Vintage Guitar - June 2018 - open - 96
mid '35, they were finally available in France, and Django played his first riffs on a Selmer. Django began using a Selmer gut-string guitar, but Maccaferri soon launched a louder steel-string version that proved perfect for jazz. With their large soundhole (better for projecting sound), these became known among musicians as grande bouche guitars - large mouths. Or better yet, loudmouths. In 1936 or '37, Django began using a revised Selmer with a small soundhole and a longer neck with 14 frets to the body; soloists like him were drawn to their morefocused, directional sound. And with their elegant oval soundhole, they naturally became known as petite bouche guitars. guitars! Listen to this, it speaks like a cathedral!" Artist endorsements are rarely so vehement or heartfelt. LAST GUITARS LIKE A CATHEDRAL Django was on his way to becoming Europe's premier jazz star in the mid '30s, when he entered into an endorsement arrangement. It was likely a handshake agreement whereby Selmer provided Django guitars when needed. And that seems to have been often, given the number of Selmers that were reputedly owned by him. He reportedly visited the Selmer shop and tried new guitars as soon as they arrived, choosing the best-sounding for himself. So, he literally may have played every one. Meanwhile, his accompanists - from brother Joseph to cousin Eugène Vées, the Ferret brothers (Baro, Sarane, Matelo, and cousin Challain), Marcel Bianchi, and Henri Crolla - all had to pay for theirs. After Django began using a Selmer, it was rare to see a European jazz guitarist play anything but a Selmer, both for the guitar's jazz qualities and in emulation of Django. Like the Martin dreadnought, the Selmer-Maccaferri soon became a style, if not a template, followed by other European luthiers. Django's Selmer No. 503 has back and sides made of mahogany ply capped with a rosewood veneer. The soundboard is fine-grained French spruce. The fretboard and moveable bridge were made of ebony with 21 frets running up to the rosace. The tuners and tailpiece are brass. Django played other brands of guitars over the years, of course. These included Selmerstyle instruments made by Busato and Di Mauro, as well as the Gibson ES-300 he bought when he came to the United States in '46 as guest soloist with Duke Ellington's band. But he soon set aside the Gibson in favor of his Selmer, telling erstwhile manager Charles Delaunay, "All the Americans wish they could This display at Paris' Cité de la Musique includes the Selmer, Rámirez, and Stéphane Grappelli's Hel violin. This mid-'30s ad for Selmer (below) included Django's endorsement. play on this guitar! At least it's got tone, you can hear the chords like you can on the piano. Don't talk to me any more about their tinny VINTAGE GUITAR 96 June 2018 In 1964, Selmer No. 503 was donated to the Musée de la Musique by Django's widow, Naguine. How long or how much Django played this actual guitar is unknown. Reportedly, following French Roma customs, Naguine and Django's mother, Négros, burned his possessions immediately following his death to protect themselves from being haunted by his moulé, Romany for spirit or ghost. This pyre reportedly included his clothes, prized fishing poles and tackle, homemade tapes of compositions he was working on, and his "last guitar." A couple days later, when Django was buried at the cemetery in Samois-sur-Seine, his brother, Joseph - longtime sideman and long-suffering porter of Django's strings, picks, and guitar - laid yet another last guitar on his casket to be buried with him. All of this is not to call into question the validity of his ownership of Selmer No. 503. But Django famously owned many a guitar. While his fellow Roma traded horses, Django horsetraded guitars. After Django's death, Naguine did the same. She gave one of Django's Selmers to Les Paul - or so Paul said - in thanks for everything he had done to further Django's career and for making sure she received royalties due from American releases. Where did all these guitars came from? Perhaps Django had a guitar stashed in every caravan. Two photos survive of Django's second son, Babik, playing this last guitar, Selmer No. 503, in the family's caravan after his father's death. You can tell it's the same guitar from the wear marks and old screw holes that once held a Stimer pickup to the soundboard. In the photos, even Babik, who became a renowned jazzman with numerous recordings to his credit, seems a bit stymied in his playing and awed by the instrument - and legacy - in his hands. Today, Selmer No. 503 is on display at La Cité de la Musique accompanied by a Julián Gómez Rámirez guitar Django played, and one of Stéphane Grappelli's Hel violins. Thanks to Cité de la Musique, Musée de la Musique, Marion Challier, Eric de Visscher, Philippe Bruguière, Joël Dugot, Philippe Vieira, and Scot Wise.