Selmer guitar

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The Selmer Guitar (often called a "Selmer-Maccaferri" or just "Maccaferri" by anglophones, as its inventor's rather than manufacturer's name was stressed in the early British advertising) is an unusual acoustic guitar best known as the favored instrument of Django Reinhardt. It was produced by Selmer from 1932 to about 1952.

Contents

[edit] Appearance and Construction

It is an unusual-looking instrument, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish bouts, and either a "D"-shaped or longitudinal oval soundhole. The strings pass over a moveable bridge and are gathered at the tail like an archtop guitar. The top may be gently arched or domed — this is achieved by bending a flat piece of wood rather than by carving, as in a Gibson-style archtop. It also has a wide fingerboard and slotted head like a nylon-string guitar. Unusually, the back and top are both ladder-braced.

[edit] Early Days - The "Maccaferri" or D-Hole Guitar

Early models have a large, D-shaped soundhole (the "grande bouche," or "big mouth"), which was shaped specifically to accommodate an internal resonator invented by luthier Mario Maccaferri - 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 fretting of the guitar of the early guitars was very similar to contemporary Gibson and Martin guitars, but with a wide fretboard more typical of a classical guitar. 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.

[edit] The Internal Resonator

The resonator was not a successful innovation and was quickly dropped on Maccaferri's departure. Many of the remaining early instruments have since had the resonator removed. It was prone to buzzing and rattling and made repairs difficult. However, some modern builders of Selmer-style instruments (including Canadian luthier Michael Dunn, who uses his own design) have resurrected the feature.

[edit] The 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 and, by 1936, the definitive[citation needed] version of the Selmer guitar had appeared. It was officially called the "Modèle Jazz", but also known as the "Petite Bouche" (small mouth) or "Oval Hole". These later guitars have, revised internal bracing and a longer scale length of 670 mm. 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 cherished resonator had been abandoned), the later guitars retain many unusual characteristics of his original innovative design, including 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.

[edit] Use

Before the advent of amplification, Selmers had the same kind of appeal for European players that the archtop guitar did in America: it was loud enough to be heard over the other instruments in a band. The "petite bouche" model has an especially loud and cutting voice, and even today it remains the design preferred by lead players in Django-style bands, while the accompanying rhythm players often use D-hole instruments. (This was the lineup in Django's Quintette du Hot Club de France during its classic period in the late 1930s, and it remains the pattern for bands that emulate them.) Modern exponents of the style amplify their instruments in concert, but may still play acoustically in small venues and jam sessions. Gypsy jazz players usually couple the guitar with light, silver-coated silk-and-steel strings and heavy tortoiseshell plectrums.

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 to the UK market were used in the standard dance band context and were associated with performers such as Len Figgis and Al Bowlly. In France, the Selmer was the top professional guitar for many years and can be heard in everything from musette to the backing of chansonniers. Leading players ranged from Henri Crolla to Sacha Distel. More recently, the style of guitar (albeit a modification developed by Favino) has been associated with Enrico Macias.

[edit] Copies, Replicas and Similar Guitars

Selmer-Maccaferri and Selmer style replica guitars

Selmer did not make large numbers of guitars (fewer than 1,000 were ever built), and the company stopped production altogether by 1952, so original Selmers command high prices. Before the current rise in interest in Django and his guitars, other European builders were producing instruments emulating the Selmer design: Busato, Di Mauro, Favino and Patenotte are examples. More recently other luthiers and small shops have offered either faithful copies or interpretations and extensions of Selmer designs, including Maurice Dupont and Gallato in France; Hanno Kiehl in Norway; Robert Aylward, the late David Hodson[1], Chris Eccleshall and John LeVoi in the United Kingdom; Michael Collins, Michael Dunn, and Shelley Park in Canada; Dell'Arte Guitars in the United States; Leo Eimers, Gerrit van Bergeijk in the Netherlands, Geronimo Mateos in Madrid, Spain and both Risto Ivanovski and Branko Radulovic of Macedonia.

Increasingly, Asian-made low- and mid- priced instruments are also available in the European and American retail market, although their quality and authenticity is variable. Some incorporate a piezo pickup of the kind often seen in mid-price flat-top guitars.

Common departures from the original designs include omission of the internal resonator, the use of solid (non-laminated) woods and building D-hole models with a 14th fret neck-join rather than the original 12th fret join.

More radical variations include Bernie Lehmann's Eclipse [2] and Stephen Toon's Montpellier [3]

[edit] Notable original Selmers

Only a few Selmers survive in playable condition, and most of them are owned or have been owned by notable musicians.

  • Number 503 (Oval Hole), owned by Reinhardt and now deposited in a museum.[4]
  • Number 504, the "sister" of Django's guitar, owned and played by Stochelo Rosenberg.[5][6]
  • Number 501, previously owned by Fapy lafertin and Nils Solberg.[7]
  • Numbers 103 and 520, owned by George Cole .[8]
  • Number 607, rediscovered recently and shared by a group of young musicians called "Selmer 607"[9]
  • Number 254 (D Hole), previously owned by Louis Gallo[10]
  • Number 662 (Oval Hole) previously owned Saranne Ferret[11]
  • Number 350 (D Hole) previously owned by Francis-Alfred Moerman, Saranne Ferret's rhythm guitarist.[12]
  • Number 698 (Oval Hole) previously owned by Matelot Ferret[13]
  • Number 849 (Oval Hole) previously owned by Louis Gasté[14]

[edit] Other Selmer guitars

Although best-known for its steel-string D-hole and oval-hole guitars (known initially as the "Orchestre" and later the "Jazz" model), Selmer - during the Maccaferri period - also made and sold Maccaferri-designed classical guitars, harp guitars, 6- and 7-string Hawaiian guitars, tenor guitars and the "Eddie Freeman Special", a 4-string guitar with the scale-length and body-size of a standard guitar, designed to be used with a special Reentrant tuning that was briefly successful in the UK market. Most of these "other" instruments featured Macaferri's distinctive D-shaped soundhole and many contained the resonator. Production of all but the Modèle Jazz had ended by the mid-1930s.

[edit] Other Maccaferri Guitars

Maccaferri moved to the US and became interested in plastic manufacturing. He produced a plastic variation of his guitar 1950s and 60s (along with many musical and non-musical products). The instrument was not a huge success and is now considered something of an oddity.[15]

Maccaferri produced 440 of his original D-hole design in partnership with Ibanez guitars in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were individually signed by him and are considered quite collectable.

[edit] Sources

  • Charle, François. L'Histoire des guitares Selmer Maccaferri. Paris: François Charle, 1999. ISBN 2-95113516-0-7.
  • Charle, François (trans. Karslake, David). The Story of Selmer Maccaferri Guitars. Paris: François Charle, 1999. ISBN 2-95113516-1-5.

[edit] External links


  1. ^ Website of David Hodson, Luthier
  2. ^ Bernie Lehmann's "eclipse" model
  3. ^ Toon "Montpellier
  4. ^ DjangoReinhardt's guitars
  5. ^ Eimer Guitars
  6. ^ Gypsy Jazz, Michael Dregni, p241
  7. ^ Nils Solberg
  8. ^ Swift, Sheila. "Selmer Acoustic Guitars". http://www.certifiedvintageguitars.com. Retrieved on 2009-1-13. 
  9. ^ Selmer 607
  10. ^ Gypsy Guitars
  11. ^ Gypsy Guitars
  12. ^ Gypsy Guitars
  13. ^ Gypsy Guitars
  14. ^ Gypsy Guitars
  15. ^ Plastic Maccaferri
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