Mario Maccaferri's design inspiration

BillDaCostaWilliams

I had always assumed that Maccaferri, being a classical guitarist, was mainly influenced by classical guitar design but two recent studies suggest that he was inspired by the knowledge he picked up about mandolin design when he served as apprentice to luthier Luigi Mozzani in Italy.

He may also have been influenced by Gibson’s F5 mandolin launched in 1922.

 

Emberger Neapolitan mandolin

 

Gibson F5

 

 

In a 2016 conference paper Russell Spiegel of the University of Miami writes:

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“At his Paris workshop, Maccaferri began by organizing the tools and machinery

and started training the workforce. All the moulds, templates and special tools were

designed by Maccaferri and made on site. It was then that his revolutionary design began

to take form. At Henri Selmer’s request, Maccaferri had been asked to make designs for a

number of different models – classical, concert harp (with between two and six extra

resonating strings), Hawaiian, and, due to the aforesaid popularity of jazz bands, a steel-

string “jazz” model, known as the ”Orchestre,” of which this paper is concerned with,

along with a four-string version. 

The first guitars began production in 1932 with Maccaferri concentrating first on

classical models. To learn more about jazz he began frequenting the Paris clubs and got

to know what guitarists there were looking for. Though virtually all the instruments

Maccaferri constructed for Selmer entailed design improvements, for him the most

important features were incorporated into the Orchestre model, which introduced a

number of improvements that were to influence guitar makers worldwide.

 One look at this instrument and one immediately recognizes they are looking at an

instrument quite different from the guitar of Torres. Inspired by Neapolitan mandolins

Maccaferri’s guitar incorporated a vast series of innovations which will be shortly noted

here:

 The Body: The majority of the backs & sides were made of 3-ply laminated Indian

rosewood. Some used laminated Brazilian rosewood or mahogany, and a few used

solid birdseye North American Maple. At the time laminated wood was an

innovation – Maccaferri noticed that solid wood bodies tended to damage more

quickly and laminated woods tended to be stronger and last longer, as well as

making the body lighter. Inspired by the F-style mandolin the instrument also

incorporated a distinctive cutaway to allow better access to the higher frets

 

The Top: Always made of 2 halves joined at the middle of European spruce, the

tops of the Orchestre were curved without being archtops. 

 

 The Neck: The vast majority of necks were 3-piece European walnut lined with

three or four 2x12mm duralumin plates, lightened with holes bored in them.

Though non-adjustable, they added to the stability of the neck. The fingerboard

was made of ebony and also boasted a zero fret on the basis that it improved

intonation. On D-holed instruments the fretboard continued allowing 24 frets on

the 1st string only. Oval holed models stopped short of the soundhole.

 

Tailpiece: Maccaferri again used mandolin design to come up with a unique

tailpiece that affixed to the bottom of the body. 

 

 Bridge: Here Maccaferri used the mandolin principle of having a floating bridge as

opposed to a bridge glued to the body. These guitars came with a number (usually

seven!) of bridges with different heights to accommodate the needs of any player.

Another very characteristic element in the design of this guitar were the

“moustaches” on the sides of the bridge. The use of these “moustaches” were not

merely ornamental as they served as guides to align the bridges correctly.

 

Tuning Machines: These represented an entirely new design patented by

Maccaferri that enclosed the gears inside a casing fixed to a base plate. This casing

protected two cog wheels ensuring permanent self lubrication of the gears, which

was not possible with open tuning machines. It also increased the number of teeth

and improved the tooth angle so that at least four teeth were in permanent contact

at any time leading to greater sturdiness, precision, and less wear.

 

The Soundbox: Another distinctive characteristic of the Selmer Maccaferri is the

the big D, or “grand bouche” soundhole. In part created for a bigger sound, but

also to compensate for the guitarist leaning over his instrument thus muffling part

of its tone, and inspired by 19th century romantic guitars and harp guitars he had

learned to construct in Mozzani’s shop, Maccaferri improved on the design to add

volume, tone, and clarity to the guitar, receiving a patent in 1930. Basically a box

within the body, the resonator had a reflector that enabled the sound to be directed

out of the soundhole. The D soundhole’s function was thus purely pragmatic as

Maccaferri found that with a smaller soundhole he was not able to achieve the

desired results. 

 

 Overall, around 200 guitars were produced in the first year with almost all being

sent to London. In 1933, while Maccaferri went back to concert touring the factory turned

out fewer guitars, the majority being 4-string models. Around this time, however,

Maccaferri had a falling out with Henri Selmer (the actual details are unclear, but it had

evidently to do with the limited duration of his contract) and left the company with the

oversight of construction of the guitars falling to Maccaferri’s deputy Lucien Guerinet."

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A similar argument is made on page 63 of the 2025 doctoral thesis by Brazilian guitarist Leon Bucaretchi.

Leon has been a regular at jams here in Lisbon while working on his study.

The thesis is in Portuguese but the abstract is in English:

"In this research, we studied the vibratory characteristics of the Manouche guitar in the laboratory and detailed its morphology, referencing discussions with luthiers specialized in this instrument’s construction. Two years of fieldwork allowed us to view this instrument inserted into context, observing how it is used, by whom, and the importance of community practice and the pedagogy of jazz Manouche in the sound we hear when a musician plays a Manouche guitar.

Therefore, this thesis elucidates how the characteristics of an instrument, sound conceptions of musicians of the Manouche genre, and performance techniques interconnect to define the sound of the Manouche guitar."