After Maccaferri had again left the Selmer-company in 1938/39, also the design of the guitars has been changed again, according to Maccaferri´s latest research and build-plans that he had created before. The original transition-model "Grand bouche" ("big mouth" with D-shaped soundhole and cutaway), which was played by Joseph Reinhardt, Django´s younger brother and his first Rhythmguitarrist for years, was canceled in production. Instead a new guitar-model "Petite Bouche" (french f. "small mouth") with the so called "Oval Hole" (a little oval-formed soundhole) was established, the guitar-modle which has been played by Django Reinhardt from then on until his early death in 1953.
This guitar-model, already designed and constructed by Mario Macafferri earlier before leaving Selmer, have a particularely strong and assertive sound. Due to their revolutionary new design it sounds even louder than the D-hole shaped "Orchestre"-models of the early 1930ies. And due to this difference in volume these Selmer-Jazzguitars was and still is been used mostly as sologuitar by many Sinti- and Jazzmanouche-Guitarrists until today.
Django´s last Guitar, Serial-No. #503 (image right) was a Selmer O-hole-model built in 1940, which he played until his death in 1953 spielte. Today this guitar resides in the Médiathèque of the Cité de la Musique in Paris, donated by Naguine, Django´s second wife, after his death.
After Mario Maccaferri widthdrawed from business other famous luthiers took over the making of these kind of guitars, copying the look and the features of the famous Selmer-/Maccafferi-guitars.
The most famous names in this to mention are: Jacques and Jean-Pierre Favino, Bernabe Busato, Antoine DiMauro or Jacques Castellucia. In our JM-Guitar-Gallery we present 1800+ images of these wonderful guitars (one of the biggest collections of old gypsyjazz-guitars on the net) made by these luthiers as well as Selmer.
More Infos on the Selmer-company and their hiostory as well as the famous Selmer-Guitars you will find in our article-series on "Features of original Selmer-Guitars" and "History of Selmer".
Also a well done description on the history of Selmer with detailed facts and lots of images has been made by R. Francois Charle, who sztill runs a guitarshop in the middle of Paris, with his book "THE STORY OF SELMER MACCAFERRI GUITARS" (image left).
Today by the demand for these guitars is becoming bigger and bigger in a pretty active Django-scene, so meanwhile worldwide more and more luthiers started to build these world-famous guitars (for almost every purse) still copying the original building-plans of Mario Macafferri. See also "Django Guitarmakers" .
Regrettably the strong demand for old original gypsyjazz-guitars, especially for Selmer and Busatos, today is often used by criminals to generate profit from it. Be sure to also read our article-series about Faked Selmer, Faked Busato and Fake Favino-guitars, as well as "Warning on faked gypsyjazz-guitars" on these subjects. It is to announce a warning about that as very often on the internet faked guitars have been offered as "true originals" for high prices - so take care!
Read more about -> the History of Selmer
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This guitar-model, already designed and constructed by Mario Macafferri earlier before leaving Selmer, have a particularely strong and assertive sound. Due to their revolutionary new design it sounds even louder than the D-hole shaped "Orchestre"-models of the early 1930ies. And due to this difference in volume these Selmer-Jazzguitars was and still is been used mostly as sologuitar by many Sinti- and Jazzmanouche-Guitarrists until today.Django´s last Guitar, Serial-No. #503 (image right) was a Selmer O-hole-model built in 1940, which he played until his death in 1953 spielte. Today this guitar resides in the Médiathèque of the Cité de la Musique in Paris, donated by Naguine, Django´s second wife, after his death.
After Mario Maccaferri widthdrawed from business other famous luthiers took over the making of these kind of guitars, copying the look and the features of the famous Selmer-/Maccafferi-guitars.
The most famous names in this to mention are: Jacques and Jean-Pierre Favino, Bernabe Busato, Antoine DiMauro or Jacques Castellucia. In our JM-Guitar-Gallery we present 1800+ images of these wonderful guitars (one of the biggest collections of old gypsyjazz-guitars on the net) made by these luthiers as well as Selmer.
More Infos on the Selmer-company and their hiostory as well as the famous Selmer-Guitars you will find in our article-series on "Features of original Selmer-Guitars" and "History of Selmer".Also a well done description on the history of Selmer with detailed facts and lots of images has been made by R. Francois Charle, who sztill runs a guitarshop in the middle of Paris, with his book "THE STORY OF SELMER MACCAFERRI GUITARS" (image left).
Today by the demand for these guitars is becoming bigger and bigger in a pretty active Django-scene, so meanwhile worldwide more and more luthiers started to build these world-famous guitars (for almost every purse) still copying the original building-plans of Mario Macafferri. See also "Django Guitarmakers" .
Regrettably the strong demand for old original gypsyjazz-guitars, especially for Selmer and Busatos, today is often used by criminals to generate profit from it. Be sure to also read our article-series about Faked Selmer, Faked Busato and Fake Favino-guitars, as well as "Warning on faked gypsyjazz-guitars" on these subjects. It is to announce a warning about that as very often on the internet faked guitars have been offered as "true originals" for high prices - so take care!
Read more about -> the History of Selmer
Share this article:
