Discussions
- on tinting and purfling details
- on bracing
- on wood choices
- picks

Background information
An introduction (start here)
Is it a Maccaferri?
Or is it a Selmer?
The Internal Resonator
About Mario Maccaferri 
in English
in French
Selmer Primer
About François Charle
The Selmer Maccaferri book

the rest of the site
Paul Hostetter, luthier
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Check the details menu at the left for some other topics on other pages. 

Here's an oft-asked question about finishes: 

Q: Should I get my guitar tinted? I don't want it to be so white! 

A: If you really can't wait, get it tinted. But look at this photo above. 
In it are two untinted MD20s, one from January of 1991 (mine) and the other from August of 1998, when it was brand-new. That lovely French spruce will just do this, given some time. Finishes will yellow, but woods are the main part that changes color, because of the effect of light right through the finish.

Need more convincing? Check the photo below. 

Sorry for the quality here, it was just a quick snapshot, but you get the idea. On the left is Selmer #503, better known as Django's main squeeze through the last dozen years of his life. At its side is a fresh (the photo was taken in 1992) Dupont MD50 - same basic guitar, same spruce, same finish. What a difference a day makes, non? 

Here are some other pages on these kinds of things:

-on bracing
-on wood choices

Here is a look at binding detail. 

In the old days, Selmer often used a dyed black wood for binding. Maurice Dupont has used this as well, but because finding a supply of dyed black strips of acceptable quality is so difficult, he currently prefers natural rosewood. Selmer also used this, even for the small black strips around the top and the oval rosette. Here's an example: 
 
 

 On this late 1940 Selmer, you can see the dyed wood binding, with the w-b-w purfling strips on back, but not the sides. 
 
 

This unusual guitar belongs to Howard Alden, one of my favorite guitarists, and it's a Dupont MD50 - laminated, but in maple instead of the usual Indian rosewood. It is also tinted - except for the binding. The maple on the sides would precisely match the binding if it were not tinted. If you saw the Woody Allen film called Sweet and Lowdown, this is the guitar you heard on the soundtrack. If you saw the Sean Penn attempting to look like a guitar player, you saw him playing the guitar in the photo below, the one on the right. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This guitar now belongs to Paul Mehling. The guitar next to it -  Howard's - remains of course in Howard's collection.  He also owns the backup (as in ready substitute) guitar from the film that looks just like this dark one.
 
 

Sean, you're no guitar player! What happened?