MP3: Granados<\/a>\n![\"mario3.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/archives\/mario3.jpg\")
\n
\n
\nThe plastic guitar
\n
\n<\/span>Like the plastic clothespin before it, however, the plastic\nukulele was merely a stepping stone to Maccaferri’s higher ambition of\nmaking a plastic guitar. Let’s face it, ukes hardly represent a great\nsonic challenge, but making a guitar out of Dow Styron? That’s\nsomething else altogether!
\n
\nThe Maccaferri plastic guitar debuted in the Spring of 1953. The\nintroduction was extensively covered by The Music Trades in May of ’53,\nwhich reported a press luncheon thrown by Dow Chemical for Mario\nMaccaferri at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on April 29, 1953.
\n
\nDescribed in glowing terms – lunch must have been great – Maccaferri\nintroduced two guitars and emphasized the resources and cost of\ndeveloping his new guitars. Indeed, Amos Ruddock of Dow’s plastic\nmerchandising department indicated that the project took two years of\ntesting various formulations of Styron and another Dow plastic called\nEthocel and that tooling up cost around $350,000.
\n
\nThe Music Trades quoted Maccaferri’s speech at length. While referring\nto a painting of legendary violinmaker Antonio Stradivarius working at\nhis bench with a few simple tools, Maccaferri remarked, “A like\npainting symbolizing such craftsmanship today would have to suggest the\nfollowing elements: 1. Some idea of the enormous industrial resources\nand scientific know-how of America today; 2. Not one genius, but a\ndozen of them; 3. The pile of money necessary to accomplish the task.”
\n
\nAfter citing famous musicians and composers, particularly Paganini, who\nplayed the guitar for their own personal enjoyment and wrote music for\nit, Maccaferri continued, “I have always promised myself that one day I\nwould make a good guitar at a popular price. I had no idea that I would\nend up by making a plastic guitar. But when I realized that plastic\nwould offer me the chance to make a perfect instrument with none of the\nshortcomings known in the wooden guitar, it did not take long to decide\nand satisfy my life’s ambition. So, I went to work.
\n
\n“Often in my lifetime of playing guitar, I have had disappointments in\nits performance. On many occasions I would find the instrument’s neck\nwarped or the fretting defective, or the body of the instrument\nexpanded or contracted, caused by humidity or dryness; thus making my\nguitar simply unplayable. Anyone playing the guitar knows what I mean.
\n
\n“Although today’s fine wooden guitars are the result of 300 years of\nguitar making experience, I do not hesitate to say that our 1953\nall-plastic guitar compares favorably with any wooden guitar made.
\n
\n“This all-plastic guitar wasn’t an easy job, as you will understand. We\nhad a lot of engineering problems and it represents quite a costly\nventure for us, but the Dow Chemical Company came up with suitable\nmaterials and we overcame the other problems. To this instrument we\nhave applied all the improvements that guitar players have been seeking\nin it for many years. It has beauty and it is easier to play – it\nproduces music in perfect pitch, and it has good tone and plenty of it.\nAnd this all-plastic guitar is not subject to any of the shortcomings\nmentioned earlier.”
\n
\nHeavyweight support
\n
\n<\/span>While Arthur Godfrey was a great endorser of Maccaferri’s\nIslander Ukulele, it might surprise you to learn that Maccaferri\nbrought his plastic guitar to the world bearing the endorsements of\nnone other than classical maestros Andres Segovia, his old friend from\nthe Twenties, and Rey De La Torre, and pop-jazz great Harry Volpe. De\nLa Torre and Volpe attended the luncheon and performed on Maccaferri\nguitars, making the guitar “speak for itself,” after which Maccaferri\nhimself was prevailed upon to toss up a “lively Neopolitan melody with\nskill and dexterity.”
\n
\nG30 and G40
\n
\n<\/span>The two guitars Maccaferri introduced at the Waldorf were\ndescribed as “full, master size instruments,” “the flat-top, arched\nbottom, cutaway model retailing at $29.95; and the DeLuxe Arched Top at\n$39.95.” While the denomination is strange, it’s these which would\nquickly be known as the G30 and G40, respectively. Both had similar,\nSelmer-like shapes with the Maccaferri square cutaway, the former with\na flat top, the latter with an arched top. Pictured in the article are\nMaccaferri and Volpe getting down with a pair of plastics, Maccaferri\non a G30, and Volpe holding a striking version of what looks like a G40\nwith an ivory (a.k.a. “maple”) fingerboard. These are quite remarkable\npieces of technology, each composed of more than 100 separate parts,\nnot all plastic, to be truthful.
\n
\nBoth had fancy headstocks with Maccaferri’s patented planetary tuning\nmachines. These were “banjo” style tuners with a 14:1 ratio, a patented\ndesign using three interlocking gears. The G30 had a molded-in bridge\nassembly to which the strings attached and a separate plastic saddle\nglued in. The G40 had a glued-on archtop-style bridge and a fancy\ntrapeze tailpiece. Both had two f-holes. Curiously enough, wooden\nstruts were glued under the tops. The tops were ivory, the sides and\nbacks done up in a swirled reddish-brown rosewood color. Both were, by\nthe way, steel-stringed guitars, not nylon stringed instruments like\nthe Islander ukes. One point to note: early G30s had only the molded\nbridge assembly. Some time later a plain metal trapeze tailpiece was\nadded. This did not serve as the anchor for the strings, but either as\nsome sort of added support for the bridge assembly or as merely\ndecoration.
\n
\nThe most curious design elements concerned the neck. The neck was\nbolted on the guitar in an early version of a slightly cutaway heel.\nThe outside of the neck consisted of two pieces of plastic, the outer\nback and the fingerboard. The fingerboard bore actual frets and white\nposition markers (which are actually part of the back and how the parts\nare aligned). Inside there’s a metal sheath, referred to as an “armored\nneck,” and at the core a piece of wood. This design was guaranteed\nnever to warp.
\n
\nAlready we’ve described a pretty interesting bit of guitar design, but\nwait, there’s more! This neck was essentially a neck-through design.\nThe inner core ran all the way through the body to the endpin. There it\nwas notched and had a threaded bolt running perpendicular to it. This\nbolt had a couple nuts above and below the neck core and was slotted.\nBy removing a metal plug from a hole on the top of the guitar down at\nthe bottom of the lower bout, you can use a screwdriver and basically\nadjust neck tilt and therefore action by tightening or loosening this\nbolt!
\n
\nOK, we have a plastic guitar with a warp-proof neck, perfect\nintonation, adjustable action and pretty natty faux-rosewood looks.\nLet’s cut to the chase. How does it sound? Well, beauty is in the ear\nof the beholder, but in my opinion pretty good, indeed. The tone is not\nreally like a typical wood sound. In some ways it’s sort of like an\nacoustic variant of the Strat’s out-of-phase sound, kind of funky. In a\ngood one, the balance and sustain are quite remarkable. Of those I’ve\npersonally played, I’ve found the newer ones to have better sound, and\nI prefer the tone of the flattop G30 to the more upscale archtop G40.\nIf I were a recording artist, I’d consider a G30 as an indispensable\npart of my studio arsenal, and would never apologize for the tone.
\n
\nMore toys
\n
\n<\/span>With all the fuss over the introduction of Maccaferri’s plastic\nguitars, they went over among guitarists, well, like a plastic guitar.\nGuitar players, as you know, are a pretty conservative lot when it\ncomes to instruments, and the Maccaferris probably were never able to\nshed the “toy” image. Some reports suggest that quite a few of these\nguitars were sold, however, how many is unknown.
\n
\nDespite the luke-warm reception of the plastic guitars, Maccaferri\nforged ahead with his plastic instrument empire. In the Winter of 1953\nthe Islander Baritone Ukulele was added to the line, just in time for\nthe holiday season.
\n
\nIn a February 1954 ad in The Music Trades, the Maccaferri line included\nthe new Islander Baritone Ukulele ($12.95), the G30 ($35.95 with case)\nand G40 ($45.95 with case) guitars, the U150 Islander Ukette ($1.00),\nthe C100 Chordmaster attachment, the U400 Islander Ukulele ($3.95), the\nU600 Islander DeLuxe Ukulele and MU25 Midget Uke ($.25). Both Islander\nUkes came in a “Combination” package (UC500 for $4.95 and UC700 for\n$6.95); just what that combination consisted of is unknown, but was\nprobably the Chordmaster and accessories, as before.
\n
\nIn an undated catalog supplied by Michael Lee Allen, probably from\naround this time based on pricing, the Maccaferri uke line consisted of\nthe Islander uke ($4.50 alone, $5.70 with Chordmaster, books and\naccessories), the T.V. Pal, a stripped down version of the Islander\n($1.75), the Islander DeLuxe ($5.95), and the Islander Baritone\n($12.95).
\n
\nThe Islander Guitar
\n
\n<\/span>Also introduced in February of 1954 was the No. G16\n“Popular-Priced” Islander Guitar. This was basically a standard\nacoustic flattop version of the fancier G30. This was 35″ long, 13″\nwide and 4°” deep. It had a round soundhole and the same bridge\nunit as the G30. The neck had the same design as its bigger brothers,\nalthough it is unknown if the action was adjustable as on the f-hole\nmodels.
\n
\nThe coolest thing about the G16 was the choice of finishes. It could be\nhad with mahogany grain body, ivory top and ebony fingerboard, with\nmahogany grain boy and top with an ivory fingerboard, and with an ebony\ngrained body and top with ivory fingerboard. These had the typical\nMaccaferri headstock with planetary tuners.
\n
\nThe classic Maccaferri G30, G40 and G16 plastic guitars were kept in\nthe line until the instrument business was ended in 1969, although\nproduction was sporadic during these years. The Maccaferris’ typical\napproach was to make a large batch of products and then inventory them\nuntil more were needed. How many of these guitars were actually\nproduced over the years is impossible to tell, but there were quite a\nfew sold, although certainly not approaching the 9 million uke mark.\nWhen the remaining assembled stock was liquidated in the early ’90s,\nnearly 5,000 instruments were still available.
\n
\nThe Romancer
\n
\n<\/span>In June of 1957 Maccaferri introduced the Romancer Classic Style\nGuitar, No. R20. This was advertised as a “standard-size” guitar, 35″\nlong, 13″ wide and 4°” deep. It featured Maccaferri’s patented\nplanetary tuners and fancy headstock. The body and neck had now become\na single molded unit, more like the ukuleles than the elaborate bolt-on\naffair on the G30\/G40\/G16s. The copy alludes to “Wood-armoured neck and\nbody,” which we can presume to mean there was wood reinforcement inside\nthe neck and probably wooden struts. The neck and body were made of\n“grained ebony” plastic, while the top and fingerboard were ivory,\nsilkscreened with decorations. The body had music staves looking like\nribbons and five different musical scenes of teens getting down. One\nwas a trio (a la Kingston), two guys solo, a little jazz combo with a\npiano (a la Nat King Cole?), and a guy and gal duo. The position\nmarkers on the fingerboard were little pictures. The Romancer came with\na rope strap, guitar method and pick, “very easy to play, and\nluxuriously finished – the ideal guitar for any type of music – from\nclassical to popular, folksong, Calypso, Rock ‘n Roll, etc.”
\n
\nShowTime
\n
\n<\/span>Among the later plastics was the ShowTime classical guitar shown\nhere, a nylon-stringed axe with teen scenes which, based on the look of\nthe teens is probably circa 1960 vintage. This looks to be another\niteration of the Romancer. Although the headstock contains Maccaferri’s\ntrademark planetary tuners, this guitar has a molded neck attached to\nthe body similar to the Romancer. Instead of inlaid metal frets, this\nhas plastic frets molded into the fingerboard and painted silver.\nDespite this unflattering description, again the tonal response is\nquite good. Hey, it isn’t a Ramirez, but for what it is, a plastic\nclassical, it has a distinctive character.
\n
\nElectrics
\n
\n<\/span>Among the many whimsical plastic Maccaferri designs of this era\nwas a brief early ’60s excursion into electric guitars with the small\nMaestro electric tenor guitar. This guitar had four strings and a short\n18*” scale, and contained its own battery powered amplifier. Strings\nattached either to a trapeze tailpiece or onto the bridge, as the\nplayer desired. The Maestro had one single-coil pickup at the lead\nposition. Tuners were the basic open-backed variety.
\n
\nSometime during this period Maccaferri also added various plastic horns\nto his repertoire.
\n
\nIntroducing the Beatles…
\n
\n<\/span>The last notice of Maccaferri’s instruments occurred in the\nJuly, 1964, The Music Trades, in which the new “Beatles” line was\ndiscussed. The company was now identified as Mastro Industries, Inc.\nIntroduced in March of ’64, significantly at the Toy Show in New York,\nthe Beatles line marked a final burst of success for the Maccaferri\nventure. Maccaferri had obtained the exclusive U.S. license to market\nofficial instruments using The Beatles name.
\n
\nIncluded were four Beatle guitar models made of “Beatle Red” and\n“Beatle Orange” injection molded polystyrene plastic bodies. The ivory\ntops included brown printed portraits of the Fab Four with\nreproductions of their signatures. Two four-string tenor guitars were\noffered, the Jr. Guitar and the Four Pop, and two small-bodied\nsix-strings, the Yeah Yeah and the Beatle-ist. Construction appears to\nbe similar to that of the ShowTime. Each came with instructions, song\nbook and a pick.
\n
\nThe Mastro Beatle line also included a set of Ringo Drums, plastic\nbongo drums and a plastic banjo. There was also a miniature Pin-Up\nguitar which was a 5″ replica of the real Beatle plastic guitar!
\n
\nAccording to the article in The Music Trades, Mastro had already\nshipped 500,000 of the Beatle guitars and was projecting two million by\nthe end of the year. Whether or not Maccaferri ever met that projection\nis unknown, but Beatlemania, too, began to spread out and change\nquickly as the fans grew older and the pace of the decade picked up.
\n
\n1965 plastics
\n
\n<\/span>A good picture of the mature Maccaferri Mastro line can be seen\nin the 1965 catalog. Top of the line were the G-40 archtop and G-30\nflat top, followed by the Showtime No. 1020 (sans decoration) and\nRomancer No. 1010. By this time both the Showtime and the Romancer had\nan amazing neck design which featured a tension screw inside the body\nat the heel accessible with a long screw driver. Tightening or\nloosening the screw changed the neck tilt and therefore the action.
\n
\nAlso available were the G-16 Islander Guitar, the 35″ Mastro G-10\nGuitar with armoured neck, and the 31″ Mastro G-5 Guitar.
\n
\nIn addition, there were two versions of the 30″ nylon-stringed Sonora\nGuitars No. 727. The A-SH was in a marbled woodgrain color, while the\nIC was in cream and black. Under these were the No. 500 TV Pal Guitar\nin two colors (PIC) or woodgrain (A-SH). The No. 775 Western Guitar\nfeatured singing cowboys, bucking broncos, boots and saddles on the\nfront.
\n
\nStill in the line were a small Maestro electric six-string and tenor\nguitars. The GTA-5 Electric Guitar was a 32″ woodgrain-colored\nnon-cutaway acoustic with a small humbucker attached near the bridge.\nThe wiring came out the treble side through a tube into a small housing\nwith a volume control and jack for a mini-plug. The CT GTA-5 Tenor\nCutaway Electric Guitar was basically a four-string version, with the\noptional string attachment at the tailpiece or bridge. These guitars\nhad a new patent-pending design which featured a rigid metal beam which\nran through the guitar from the nut to the heel, detouring toward the\nback once inside the body. Both were played through the matching TA-5\nMastro Amplifier, a small 5-watt portable transistor amp with a 6″\nspeaker, operating off two 9-volt batteries.
\n
\nThe recently introduced Beatle line was also available, of course.\nBeatles guitars included the 30°” Beatle-Ist Guitar (No. 340), the\n22″ Beatles Yeah-Yeah Guitar (No. 330), the 21″ Beatles Four Pop Guitar\n(No. 320, four-string), and the 14°” Beatles Jr. Guitar (No. 300).\nThe 22″ Beatles Banjo (No. 350) was offered, as were the Beatles Ringo\nSnare Drum (No. 380), the Beatles Beat Bongo (No. 360), the Beatles Big\nBeat Bongo (No. 370), and the Mastro Beatles “Pin-Up” Guitar, miniature\nguitars you could clip on your shirt. All had portraits and signatures\nof the Fab Four on the front.
\n
\nTwo cutaway baritone ukes, the Mastro TV Pal (No. 610) and the Islander\n(No. 410), were offered, as well as the woodgrained Mastro Cutaway\nTenor Guitar (No. CTG-6) and the TV Pal Cutaway Tenor Guitar (No. 666).\nUkes included the Mastro Uke (No. 750), the Islander Uke (No. C-400),\nthe Mastro Jr. Guitar (No. 725, a uke with six-strings) and the TV Pal\nUke (No. 120). Two Chordmaster units were available, the Automatic and\nthe Visual Chordmaster, complete with little lights to let you play the\nuke without lessons! The Mastro Ukette (No. 100) was still around, as\nwell as the Mastro Banjolele (No. 110) and the Banjo Uke (No. 520).
\n
\nTwo plastic violins were offered, the cream-colored Square Dance Fiddle\n(No. 700) and the woodgrained Stradivarious Violin (No. 1000), both\nwith plastic bows.
\n
\nFinally, six wind instruments were available, a trumpet in gold or\ncream, a saxophone in gold or red, and a clarinet in gold or black.\nThere were also six percussion instruments, a set of bongos, three\nmaracas (rumba, bolero and rhythm), castanets and a remarkable plastic\nsnare drum.
\n
\nGitarina
\n
\n<\/span>In 1966 the Mastro plastic line continued unabated with several\nnew curious additions. Most curious was the Gitarina (No. 222), 25″\ndouble-cutaway hollowbody acoustic basically looking like a Strat with\nan asymmetrical three-and-three headstock. This had 20 frets, the end\nof the fingerboard cut in a groovy stairstep design. Soundholes were\ntwin “split-ribbon” shapes.
\n
\nAlso new were two electrics, the GTA-10 Electric Guitar and the Teen\nElectric Guitar. The GTA-10 was basically a 35″ woodgrained Romancer\n(with neck-tilt adjustment) and the Mastro pickup. The Teen was a\nwoodgrained 30″ guitar with a small transducer pickup. Both could be\nplayed through the TA-5 amp, or the new TA-10 10-watt amp, or the\nsmaller TA-3 3-watt amp (powered by 1° volt batteries). If you\nwanted to plug these amps in, a new AC Power Transformer was now\navailable.
\n
\nSummer of Love
\n
\n<\/span>In 1967 Mastro enhanced the line once again. Most of the old\nplastics were still available, but new things were added. The Gitarina\nwas the main focus of expansion. On the downside was the Monkey (No.\n102), a tiny uke version of the acoustic Strat, now with a four-in-line\nheadstock. Upside was the Disco Cutaway Guitar (No. 352), basically the\nGitarina with a small pickguard sort of surround on the lower\nsoundhole, triple rectangle fingerboard inlays, and a fancier bridge\nwith tailpiece.
\n
\nNew, too, was the 30″, nylon-stringed Riviera Guitar (No. 303), a\nslightly offset double-cutaway with ribbon soundholes with little\ncircles in the middle, a six-in-line headstock and optional bridge or\nmolded tail string attachment. An upscale version of this was available\ncalled the Jet Star, with more coloration, a pickguard surround on the\nlower soundhole, a metal tail, and with triangular inlays. The Riviera\n(No. 551) was an electric version with a transducer pickup attached to\nthe lower bout connected to the Mastro 4.11 amplifier.
\n
\nThe Sonora acoustic got a lift with the addition of the nylon-stringed\nDeluxe Sonora (No. 325). This had trapezoidal inlays, a black pickguard\nand a metal tailpiece. The nylon Mastro G3 Guitar (No. 358) was\nbasically the same guitar with traditional worm-gear tuners, rather\nthan friction pegs. The woodgrained Mastro G5 Guitar (No. 452) was\nvirtually the same, too, except for hollow rectangle position markers\nand the through-body metal beam reinforcement.
\n
\nAlso new was the 32″ cream-and-colored Mastro Classic Guitar (No. 451),\npretty much identical to the G3. This was available as the Classic\nElectric Guitar (No. 552) had the same transducer and 4.11 amp as the\nRiviera electric.
\n
\nPlastic denouement
\n
\n<\/span>All this new development ended up as the end of the road.
\n
\nIn around 1967, Mario Maccaferri had an episode with his heart which\nprecipitated some new thinking about his priorities. Other events were\nconspiring to confirm his conclusions.
\n
\nNot long after his recovery, in 1969, Maccaferri plastic guitars\nreceived a bad review. This was, after all, the era of The Graduate,\nthe movie which almost single-handedly defined “plastic” as\ncounter-counter-culture. Mario, never one to brook irrational\nopposition, decided if people were going to criticize his work, he\nwould stop giving them something to criticize. Despite the fact that a\nhuge number of plastic guitars were in various stages of completion,\nMario said, “No more,” and all parts were boxed up and put into storage.
\n
\nAt the same time, in 1969, Maccaferri decided to get out of the plastic\ninstrument business altogether. The designs, molds and other equipment\nfor making his more toy-oriented plastic creations were sold to\nCarnival industries, another plastic novelty company. Carnival never\nfigured out what to do with the Maccaferri legacy which it purchased,\nand no Maccaferri plastic instruments were ever made again.
\n
\n8-Track tapes
\n
\n<\/span>Never ones to remain idle, the Maccaferris continued to work in\nplastic, however. In around 1970 or ’71, RCA came to Mario with the\nidea for an 8-track cassette, needing plastic housings. Mario designed\nand produced the first 8-track cassette housing. Unfortunately, RCA had\nhis design and process copied, closing out a major business\nopportunity. Nevertheless, Maccaferri turned his invention to good\nturn, and he sold many of these 8-track housings to other\nmanufacturers. Eventually, in the later ’70s, Maccaferri expanded into\nmaking cassette tape housings, as well.
\n
\nSaving the reeds
\n
\n<\/span>In around 1981 several events occurred to wind down Mario\nMaccaferri’s commercial ventures. One event was simply that Maccaferri\nwas getting tired of making cassette housings, and wanted to get out of\nthe plastic business. Another was that the city of New York wanted\nMaccaferri’s building and purchased it from him. Rather than beginning\nover again at a new location – Mario was already 80 – Maccaferri\ndecided it was time to stop and to liquidate the factory.
\n
\nIn 1981 almost all of the equipment was auctioned off for a relative\npittance and Mario retired. However, Maria was not ready to stop, and\ndiverted the auctioneer from the reed-making equipment. She asked Mario\nto give her the reed making business. She had, after all, been involved\nwith it since she was 16 years old. Mario agreed and signed the reed\nbusiness over to Maria Maccaferri.
\n
\nFrom that day on until his death, Mario would always tell Maria that\n“you’re the boss” when it came to the reed business, although Maria\nadds that Mario was really always the boss.
\n
\nAs of this writing Maria Maccaferri continues as President of the\nFrench American Reeds Manufacturing Company, making reeds primarily for\nvarious private label retailers, rather than put the effort into\nadvertising and marketing the Maccaferri brand. Among those labels\nwhich are really Maccaferri reeds, by the way, is the name Selmer…
\n
\nPlastic violins<\/span>
\n
\nAlthough commercial production of instruments had ended at the end of\nthe ’60s, in his later years Maccaferri continued his interest in\nmaking instruments. For the remainder of his life he went to his\nworkshop every day at 7:30 a.m. and continued working on various\nprojects, including the development of a remarkable travel guitar, a\nclassical guitar which folded up into its own body – without detuning –\nbecoming the size of a shoebox, and a radical new plastic violin\ndesign. This violin project was completed in 1990 and a public debut\nwas conducted at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The critics\nwere less than generous about the violin, but Mr. Maccaferri was feted\nby a number of chemical companies for his pioneering work in the field\nof plastics.
\n
\nAlthough I never had the pleasure of his acquaintance, there has never\nbeen an account of meetings with the Mastro Maestro which didn’t relate\nhis warm nature and genuine enthusiasm and camaraderie with anyone who\nloved guitars.
\n
\nMario Maccaferri passed away on April 16, 1993, at the age of 92.
\n
\nMany Maccaferri plastic guitars and other instruments remained unsold\nafter 1969 and were stored at the Mastro warehouse in the Bronx for\nmany years. Periodically lots of these would be liquidated to hopeful\ndealers, the first beginning in 1982, with a final purge being made\nshortly before Maccaferri’s death in 1993, with many instruments going\nboth to A.S.I.A. and Elderly Instruments in Lansing, although most of\nthese have been sold by now. There should be little trouble in finding\nnew old stock Maccaferri plastics, and they are well worth seeking out,\nparticularly the G30 and G40 models, with their funky tone and\nfascinating technology. Much harder would be finding Mario Maccaferri’s\nolder Selmer and Maccaferri guitars, which now command prices well into\nthe five figure range.
\n
\n21st Century guitars?
\n
\n<\/span>In retrospect, there’s no denying that Mario Maccaferri’s vision\nof inexpensive but good guitars made out of plastic was Quixotic, but\nthe time has come to recognize them for the visionary instruments they\nwere. It’s highly unlikely that the idea of building acoustic guitars\nout of injection-molded plastic will prove to be the wave of the\nfuture, but increasingly luthiers are searching for alternative\nmaterials to the scarce tonewoods traditionally put into guitars. And,\nat this writing, at least one company, Kuau Technology, Ltd., of Maui,\nHawaii, markets RainSong guitars, steel-string and classicals made\nentirely out of graphite, advertised as “stable and durable, impervious\nto climate,” objectives laid out by Mario Maccaferri way back in 1953.\nSo, who knows? Who would have thought how prophetic were the words of\nMr. Robinson when he put his arm around Dustin Hoffman and said,\n“Plastics?”
\n
\nHowever the next century turns out, we can certainly conclude that\nMario Maccaferri contributed mightily to the guitar cause over the\ncourse of the 20th Century, as a trailblazing classical guitarist,\naward-winning luthier, and plastics innovator, the father of the\nplastic guitar. That Mario Maccaferri’s best-known achievement should\nbe his plentiful, accessible and totally delightful plastic instruments\nmay not be totally adequate, but then again, how many of us are so\nfortunate to leave living epitaphs that serve as memorials to our\ncreative vision?
\n<\/body>\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These two MP3s are the only suriving recordings of Mario Maccaferri: MP3: Bach MP3: Granados The plastic guitar Like the plastic clothespin before it, however, the plastic ukulele was merely a stepping stone to Maccaferri’s higher ambition of making a plastic guitar. Let’s face it, ukes hardly represent a great sonic challenge, but making a […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}