic manufacturing. He produced plastic classical and steel-string guitars — of similar shape to his Selmer designs, albeit with F-holes — in the 1950s and 60s, along with many
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guitar designs from which most modern acoustic guitar patterns ultimately derive), but with a wide fretboard more typical of a classical guitar; they also had 12 frets clear of the body, although left hand higher fret access was facilitated by a (then novel) cutaway in the upper right bout. These
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Tony Green's "Gypsy Jazz" group photographed in New
Orleans in 2012. The lead player (right) performs on a "petite bouche", oval hole Selmer-style instrument; the rhythm player (left) uses a modern modification of the original Selmer "grande bouche" / D-hole instrument, with 14 frets clear of the
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Prior to his association with Selmer, Maccaferri had acquired a reputation for building classical guitars with some of the features incorporated into his Selmer design including the cutaway, possibly the D-shaped sound hole, and in some cases, additional bass strings (harp guitars); photographs
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Selmer did not make many guitars — fewer than 1,000 — and the company stopped all production by 1952. Playable original
Selmers are rare and command high prices. One of the largest collections was owned by Louis Gallo (1907-1988), a close friend of Mario Maccaferri, who also possessed
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that was briefly successful in the UK market. Most of these instruments featured
Macaferri's distinctive D-shaped sound hole and cutaway design, and many contained the resonator. Production of all but the Modèle Jazz ended by the mid-1930s. Selmer also contracted the well-known American luthier
525:" school of his followers. From the 1930s through to the 1950s, however, Selmers were used by all types of performer in France and (in the early days) in the UK. The first Selmers sold in the UK were used in standard dance bands, and were associated with performers such as
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Common departures from the original designs include omitting the internal resonator, adding a scratchplate, using solid (non-laminated) woods, and building D-hole models with a 14th fret neck-join rather than the original 12th fret join.
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While
Maccaferri may no longer have been around (and his resonator had been abandoned), the later guitars retain many unusual characteristics of his original innovative design, including the cutaway, the world's first sealed oil-bath
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based on
Maccaferri's unorthodox design. Although Maccaferri's association with Selmer ended in 1934, the company continued to make several models of this guitar until 1952. The guitar was closely associated with jazz guitarist
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during its classic period in the late 1930s, and it remains the pattern for bands that emulate it.) Modern exponents of the style often amplify their instruments in concert, but may still play acoustically in small venues and
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Though best known for its steel-string D-hole and oval-hole guitars (known initially as the "Orchestre" and later the "Jazz" model), during the Maccaferri period Selmer also made and sold Maccaferri-designed
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to be sold under the Selmer brand for the U.S. market; this arrangement was short-lived and apparently only three instruments were constructed, of which a single one (from 1934) is known to survive.
623:, and in the 1980s for Saga Musical Instruments under the "Saga" brand. Meanwhile, a few French luthiers continued production. These include Jean-Pierre Favino and, more recently, Maurice Dupont.
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in the late 1970s and early 1980s to produce 440 updated versions of his original D-hole design. They were individually signed by him and are considered quite playable and collectable.
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Elsewhere, some high grade luthiers have offered Selmer-style guitars. These include Marco Roccia, Jerome Duffell, AJL (Ari-Jukka Luomaranta), John Le Voi, David Hodson, Rob Aylward,
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423: — this was designed to increase the volume of the guitar and to even out variations in volume and tone between different strings. The scale, at 640 mm, and
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760:"NMM 10458. Guitar by French American Reeds Manufacturing Company (Mario Maccaferri), New York, ca. 1953-1964. G40 model. Arne B. Larson Estate, 1989"
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Other models can be more conventional in appearance and construction, with the Modèle Classique, for example, essentially being a standard
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by English speakers, as early British advertising stressed the designer rather than manufacturer — is an unusual
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Special", a 4-string guitar with the scale-length and body-size of a standard guitar, designed to use with a special
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In its archetypal steel-string Jazz/Orchestre form, the Selmer is distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish
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Reconstruction of a portion of the Selmer-Maccaferri guitar workshop (1933), Musée de la Musique exhibition, 2012
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The number of surviving original Selmer guitars is not known exactly. Fewer than 200 are publicly known.
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In France, the Selmer was the top professional guitar for many years, and is heard in everything from
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Before the advent of amplification, the Selmer guitar appealed to European players the way
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Today, the Selmer guitar is almost completely associated with Django Reinhardt and the "
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of the early guitars was very similar to other contemporary guitars (including the
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survive of Maccaferri himself performing on such instruments during the 1920s.
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players usually couple the guitar with light, silver-plated, copper-wound
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Original (?) oval-hole / "petite bouche" Selmer guitar being played by
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enjoyed a considerable vogue in the 1950s and sold in large numbers.
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body as opposed to the 12 frets of the original design.
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145:Selmer-Maccaferri and Selmer style replica guitars
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510:made by Savarez (or copies of these), and heavy
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364:(about 47 mm or 1.850 in at the
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395:Early days: "Maccaferri" or D-hole guitar
344:, either a D-shaped or longitudinal oval
117:Learn how and when to remove this message
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291:best known as the favored instrument of
768:. National Music Museum. Archived from
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821:The Story of Selmer Maccaferri Guitars
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606:Copies, replicas, and similar guitars
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738:The Harp Guitars of Mario Maccaferri
408:Early models have a large, D-shaped
55:adding citations to reliable sources
614:Copy of a Selmer Maccaferri guitar.
440:Post-Maccaferri or Oval-Hole guitar
662:Maccaferri also collaborated with
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685:Wright, Michael (3 March 2002).
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598:to construct a small number of
492:Quintette du Hot Club de France
42:needs additional citations for
765:The University of South Dakota
368:) and a snake-shaped, slotted
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638:Surviving original Selmers
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646:Other Maccaferri guitars
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18:Selmer-Maccaferri guitar
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380:tops by this period).
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687:"Maccaferri History"
564:Other Selmer guitars
51:improve this article
514:, traditionally of
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325:acoustic guitars
321:Mario Maccaferri
293:Django Reinhardt
264:Colors available
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813:Bibliography
801:24 September
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44:verification
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796:Djangobooks
723:Charle 1999
711:Charle 1999
387:, flat-top
205:Picea abies
830:2951351615
670:References
527:Len Fillis
523:gypsy jazz
501:Gypsy jazz
410:sound hole
385:fan-braced
346:sound hole
285:Maccaferri
185:Neck joint
77:newspapers
531:Al Bowlly
512:plectrums
505:Argentine
414:resonator
370:headstock
362:fretboard
239:Fretboard
174:Body type
164:1932–1952
842:Category
471:mandolin
425:fretting
378:X-braced
350:mandolin
315:In 1932
283:or just
258:Rosewood
249:Hardware
222:Mahogany
218:Rosewood
189:Dovetail
657:ukulele
538:musette
508:strings
418:luthier
303:History
269:Natural
180:-Selmer
178:Archtop
91:scholar
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621:Ibanez
554:Favino
475:bridge
459:France
452:, 2012
433:Martin
429:Gibson
354:violin
317:Selmer
297:Selmer
254:Bridge
233:Walnut
207:) or
161:Period
155:Selmer
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342:bouts
243:Ebony
195:Woods
98:JSTOR
84:books
825:ISBN
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548:and
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275:The
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