Antoine Dimauro Django Rond Bouche 40's/50's Gypsy Manouche Guitar

Here is a marvelous Antoine Dimauro Django model for sale. This is the rare round holed manouche guitar, with the boxy woody barking tone that gave manouche music its rhythmic drive. 

This guitar spent most of its life in France. I bought it from a small music dealer in Kalamazoo, he had purchased it from an estate sale in France about a month prior to that. I have owned it since sometime in the summer of 2016. No-one I have consulted has been 100% certain on the age, though the tuners and tailpiece suggest it was built not too long after the 2nd world war. 

A legitimate Bigtone pickup is installed (it is the bridge). The hole for the jack previously had a strap button installed. The tuners and tailpiece are original. The pickup was installed by master luthier Geoff Benge here in Chicago. He has a history of working on many gypsy guitars, including some other Dimauro guitars. He also set the guitar up, which involved replacing the zero fret, dressing the frets, and heat pressing the neck (as these guitars were built without truss rods). He also crafted the walnut mustache pieces. The result of his work is a beautiful historic guitar which is also a gigging workhorse. 

Despite being a reliable workhorse, the guitar is not in absolutely pristine condition. Most notably, some binding has come off of the instrument. This is apparent in the photographs, please examine them closely. The missing binding really doesn't impede playing the guitar at all, though it is a little off-putting at first. I originally hoped to restore the binding, but nobody makes 5 ply binding that matches this anymore, and on Geoff Benge's advice I decided to leave it as is. In my time owning this guitar, the binding has been stable and none has come off. There is a staple near the heel of the neck. This is typical of Dimauro guitars, the neck hasn't broken or anything along those lines.The natural finish is beautiful, again please examine the pictures. The sheer age and history of this guitar ooze mojo! 

I'm going to miss playing this guitar a lot, it has served me dozens of gigs of straight chunking, but I do feel its time to move it to someone who will play it all of the time. This is the kind of guitar you could hang on to for a lifetime. 

The bridge which was previously on this guitar will be included as well, though I doubt that it is original. It is plastic. A quality hardshell case will be purchased for shipping (or a mono soft case if you prefer). I deal with shipping Rhodes and Wurlitzer pianos as part of my work, i've shipped many valuable and vintage guitars and never had any issue. The packing will be professional and likely bulletproof. That being said, I would happily arrange delivery within a couple hundred miles of Chicago too. 

Thank you! Please don't hesitate to ask any questions.