Background
information
An
introduction (you are
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
Manouche-Tone
Strings
the rest of the site
Paul
Hostetter, luthier
Back
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Email:
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Here is a quick primer
on Selmer guitars
Whether you're interested in a new Selmer-style guitar or just curious
about the old Selmers and that family of guitars, until you get yourself
a copy of François Charle's wonderful book
on Selmer guitars, this will be a help in sorting out some basic details.
From the beginning in l932, Selmer
offered five basic models:
| The model "Espagnol,"
a true Spanish-style guitar having a smaller body with a flat top, a conventional
glued-on bridge for gut strings and a round soundhole.
The "Concert"
model, featuring the larger standard "Maccaferri" body design with a flat,
fan-braced top, was offered with a larger D-shaped soundhole, a glued-on
bridge for tied gut strings and an optional cutaway.
The "Jazz"
model, designed for steel strings, came with a tailpiece, a floating bridge
centered between two "moustaches," and a standard cutaway. The 12-fret
model with a D-shaped soundhole was redesigned in 1934 with 14 frets clear
of the body and a smaller oval soundhole.
The "Hawaïenne"
model was a steel-string made for lap-style playing, essentially a non-cutaway
version of the "Jazz" model except for a thicker, wider neck, a raised
nut and an optional seventh string.
Finally, the "Orchestre"
model, a less precisely defined steel-string offered with either a round
or D-shaped soundhole, full body or cutaway, four or six strings. Selmer
sold many custom variations through its dealers and the "Orchestre" designation
encompassed them all.
Selmer's four-string guitars, made mostly for
its London dealer, were built on either a small body or on the standard
cutaway "Jazz" body. The little ones were "ténor" guitars, with
shorter scales intended for tuning in fifths like a tenor banjo, while
the larger ones known either as modèle "Orchestre" or, in one variation,
the "guitare Eddie Freeman," in honor of an active jazz guitarist living
in England. These were intended to be tuned in Freeman's own unusual
reentrant tuning. Selmer also produced a few large-body plectrum guitars
with a more conventional neck, intended for the more customary plectrum
tuning. |
The D-hole models of 1932-33 were
intended to contain Maccaferri's patented Internal
Resonator, which comprised of a sort of second wooden soundbox built
inside the regular body. The "modèle
Jazz," destined to become Django Reinhardt's preferred guitar to the end
of his career, was introduced around the middle of l934, after Mario Maccaferri's
association with Selmer had ended. It had a small vertical oval soundhole
and somewhat different internal bracing. Almost as importantly, it deliberately
had no internal resonator.
On 25 September l952, Selmer
sold its stock of wood, parts, patterns, molds, machinery and its last
instruments to the Paris luthier, Jean Beuscher. During the entire existence
of the Selmer guitar atelier, less than a thousand guitars were manufactured.
François Charle, the noted luthier, collector and dealer
in Paris, has written and published the definitive book on Selmer and Maccaferri
guitars. Work on this labor of love began in earnest a decade ago. In the
process of preparing this study, he has documented hundreds of the surviving
Selmer guitars, traveling all over Europe to do interviews and take photos.
In this effort, he has enjoyed the support and cooperation of myriad other
collectors, experts, and musicians around the world. The book, released
in 1999, was a very limited edition, and is now out of print. Keep your eyes open!
Working plans for a Selmer,
anyone? Click here.
Click here to find
out more about Rosyne and François Charle.
Visit their website: www.rfcharle.com
Do you own a Selmer guitar?
François Charle is archiving a complete
database on Selmer guitars
and has over 500 in his list already.
Please contact him about it, if you haven't already.
All references kept strictly confidential.
Drop
me a line
click
here
Pour envoyer à François Charle un
This page © 1998-2008 Paul Hostetter.
All rights reserved.
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