A Selmer/Maccaferri miscellany
compiled by Tony Rees

Here are some tidbits from the web (and other sources) which may be of interest to visitors to this site. All information is current as at 1 January 1999, but is of course liable to disappear without notice! Here goes...

The François Charle Selmer Book

Paul Hostetter gives some information to a reader of "Acoustic Guitar" magazine (1996) requesting plans for original Selmer/Maccaferri style guitars at http://www.acguitar.com/issues/ag48/dear48.html

Stefan Sonntag is another European maker offering Hot-Club style guitars. You can visit his website at http://www.sonntag-guitars.com/english/macca.htm, and download a colour catalogue if you wish

AMERICAN LUTHERIE # 30 contains various articles related to Selmer/Maccaferri guitars. You can preview the contents of this issue at http://www.luth.org/30.htm

Django's 1940(?) Selmer "modele jazz" guitar, no. 503, in the Paris Conservatoire collection.

An article on John LeVoi (Selmer-style guitar maker) from Jazz Guitar International Online, written by Chris Burden, is available. In this, John's first encounter with Selmer guitars (in 1976) is described, together with descriptions of the guitars he makes today.

"Vintage Guitars" in Sweden list, in their current on-line inventory, a couple of interesting 1950's selmer-style guitars by european makers (Anastasio and Gerome), as well as a 1994 John Le Voi, all with photos. Their web page is at http://www.vintage-guitars.se/_inv-e.htm.

Elderly Instruments, in the U.S., have a new LeVoi oval-hole catalogued, as well as a Michael Dunn "Mystery Pacific" (14-fret/D-hole), with excellent photos of the latter. Their web page is at http://www.elderly.com/45U.htm

J. Castelluccia of Paris (maker) is offering a Selmer-style jazz guitar. You can see some nice photos at http://members.aol.com/JBCASTEL/jazz.htm

Theo Scharpach is another current European maker, who numbers Raphael Fays among his clients. You can see photos of his Selmer-style guitars at http://members.aol.com/daelken/scharpach/selmer.html

Gruhn Guitars (U.S.A.) currently have an original c.1947 Selmer guitar (catalogue item no. AM3501) listed at US 20,000 dollars, as at December 29, 1998. Their inventory list is at http://www.gruhn.com

Ian Cruickshank has an interesting article on Jeff Green (UK Django-style player, who has toured with Stephane Grappelli) from Jazz Guitar International Online, available at http://www.musicweb-uk.com/green.html

Andy MacKenzie has an article on David Hodson (upcoming UK Selmer-style guitar maker) from Jazz Guitar International Online, available at http://www.musicweb-uk.com/hodson.html. The article originally appeared in "String Jazz".

François Charle (of the above firm) has nearly completed a 200-page history of the Selmer/Maccaferri and Selmer guitars. Have a look at the preview page at http://www.rfcharle.com. It looks great!!! Wonder what the publication date is to be?

LAURENCE WEXER GUITARS (USA) are (were?) listing a Selmer Modele Jazz, #645, 1947 for US 17,500 dollars. For details see the on-line October issue of The Collectible Guitar Buyer at http://www.tcguitar.com/samples.html

Back in June (1998), Stochelo Rosenberg was offering his Selmer #504 for sale (offers over US 20,000 dollars only!). This guitar is the "sister" to Django's guitar no. 503 in the Paris museum. The advertisement for this guitar can be viewed at http://www.vipenterprises.com/music/messages/148.html Finally, here is some information I have gleaned about cheaper, Selmer-style instruments from far-eastern makers, which should be available (second-hand) at cheaper prices than their hand-made equivalents:

Back in 1977, CSL (in the U.K.) were offering a Japanese made model "The Gypsy" guitar as an authentic Maccaferri D-hole replica. List price was 100 pounds including hard case. For comparison, a Martin D-28 cost around 400 pounds at that time as I recall. I haven't come across any of these since, so don't know what they currently would sell for on the used market, or when they stopped production.

In 1981, Summerfield were advertising a new, Ibanez-built "Maccaferri" (D-hole again), endorsed by Mario Maccaferri as "better than the original...". Not sure about the price, but more expensive than the CSL (around 300 pounds maybe?)

In the late 1980s, Saga instruments of San Francisco were importing a range of oval-hole Selmer copies under the Saga brand. I have also seen them under the "Blueridge" Brand, with an inlaid "B" in the headstock. (I was once told these originated from the K. Yairi factory in Japan, but cannot confirm whether or not this is the case.) According to a review in "Frets" magazine in May 1989, these came in the following models:

At that time, the DG-250 listed for US 950 dollars without case, or 1049 with hardshell case.

Yaron Hallis (Sydney, Australia) has a Hot-Club site dedicated to information on Hot-Club, Gypsy and Klezmer music styles, in support of his regular radio program receivable on FM in Sydney. His site is mainly links, but set out in an interesting and informative way.

Ian Cooper (Australian fiddle-player and hot string jazz enthusiast) has a web site at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~ianjazz/ which includes lists of recordings, interesting photos, etc... he has also (nearly) got a Django Reinhardt page at http://www.iancooper.comThat's all for now!!

Cheers - Tony Rees

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