1932-Selmer Orchestre-Serial Number 103

The Selmer log book adds a bit of intrigue: it shows that this guitar was a Guitare Hawai.Selmer Maccaf. completed on December 1st, 1934 and sold to Calazel of Montpeiller. However, this guitar shows no sign of ever being a Hawaiian model. There are none of the tell tale signs of a conversion, with everything being exactly as it should be for a Jazz model. Additionally, all the guitars with similar low 100 serial numbers were built in 1932, not 1934. The headstock bears the patent number 10.431 which was only used on guitars built in 1932. Later guitars had the 376.338 number. Additionally, the label is one of the very few that specifies this is as a Jazz model (most of the labels used the name Orchestra). Because it is from the first year of production, Mario Maccaferri's name is visible on both the headstock and the label. On later guitars Maccaferri's name no longer appears on the headstock and is blotted out on the label. So we can only assume that the entry in the log book is an error (of which there are many.) This guitar was once part of the legendary Scott Chinery collection. Chinery built one of the biggest and most celebrated guitar collections of all time. He was known for having only the best examples of classic guitars, and this excellent piece was his choice to represent Selmer. This guitar was used by Martin Taylor on a CD that Chinery funded titled Masterpiece Guitars. This guitar is featured in the book, The History of the American Guitar by Tony Bacon on pages 88-89.