Selmer guitar
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
Selmer guitar | |
---|---|
Neck | Walnut |
Fretboard | Ebony |
Hardware | |
Bridge | Rosewood |
Colors available | |
Natural |
The Selmer guitar — often called a Selmer-Maccaferri or just Maccaferri by English speakers, as early British advertising stressed the designer rather than manufacturer — is an unusual
History
In 1932
Construction
In its archetypal steel-string Jazz/Orchestre form, the Selmer is distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish
Other models can be more conventional in appearance and construction, with the Modèle Classique, for example, essentially being a standard fan-braced, flat-top classical guitar.
Early days: "Maccaferri" or D-hole guitar
Early models have a large, D-shaped
Post-Maccaferri or Oval-Hole guitar
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[2] version of the Selmer guitar 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 France; these later guitars are always referred to as "Selmers" (as are the earlier guitars by the French).
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 machine heads and a top that is bent, mandolin-style, behind the floating bridge — something that contributes to the guitar's remarkable volume when played.
Use
Before the advent of amplification, the Selmer guitar appealed to European players the way
Today, the Selmer guitar is almost completely associated with Django Reinhardt and the "gypsy jazz" 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 Len Fillis and Al Bowlly.
In France, the Selmer was the top professional guitar for many years, and is heard in everything from
Other Selmer guitars
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
Copies, replicas, and similar guitars
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 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.[3] In the 1970s, Selmer copies were produced in Japan for CSL and Ibanez, 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.
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, Chris Eccleshall, 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.
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.[citation needed]
Surviving original Selmers
The number of surviving original Selmer guitars is not known exactly. Fewer than 200 are publicly known.
Other Maccaferri guitars
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 survive of Maccaferri himself performing on such instruments during the 1920s.[4]
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 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.[5] However, the many variants of Maccaferri's plastic ukulele enjoyed a considerable vogue in the 1950s and sold in large numbers.[1]
Maccaferri also collaborated with
References
- ^ a b Wright, Michael (3 March 2002). "Maccaferri History". Vintage Guitar. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ Charle 1999, p. 123
- ^ Charle 1999, p. 217
- ^ Miner, Gregg. The Harp Guitars of Mario Maccaferri. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- The University of South Dakota. National Music Museum. Archived from the originalon 10 March 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ "1979 Ibanez MAC10 12 Fret D Hole Guitar (Indian Rosewood Back and Sides) HSC". Djangobooks. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
Bibliography
- Charle, François (1999). The Story of Selmer Maccaferri Guitars. Translated by Karslake, David. Paris: François Charle. ISBN 2951351615.