Original 1942 Selmer Maccaferri Django petit bouch Gypsy Jazz Guitar 1942 natural

This is not something I normally sell and I am NOT an expert on these so I am just going to tell you all I know…

This is a superb circa 1942 Henri Selmer Maccaferri ‘petit bouch’ Django Gypsy Jazz type guitar complete with later hard case, an autographed copy of the ’Story of Selmer Guitars’ by Francois Charlie where this very same guitar, in it’s present condition, can be seen on page 122 and a couple of 1940’s Django 78 rpm’s and some Django sheet music etc...

It is number 589 and is pretty close to Django’s magic number of 503. It has the small oval sound hole, slotted headstock, original one piece walnut neck and original Indian rosewood back and sides. The top looks too clean to be original so I am assuming it must have been replaced or at the very least refinished some time ago (before the book was first published in 19XX) and whoever did this work was a genius as it looks brilliant. The bridge also looks very clean but I do not know enough about these to tell if it is original or not.

The fingerboard has obviously been refretted and when this was done it was probably planed at the same time as again, this is very clean.

There are some repaired blemishes and small cracks on the sides and back which I am pretty certian is the original Indian rosewood. Apart from that, everything else looks OK but again I am not an expert!

This is obviosly not for the fastidious collector out there who expects 100% originiality but that said, it has a phenomenal sound and projection that defies belief! If you are into these guitars you will know what I am talking about.

These come up for sale so rarely and I am sure this will create some discussion.. It recently failed to sell at auction where it was priced at between £10-15k plus around 23% commission. I am starting it priced at the halfway point of £12k5 with no commission of course and am inviting offers.

Please have a good look at the photos, you can see clearly the condition of this and exactly what you are getting. I do not expet you will see another of these original Selmers up for sale for some time, escpecially at this price and being in the same 500 seris as Django’s...
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Come and visit me in Cheltenham and give it a try - I do not think you will be disappointed.