1951 Selmer Modèle Jazz

When Selmer started making guitars in 1932 they offered three classical models, a harp guitar, a seven-string Hawaiian model, a six-string steel guitar and three different style of tenor guitar. All of these guitars were designed by Mario Maccaferri and many featured his distinctive large D-shaped soundhole and an internal resonator that was supposed to help project the sound towards the audience. As interesting as these guitars were, they didn’t really perform as expected and, after an argument with Henri Selmer, Maccaferri left the company and set out on his own. Selmer promptly dropped all of the Maccaferri-designed guitars from the catalog except for the six-string steel-string and a now unknown luthier redesigned that guitar by extending the neck to 14 frets, adding an extra brace under the top and shrinking the large D-soundhole to a small oval. This new design was the guitar that Django Reinhardt played for most of his career, making it the the Holy Grail for Gypsy jazz guitarists ever since.

The Modèle Jazz here bears serial number 882 and it is one of the very last guitars made by Selmer. (The very last Selmer was #885.) It was completed on December 22, 1951 and it was sold on February 22, 1952 to Mr, Canavier. This guitar is in excellent condition, which is fairly rare for Selmers, which, before they became so expensive, tended to spend their lives on the road in the hands of Gypsy guitarists. The buttons on the tuning machines have been replaced, a fairly common occurrence as they were made from galalith, a synthetic plastic made from milk protein and formaldehyde that was prone to decomposing. Still, these are amazing sounding guitars and if you play Gypsy jazz, this is the guitar you dream of at night. This Modèle Jazz weighs in at $32,000 and it can be found at Gypsy Guitars in Maryland.

Here’s a clip of Henri Crolla, a friend of Django’s, playing his Selmer Modèle Jazz with Yves Montand.