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Gnossienne no.1 works surprisingly well on guitar!
That's what that was...
Owner of Selmer 505 and the Selmer505.com project here, to answer two questions in this thread.
1) Three endorsement Selmers: 503, 504, 505
First, a quick clarification: in Mogeli Geisler’s video (as with a few other musicians in my other clips), the number of guitars built for Django was stated incorrectly, but has been corrected in the subtitles.
As far as I know, only three original Selmers, namely 503, 504 and 505, were built as endorsement instruments and carry the capital "DJANGO REINHARDT" name engraved in the headstock.
Other instruments that have the same capital type of endorsement engraving have turned out to be replicas, including 502 (built by Rino van Hooijdonk), 512 and 715 (both built by Jean Barault) and dozens of 503 copies also built by Jean Barault.
Note: this limited endorsement trio built by Selmer is unrelated to their commercial D. Reinhardt model, which featured “Mod. Django Reinhardt” in italic script on the headstock, of which an estimate of 40 Selmers were produced, according to F. Charle's book (although as a collector I think this may have been an overestimation).
2) 505’s original owner: Piet Baan (and why the Hakkert missing paperwork does not equal looting)
Michael, I understand why Jan de Jong’s mention of the wartime history makes you ask that question. In the interview, however, Jan’s account indicates only that Hakkert’s post-war administration had no surviving records to trace #505’s chain of custody, not that the guitar was looted.
He explains he went to Hakkert to ask if they still had any registration for the guitar’s whereabouts. He was told the shop’s records and administration were lost due to the wartime “Verwalter” (administrator), which is why the #505 was “untraceable” through their paperwork.
In any case, the documented timeline also does not support a “Nazi loot” classification for #505.
Selmer #504 and #505 were both received by the luthier and dealer J.W. Hakkert in Rotterdam in early 1940, per the Selmer register. According to the available provenance, #504 was then sold to Ab de Molenaar and #505 was sold to Piet Baan, both Dutch guitarists. (Much later, #504 was sold by Ab’s widow to Stochelo Rosenberg.)
Only later the Hakkert shop was placed under Nazi control, in 1942. Jacob Wolfgang Hakkert and much of his family were murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, which was a terrible tragedy. After the war the shop was returned to surviving family, but the paperwork had disappeared, as Jan de Jong noted while researching the history of #505.
I’ve attached a 1947 photo of Ab de Molenaar playing #504 with “De Millers” and a 1949 photo of Piet Baan playing #505 with “Orkest Zonder Naam” (“Orchestra Without a Name”), which shows the guitars in use after the war.
Piet Baan and Ab de Molenaar were both prominent, publicly active Dutch guitarists, and as you can see both guitars appear in post-war photos and performances. Given how visible they were, if the surviving Hakkert family had identified #504 or #505 as property confiscated from them or their business, it would have been possible to raise this with these musicians at the time.
The Hakkert shop continued operating until 2007 and I’m not aware of any record of such a claim. Absent any evidence, I don’t think it’s appropriate to classify 505 as “Nazi loot”.
Feel free to contact me if you’d like any more information on the guitar or the Selmer505.com project.
Ab de Molenaar with "De Millers" (1947), holding #504:
Piet Baan with “Orkest Zonder Naam” (1949), holding #505:
I'll raise him to 2250, and wouldn't even have to worry about amplifying it!
Just a few hints:
This is a great and important history post, it should be made visible and preserved somehow.
The image shown on Selmer505.com videos is not a photo of the actual label, it’s an artistic impression used for the project. So conclusions about “Maccaferri blackening” or font differences based on that graphic don’t apply to the actual instrument, as the graphic shouldn’t be used for authentication.
Selmer #505 itself is an authentic Selmer. It has been examined and authenticated as such by Leo Eimers (Dutch luthier and the reseller) and by Jérôme Casanova (Parisian luthier/reseller) who is situatied in Charle's old shop. Photos of the instrument taken by luthier Adam Berten can be found on my Instagram.
I can post additional photos here as well if you tell me what angles you want.
Ok for the fake label (strange idea), perfect!... so a good photo of the true label should be very interesting tks!
My opinion is that any mention of Maccaferri in relation with that 1936 Selmer oval hole model are historically quite "shocking" or let's say at least "inaccurate"
and, probably, should be avoided as Mario has really nothing to do with that guitar (he resigned Selmer 4 years before the oval hole model was created internally)
Another point is the engraving "Django Reinhardt" made manually on Selmer 503 and legible by the player and the one on Selmer 505 that looks stamped and that is reversed (legible only by someone in front of the guitar)... I know it might look like a 7 errors game...
For context, #505 has been inspected in person and authenticated as an original Selmer by three established experts in this field I’ve mentioned above (Berten, Casanova and Eimers). I’m happy to address specific questions out of interest. However, the baseline authenticity is not in any doubt.
For clarity, the label shown in the Selmer505.com videos is just a website graphic, not intended as any form of documentation or proof. Below are two photos of the actual label taken by Eimers when the guitar was in his workshop (also posted on his Facebook page).
Regarding the “DJANGO REINHARDT” engraving orientation: yes, #503 is oriented toward the player, while both #504 (as noted by Charle) and #505 are oriented toward the audience. Both the name and Selmer logo were executed by pantograph tracing a die, as Charle documented, not stamped.
On Maccaferri, I see your historical point, Mario did leave Selmer before the oval-hole model was developed at Selmer. When his name is mentioned by Mogeli, however, I think it’s meant in the broader sense of the general Selmer guitar design rather than implying he was involved in the oval-hole model specifically.
Knowing Selmer’s history, I don’t find the mention problematic. In any case, Maccaferri’s contribution to the development of the Selmer-style guitar merits respect and mention, even if he wasn’t involved in this specific later iteration.
Tks for the labels!
I didn't remembered that the engravings had already been discussed by Charle (Unfortunately I gave my book to a friend that wanted to build a Selmer years ago...)
Well maybe that's not problematic but we have to remember that Maccaferri's idea was to keep the guitar vibrating whatever the position of the guitar was when in contact with the player by inserting a resonating chamber inside. He left Selmer and the guitar immediately lost its resonator and radically changed: hole, diapason, neck, etc... The changes were successful so is there still a valid reason to insist on Maccaferri when dealing with the oval hole model?
Sorry for the disturbance but the label looked so clearly faked
Best and tks for the photos