Mario Maccaferri

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Mario Maccaferri (born May 20, 1900 in Cento, Ferrara ; died April 17, 1993 in New York City ) was an Italian luthier and guitarist and inventor of the Selmer guitars preferred by French guitarist Django Reinhardt .

biography

Plastic G40 guitar and plastic ukulele

Mario Maccaferri joined the guitar maker Luigi Mozzani as an apprentice in 1911 and took classical guitar lessons at the Siena Academy of Music. In 1933 he stopped working as a classical musician because his right hand was injured after a fall. After that, he devoted himself exclusively to the production of his guitars and, after working with Selmer, began building reeds for clarinets and saxophones. In 1939 he moved to New York and founded a new company: "French American Reed". At the end of his career, he had some success in the manufacture of plastic ukuleles. His plastic guitars, the Flattop G-30 and Archtop G-40, which came on the market in 1953, and later the plastic violin, were less successful. In the 80s wooden guitars were built again under the direction of Mario Maccaferri from Ibanez.

Selmer guitars

Selmer-Maccaferri O-Type replica

Maccaferri developed and built acoustic guitars from 1930 to 1933 for the French company Selmer , one of the world's leading manufacturers of clarinets and saxophones, which were made from 1932 to 1952. The most famous player of these mostly steel-stringed guitars was the guitarist Django Reinhardt . Mario Maccaferri stopped working with Selmer as early as 1934 after only about 30 of these "Gypsy guitars" had been built, but his guitar models continued to be built; in 20 years around 900 instruments have been manufactured and sold. What made Selmer-Maccaferri guitars so special at the time was their presence, the longer scale length and the cutaway so that the guitarist could more easily grip the higher frets. The middle and high pitches are particularly emphasized by the crease in the ceiling and an extraordinary interior performance. Their powerful and clear sound made it possible to use the guitars as solo instruments without amplification. In addition to the O-Type shown, a variant with a D-shaped and larger sound hole was also built. This variant was temporarily given a very effective plastic insert for reinforcement.

bibliography

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article about Selmer
  2. ↑ Evans Guitars p. 222 Article about Mario Maccaferri at Selmer
  3. ^ Wieland Harms: The Unplugged Guitar Book. 20 of the most beautiful songs for acoustic guitar. Gerig Music, ISBN 3-87252-249-3 , p. 95.
  4. ↑ Article on Selmer guitars
personal data
SURNAME Maccaferri, Mario
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian luthier and guitarist, inventor of the Selmer guitars
DATE OF BIRTH May 20, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Cento, Ferrara
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1993
Place of death New York City