Selmer-Maccaferri Guitar
Encyclopedia
The Selmer Guitar is an unusual acoustic guitar best known as the favored instrument of Django Reinhardt
. It was produced by Selmer
from 1932 to about 1952.
. The top of the guitar is gently arched or domed — achieved by bending a flat piece of wood rather than by the violin
-style carving used in archtop guitars; the top is also rather thin at about 2mm. It has a comparatively wide fretboard (about 47mm at the nut) and a snake-shaped slotted headstock. The back and top are both ladder-braced, which was the norm for French and Italian steel-string guitars of the time (unlike American guitars, which frequently employed X-braced tops by this period).
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 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 fret
ting of the early guitars was very similar to other contemporary guitars (including the Gibson
and Martin guitar designs from which most modern acoustic guitar patterns ultimately derive), 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.
), a
now ubiquitous feature in steel string guitars. It was also the first with a cutaway
, still a fairly common
feature.
The internal resonator was a less 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.
; 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 head
s and a top that is bent, mandolin
-style, behind the floating bridge
- something that contributes to the guitar's remarkable volume when played.
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 it.) Modern exponents of the style often 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-plated, copper-wound Argentine strings made by Savarez (or copies of these), and heavy plectrum
s, traditionally of tortoiseshell
.
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 chanson
niers. 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
.
Selmer did not make large numbers of guitars (fewer than 1,000 were ever built), and the company stopped production altogether by 1952, so playable original Selmers are rare and command high prices. Before the current rise in interest in Django and his guitars, other European builders were producing instruments emulating the Selmer design such as Chris Eccleshall
.
Common departures from the original designs include omission of the internal resonator, addition of a scratchplate, 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.
Tenor
, nylon-string, 7-string, f-hole and solid-body variants have also been made.
s, harp guitar
s, 6- and 7-string Hawaiian guitars, tenor guitar
s 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.
enjoyed a considerable vogue in the 1950s and sold in large numbers.
Maccaferri also produced 440 near-replicas 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 playable and collectable.
Django Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
. It was produced by Selmer
The Selmer Company
Henri Selmer Paris company is a French family-owned enterprise, manufacturer of musical instruments based in Paris, France in 1885. It is known for its high-quality woodwind and brass instruments, especially saxophones, clarinets and trumpets...
from 1932 to about 1952.
Construction
In its archetypal steel-string Jazz/Orchestre form it is quite 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 a mandolinMandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. The top of the guitar is gently arched or domed — achieved by bending a flat piece of wood rather than by the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
-style carving used in archtop guitars; the top is also rather thin at about 2mm. It has a comparatively wide fretboard (about 47mm at the nut) and a snake-shaped slotted headstock. The back and top are both ladder-braced, which was the norm for French and Italian steel-string guitars of the time (unlike American guitars, which frequently employed X-braced tops by this period).
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
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
.
Early days - "Maccaferri" or D-hole guitar
Resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior, that is, it naturally oscillates at some frequencies, called its resonant frequencies, with greater amplitude than at others. The oscillations in a resonator can be either electromagnetic or mechanical...
invented by luthier
Luthier
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...
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 fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
ting of the early guitars was very similar to other contemporary guitars (including the Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
and Martin guitar designs from which most modern acoustic guitar patterns ultimately derive), 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.
Innovations
The original Maccaferri-Selmer was one of the earliest guitars with a metal-reinforced neck (or truss rodTruss rod
The truss rod is part of a guitar or banjo used to stabilize and adjust the lengthwise forward curvature , of the neck. Usually it is a steel rod that runs inside the neck and has a bolt that can be used to adjust its tension...
), a
now ubiquitous feature in steel string guitars. It was also the first with a cutaway
Cutaway (guitar)
In guitar construction, a cutaway is an indentation in the body of the instrument adjacent to the neck of the instrument, designed to allow easier access to the upper frets....
, still a fairly common
feature.
The internal resonator was a less 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.
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 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 FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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 head
Machine head
A machine head is part of a string instrument ranging from guitars to double basses, a geared apparatus for applying tension and thereby tuning a string, usually located at the headstock. A headstock has several machine heads, one per string...
s and a top that is bent, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
-style, behind the floating bridge
Bridge (instrument)
A bridge is a device for supporting the strings on a stringed instrument and transmitting the vibration of those strings to some other structural component of the instrument in order to transfer the sound to the surrounding air.- Explanation :...
- something that contributes to the guitar's remarkable volume when played.
Use
Before the advent of amplification, the Selmer guitar had the same kind of appeal for European players that the archtop guitarArchtop guitar
An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with blues and jazz players.Typically, an archtop guitar has:* 6 strings...
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
Quintette du Hot Club de France
Quintette du Hot Club de France was a jazz group founded in France in 1934 by guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli, and active in one form or another until 1948....
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 jam sessions
Jam Sessions
Jam Sessions is a guitar simulation software title and music game for the Nintendo DS based on the Japan-only title Sing & Play DS Guitar M-06 originally developed by Plato. It was brought to North America and Europe, courtesy of Ubisoft...
. Gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz
Gypsy jazz is an idiom often said to have been started by guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt in the 1930s. Because its origins are largely in France it is often called by the French name, "Jazz manouche," or alternatively, "manouche jazz," even in English language sources...
players usually couple the guitar with light, silver-plated, copper-wound Argentine strings made by Savarez (or copies of these), and heavy plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
s, traditionally of tortoiseshell
Tortoiseshell material
Tortoiseshell or tortoise shell is a material produced mainly from the shell of the hawksbill turtle, an endangered species. It was widely used in the 1960s and 1970s in the manufacture of items such as combs, sunglasses, guitar picks and knitting needles...
.
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
Al Bowlly
Albert Allick Bowlly was a Southern-African singer, songwriter, composer and band leader, who became a popular Jazz crooner during the 1930s in the United Kingdom and later, in the United States of America. He recorded more than 1,000 records between 1927 and 1941...
. In France, the Selmer was the top professional guitar for many years and can be heard in everything from musette
Bal-musette
Bal-musette is a style of French music and dance that first became popular in Paris in the 1880s.Auvergnats settled in large numbers in the 5th, 11th, and 12th districts of Paris during the 19th century, opening cafés and bars where patrons danced the bourrée to the accompaniment of musette de...
to the backing of chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
niers. Leading players ranged from Henri Crolla
Henri Crolla
Henri Crolla was a French jazz guitarist and film composer.Born in Naples, Campania, Italy, to a family of itinerant Neapolitan musicians, he moved with his family to Porte de Choisy in France in 1922 following the rise of fascism in Italy...
to Sacha Distel
Sacha Distel
Sacha Distel was a French singer and guitarist who had hits with a cover version of the Academy Award-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" , "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was born in Paris.-Career:Sacha Distel, born Alexandre Distel, was a son of Russian White émigré Leonid Distel...
. More recently, the style of guitar (albeit a modification developed by Favino) has been associated with Enrico Macias
Enrico Macias
Gaston Ghrenassia, known by his stage name Enrico Macias, is an Algerian French Pied noir singer and musician...
.
Copies, replicas and similar guitars
Chris Eccleshall
Christopher J. Eccleshall is an English luthier, guitar designer, guitar dealer and authorised repairer of Martin, Gibson and Guild guitars, and also received the blessing of Mario Maccaferri to make reproductions of his Selmer-Maccaferri jazz guitars.His main business is making custom-built...
.
Common departures from the original designs include omission of the internal resonator, addition of a scratchplate, 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.
Tenor
Tenor guitar
1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar...
, nylon-string, 7-string, f-hole and solid-body variants have also been made.
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 103 (D Hole), previously owned by collector Scott Chinery, George ColeGeorge Cole (musician)George Cole is the producer, composer, lyricist, vocalist, and lead guitarist for the Jazz band George Cole and Vive Le Jazz. He was also a guitarist for the pop rock band Beatnik Beatch and Big Blue Hearts. He played on Chris Isaak's platinum selling Forever Blue album...
and, allegedly, Django's brother Joseph Reinhardt. - Number 254 (D Hole), previously owned by Louis Gallo
- Number 350 (D Hole) previously owned by Francis Alfred Moerman, Sarane Ferret's rhythm guitarist.
- Number 453 (Oval hole) bought by Henri CrollaHenri CrollaHenri Crolla was a French jazz guitarist and film composer.Born in Naples, Campania, Italy, to a family of itinerant Neapolitan musicians, he moved with his family to Porte de Choisy in France in 1922 following the rise of fascism in Italy...
in 1938, kept by his wife, Colette Crolla, in Paris. Perfectly preserved. - Number 501 (Oval hole), previously owned by Fapy LafertinFapy LafertinFapy Lafertin is a jazz guitarist of Romani ethnicity, one of the foremost contemporary exponents of the Belgian-Dutch style of Gypsy jazz....
and Nils Solberg.now in the Jwc guitars Heritage collection see foto on DjangoJazz.nl - Number 503 (Oval Hole) Django used a number of Selmer guitars in his life, but #503 is considered "the" Django guitar, used by him almost exclusively from 1940 until his death. It is now in the Musée de la musique, Paris, having been donated by his widow, Naguine Reinhardt.
- Number 504, the "sister" of Django's favourite guitar, owned and played by Stochelo RosenbergStochelo RosenbergStochelo Rosenberg is a Sinti-Gypsy jazz guitarist who plays in the Jazz manouche style of Django Reinhardt and leads the Rosenberg Trio.-With The Rosenberg Trio: -Solo Albums:...
. - Number 505, the other "sister" of Django's favourite, owned by Kees van Oorschot
- Number 574 (Oval Hole) owned by John JorgensonJohn JorgensonJohn Jorgenson is a US musician. Although best known for his guitar work with bands such as the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, Jorgenson is also proficient in the mandolin, mandocello, Dobro, pedal steel, piano, upright bass, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone...
- Number 607, rediscovered recently and shared by a group of young musicians called "Selmer 607"
- Number 662 (Oval Hole) previously owned Sarane Ferret
- Number 698 (Oval Hole) previously owned by Matelo Ferret
- Number 849 (Oval Hole) previously owned by Louis Gasté
- Number 881 (Oval Hole) owned by Paul Reynoso
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 guitarClassical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
s, harp guitar
Harp guitar
]The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name “harp-guitar” over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular...
s, 6- and 7-string Hawaiian guitars, tenor guitar
Tenor guitar
1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar|thumb|rightThe tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was developed so that players of the four-string tenor banjo could double on the guitar...
s 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
Reentrant tuning
A reentrant tuning is a tuning of a stringed instrument where the strings are not ordered from the lowest pitch to the highest pitch ....
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.
Other Maccaferri guitars
Maccaferri moved to the US 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. However, the many variants Maccaferri's plastic ukuleleUkulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
enjoyed a considerable vogue in the 1950s and sold in large numbers.
Maccaferri also produced 440 near-replicas 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 playable and collectable.
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.
External links
- Archive of Selmer guitars by Guitarbench.com