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1 Il territorio centese è caratteristico per la tendenza 2 Ufficio Anagrafe del Comune di Cento
all’imprenditorialità attiva e diffusa in gran parte della 3 Intervista ad Amneris e A. Maccaferri, nipoti di Mario
popolazione. Un territorio in cui la piccola azienda o l’azienda Maccaferri, Cento, gennaio 2008
famigliare è molto radicata: Mario Maccaferri ne è una 4 Intervista eseguita da A. Maccaferri alla zia Maria Maccaferri,
testimonianza. New York, dicembre 2008.
3
(3) Mario Maccaferri nel laboratorio di Cento in via Gennari, 1908-1915
Fu allora che all’età di undici anni, nel intraprendente e ricco di talento, tanto
1911, iniziò a frequentare il laboratorio di che dopo circa un anno, all’età di 12 anni,
Mozzani in via Gennari a Cento, dove ri- lo scelse come allievo di chitarra. Mario
mase sino al 1917, quando fu chiamato apprese tutte le tecniche chitarristiche
alle armi a causa dello scoppio della pri- del Maestro6, in particolare il “tremolo
ma guerra mondiale. Durante la guerra si Mozzani” e l’uso dell’unghia di metallo al
ruppe una gamba e dopo un anno ritornò pollice della mano destra (thumb-pick),
a Cento, rientrò nel laboratorio Mozzani che gli permisero di iniziare presto la car-
dove rimase sino al 19225. In questo pe- riera di concertista.
riodo l’attività della Luteria Luigi Mozzani
raggiunse il massimo fulgore costruttivo. Nel 1916, Maccaferri frequentò il Conser-
Nel laboratorio si producevano molti tipi vatorio di Musica di Siena e dal 1920 iniziò
di strumenti a corda: dalla famiglia degli a farsi conoscere come concertista7. Nel
archi (violino, viola, violoncello) a quella 1926, ancora a Siena, conquistò il titolo
degli strumenti a pizzico ed a plettro di “Professore” agli esami indetti da «Il
(chitarre di modello spagnolo e Guada- Plettro», e poco dopo, preparato un buon
gnini, chirarre-lyra ad uno o a due bracci, programma, intraprese un giro di con-
mandolini, mandole, mandoloncelli sino certi in Italia. Uno di questi ebbe luogo il
al mandolone contrabbasso), strumenti 15 febbraio 1928 al Regio Conservatorio di
adatti a costituire un’orchestra a plettro. Musica di Milano con i seguenti brani8:
Mozzani sovraintendeva i ragazzi che la- Parte 1a: F. Sor - a) Due Minuetti op. 11 N.
voravano nel suo laboratorio e probabil- 5, 6. F. Sor - b) Allegro op. 22. W. A.Mozart
mente notò in Maccaferri un carattere
6 Ibid.
7 G.Gruhn, D.Forte, op.cit., pp. 44-47
5 G.Gruhn, D.Forte, Mario Maccaferri, in “Guitar Player”, 8 B.Terzi, Dizionario dei chitarristi e liutai italiani, Bologna, La
febbraio 1986, pp. 44-47 chitarra, 1935, p.137
4
(4) A sinistra Mario Maccaferri in duo con chitarre-lyra della «Premiata Liuteria Prof. Mario Maccaferri»
(per gentile concessione di Amneris Maccaferri)
(7) Locandina con programma di concerto (8) Locandina programma del concerto eseguito
alla Salle Gaveau di Parigi, ca. 1930, alla Mortimer Hall di Londra, 1931
(per gentile concessioni di J.Tubbs e Maria Maccaferri) (per gentile concessione di F. Charles)
glia d’Oro; al Concorso Nazionale di Liute- pratica, applicandole, idee a cui da tempo
ria della Regia Filarmonica Romana (Roma), pensava: (…) Un amico che lavorava nella
nel 1927, vinse il secondo premio e la fabbricazione di mobili mi incoraggiò a rag-
Menzione Onorevole15: (…) I violini della giungerlo a Londra. Mi aiutò a procurarmi
mia fabbrica, sono lieto di affermarlo, hanno attrezzature e legni, con i quali feci parec-
soddisfatto i più esigenti artisti e sono la scel- chie chitarre di nuovo stile, fra le quali quella
ta più accurata per potenza e dolcezza di che alla fine sarebbe diventata famosa come
suono (…)16. la “Chitarra Django Reinhardt.” (…)21.
(…) Nell’agosto del 1927 lasciai Cento per Maccaferri progettò e costruì anche un
Parigi, dove avevo uno zio [Ferdinando Atti] modello di chitarra adatto alle sonorità
che commerciava fisarmoniche. Là lavorai su jazzistiche, la propose a Ben Davis, diret-
fisarmoniche e chitarre, diedi lezioni e con- tore del più grande negozio di strumenti
certi e costruii sei violini. (…)17. In questi musicali di Londra e rappresentante della
anni Maccaferri incise vari brani su dischi ditta Selmer.
sia della Columbia che per la Odeon Fonoti-
pia18. La fama e la bravura di chitarrista lo (…) rimase così impressionato dalla qualità
portarono a Londra, dove tenne vari del suo tono che chiamò immediatamente la
concerti (Mortimer Hall, Wigmore Hall, Selmer di Parigi. Essi espressero il desiderio
ecc.) e incontrò un ambiente favorevole di produrre questa chitarra. Venne raggiunto
che gli permise di dedicarsi all’insegna- un accordo e due giorni dopo ritornai a Pari-
mento della chitarra. (…) Possiamo avere gi. Mi recai allo stabilimento della Selmer a
un’idea della musica suonata da Maccaferri cinquanta chilometri a sud di Parigi dove ave-
da un programma del concerto che tenne il vano un edificio speciale per la produzione
24 Marzo 1932. Il concerto era diviso in tre delle chitarre. Divenni responsabile di tutte
parti: la prima comprendeva il ’Rondò’ di F. le macchine, degli attrezzi e del legno neces-
Carulli, ‘Reverie’ di Regondi e ‘Studio’ di Na- sario per iniziare la produzione. Si assunsero
poleon Coste; la seconda parte ‘Sei Capricci’ gli operai e ci mettemmo subito al lavoro
di Luigi Legnani, ‘Quattro Preludi’ di Manuel (…)22 .
Maria Ponce e ‘Tre Canzoni Messicane’ pure
di Ponce. La parte finale comprendeva ‘Alle- La fabbrica era situata a Mantes de Ville,
gro’, ancora di Ponce, ‘Fandanquillo’, di Fede- alla periferia di Parigi. Grazie all’esperien-
rico Turina, ‘Cadiz’ di Isaac Albeniz e ‘Secon- za acquisita nei laboratori della Liuteria
da Fantasia’ di J.K. Mertz (…)19. (…) Il suo Mozzani, Maccaferri organizzò le linee di
pezzo forte era la bellissima “Variazioni su produzione. Inzialmente venne realizzato
Mozart” di Sor. Si dice che la sua esibizione il modello Classico, successivamente Hen-
fosse infusa della sua forte personalità ro- ry Selmer chiese a Maccaferri di ampliare
mantica. (…)20. la produzione e vennero costruiti i mo-
delli Spagnolo, Orchestra, Hawaiano; inol-
Nel frattempo, grazie all’aiuto di un ami- tre studiò e brevettò un sistema per ren-
co iniziò a costruire chitarre e mise in dere più efficiente la proiezione sonora
della chitarra: il risuonatore23.
15 M.Dresdner, Mario Maccaferri: Feisty As Ever, in “American
Lutherie”, giugno 1985, pp. 32-37
16 J,Tubbs, op.cit., p. 65 Dal catologo Selmer del 1932: “Senza en-
17 M.Tuner, Premiata Liuteria Marco Maccaferri, “American trare nei dettagli delle prove scientifiche che
Lutherie”, n.7 1986, pp. 29-30
18 Catalogo Disques Columbia n.36, dicembre 1929, F.Charles, 21 M.Tuner, op. cit., pp. 29-30
op.cit., p.11, Archivio privato di A.Maccaferri, Archivio privato 22 Ibid.
di M.Bazzotti 23 F.Charle, L’Histoires des Guitares Selmer-Maccaferri, Paris,
19 M.Wright, Maccaferri Guitars, in Guitar Stories - Vol. 2, Mame à Tours, 1999, p. 46, brevetto n.376.338, ottenuto l’11
Bismarck, Vintage Guitar Books, 2000, pp. 183-228 luglio 1932, depositato a Londra il 9 aprile 1931 e rilasciato
20 Ibid. provvisoriamente con il n.10,431/31.
7
(9) Reparto dedicato alla costruizione delle chitarre della ditta Selmer
(per gentile concessione di F. Charles)
dimostrino il valore di questo dispositivo, pos- cordiera simile a quella del mandolino. Sono
siamo dire che ‘la potenza’ e la ‘qualità’ del lieto di dire che questa chitarra fu un grosso
suono (cose ben distinte e finora inconciliabi- successo, la cui popolarità fu accresciuta da
li) permettono l’ascolto in grandi sale e la Diango Reinhardt. Sebbene non l’abbia mai
registrazione alla radio in condizioni finora incontrato personalmente, i nostri nomi sono
impossibili”, il risuonatore venne inserito ‘strumentalmente’ legati. (…)26.
principalmente nei modelli Concert, Or-
chestre ed Espagnol24. I modelli prodotti furono: a corde di bu-
dello: Concert a spalla mancante, Espagnol,
Si trattava di una cassa dentro la cassa Classique; a corde di metallo: Orchestre
armonica della chitarra, un dispositivo (jazz) a spalla mancante, Hawaien. L’anno
che ebbe successo inizialmente, ma che successivo: Ténor, Orchestre 4 cordes
poi fu abbandonato per difficoltà dovute Grand Modéle, Orchestre 4 cordes Eddie
al costo e alla complessità di assemblag- Freeman, Concert Harpe, Orchestre senza
gio nella linea di produzione; inoltre il di- spalla mancante27. I modelli Concert ed
spositivo non ebbe successo perché non Espagnol avevano regolari ponticelli clas-
diede quell’effettivo risultato sonoro che sici, con due ossicini sfasati per migliora-
la Selmer aveva dichiarato di ottenere. re l’accordatura; gli altri due modelli ave-
Tuttavia, Il 9 aprile 1931 Maccaferri bre- vano i ponticelli mobili e la cordiera mo-
vettò in Inghilterra «Improvements in Gui- dello Maccaferri. Il modello Orchestre ri-
tars, Violins, Mandolins and like Stringed In- mane il più conosciuto. Questo modello
struments», brevetto n. 376.338 reso defi- di chitarra, innovativo dal punto di vista
nitivo il l’11 luglio 1932, che depositò in costruttivo, fu utilizzato e suonato dal
Francia il 6 maggio 1932 con il n. 736.779, jazzista tzigano Django Reinhardt28 tanto
mentre negli Stati Uniti lo stesso venne
depositato il 16 febbraio 1932 con il n. 26 M.Dresdner, op cit., pp. 32-37
593.26925. 27 F.Charle, op cit., p.56
28 Dal sito http://www.bluessummit.com/it/monografie/reinhardt/
(…) Dopo che furono costruite le prime chi- reinbio.htm: «Django Reinhardt rappresenta la prima grande
figura di jazzista emersa in Europa e tuttora rimane uno dei più
tarre, Selmer mi chiese di produrre altri tre grandi musicisti mai esistiti nel vecchio continente. Zingaro, dallo
tipi, e cioè: una classica spagnola, una Ha- spirito libero, Reinhardt non era certo un uomo con cui era
waiana e una chitarra jazz. Per le prime due facile avere a che fare, spesso si aggirava solitario nelle strade
non ci furono problemi, ma non avendo di campagna tenendosi lontano dalla gente. Reinhardt era un
fenomenale chitarrista acustico, le cui melodie trascinavano
esperienze di chitarra jazz, cominciai a fare le sue swing band in un’era dove ancora l’amplificazione degli
ricerche sull’argomento frequentando i clubs strumenti non si era diffusa e il suono degli strumenti proveniva
in cui si eseguiva musica jazz per chitarra ed direttamente dalle dita dei chitarristi e dei violinisti e dal fiato
arrivai alla conclusione che doveva essere dei vari clarinettisti e sassofonisti. Nato il 23 Gennaio del 1910
a Liverchies in Belgio, Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt, prima
una chitarra con un suono alto e penetrante. violinista e poi chitarrista, crebbe in un campo nomadi vicino
Per ottenere ciò, progettai una chitarra con Parigi dove assorbì la cultura gitana che poi riemergerà, in
un piano convesso piegato in avanti [come il futuro, nella sua musica. Nel 1928, un disastroso incendio alla
mandolino, dal ponticello verso il botto- roulotte, dove viveva, gli causò una rovinosa bruciatura alla
mano sinistra, privandolo dell’uso del quinto e quarto dito;
ne] per tutta la larghezza al di sotto del pon- ma il Reinhardt, pieno di risorse, elaborò una nuova tecnica di
te. Utilizzai un ponticello a pressione ed una diteggiatura della chitarra così da aggirare il problema che in
seguito si rivelerà probabilmente il fattore più rilevante per lo
sviluppo del suo particolarissimo stile chitarristico. La leggenda
24 J.Tubbs, op.cit., p. 86, Selmer catalogue, circa 1932, n.p.: dice che durante la sua convalescenza, Reinhardt trovò un
“Sans entrer ici dans le détail de constatations scientifiques disco di Louis Armstrong “Dallas Blues” in un mercatino delle
prouvant la valeur de cette disposition, nous pouvons affirmer pulci di Orleans e da quel giorno decise di dedicare la propria
que la «portée» et la «qualité» du son (choses bien distinctes arte al Jazz americano. Una volta ripresa la propria attività di
et jusqu’ici inconciliables) permettent l’audition dans les plus musicista nei vari caffé di Parigi, nel 1934 il padrone del Hot Club
grandes salles et l’enregistrement à la radio dans des conditions propose a Reinhardt e Grappelli di creare una band composta
jusqu’ici impossibles.” dal chitarrista gitano e dal violinista francese di origine italiana.
25 F.Charles, op. cit., p. 46 Così nacque il Quintet of the Hot Club of France che velocemente
11
da diventare un simbolo nella musica jazz Maccaferri29. Il giorno successivo Macca-
‘manouche’. ferri andò da Henri Selmer e si licenziò.
Le dimissioni di Maccaferri crearono pro-
Nel periodo in cui Maccaferri lavorò per blemi nella produzione, ma ormai il suc-
Selmer, tra il 1932 ed il 1933, furono co- cesso raggiunto dallo strumento tra i chi-
struiti più di duecento strumenti. Dopo tarristi fece sì che la Selmer continuò la
circa sei mesi di attività, una sera Macca- produzione sino al 1952, anno in cui la
ferri rilesse con attenzione il contratto ditta cessò la costruzione di chitarre. Nei
stipulato con la Selmer, notò una clausola vent’anni di attività la Selmer produsse
scritta molto in piccolo che specificava circa 1000 chitarre30. Dopo un periodo di
come la ditta si poteva avvalere della fa- transizione tra il 1934 ed il 1935, la Selmer
coltà di recidere il contratto in qualsiasi cercò di fornire uno strumento di più ra-
momento senza obblighi verso lo stesso pida fabbricazione: la buca fu fatta ovale e
non più a ‘D’ e, su richiesta dei musicisti,
Nel frattempo Maccaferri aveva assunto anni; la più giovane, Maria Centuori, nel
due giovani sorelle italiane di circa venti 1937 diventò sua moglie e preziosa
collaboratrice. Nel 1939 nacque la figlia
33 Ibid., pp. 29-30
Eliane37.
34 Ibid., pp. 29-30
35 Ibid., pp. 29-30 37 Intervista eseguita da A.Maccaferri a sua zia Maria Maccaferri,
36 J.Tubbs, op.cit., p. 132 New York, dicembre 2008.
13
Maccaferri era terrorizzato dal pericolo
della guerra: l’Europa in quegli anni viveva
forti tensioni sociali che presagivano un
conflitto bellico. Nel 1939, su invito di
Gratz, colse l’occasione per trasferire
l’attività a New York38. (…) Dopo essersi
esibito a New York, lasciò là la moglie e la
bambina e tornò nella sua fabbrica di ance a
Parigi, che era gestita dal cognato. Il 15 Ago-
sto del 1939, mentre era a Parigi, ricevette
una telefonata da una amica che lavorava
all’ufficio Affari Esteri, che gli consigliò di la-
sciare immediatamente il paese. (…)39.
16
Ritornato in azienda ne costruì un proto-
tipo in plastica che poi perfezionò e bre-
vettò: tra il 1945-46 con la Mastro Plastics
Corporation iniziò la produzione di mol-
lette, e al 1951 ne furono prodotte circa
350 milioni. (…) La molletta di plastica di-
venne così famosa che [Maccaferri] acqui-
stò un complesso di tre edifici e nove macchi-
ne, tanto che presto ne produsse un milione
al giorno! (…)47. Fu quello l’inizio della Ma-
stro Industries, che divenne in breve così
grande che una ditta italiana impiegava
una sessantina di meccanici solo per pro-
durre parti e stampi per le fabbriche
Mastro48.
18
Ad ogni modo Arthur Godfrey era sempre in
televisione col suo ukulele e mi fu detto che
aveva un pubblico di circa 35 milioni di spet-
tatori, cosi decisi di produrre ugualmente
l’ukulele di plastica. Poichè l’attrezzatura e
gli stampi erano di precisione, fu facile fare
uno strumento che veniva munito di tasti in
modo accurato ed aveva un tono passabile.
49 Ibid. 51 Ibid.
50 J.Tubbs, op.cit., p. 173 52 Ibid.
19
(24) Mario Maccaferri e John Monteleone
Inventò e produsse anche piastrelle di profitti e nel 1964 le cose andarono me-
plastica e mattonelle fonoassorbenti bre- glio.
vettandole. (…) La Mastro Industries ha
prodotto circa 22.000.000 di piedi quadrati Il declino iniziò nel 1965 e fu dovuto ad
di mattonelle fonoassorbenti l’anno. Poi ab- un aumento dei costi dei materiali, della
biamo fatto le cassette [stereo 8] e gli mano d’opera, della pubblicità e anche a
astucci: ne producevamo 120.000 al giorno. causa di un’azione legale da parte degli
Avevamo 46 stampi ad iniezione. (…)53. operai. Di conseguenza la Mastro registrò
Alla fine degli anni ’40 Maccaferri si era una forte perdita che proseguì fino al
costruito un solido giro finanziario. 1969, anno in cui Maccaferri liquidò
l’azienda. Anche un piccolo disturbo al
Gli anni ’50 furono il periodo d’oro: solo cuore, diagnosticato nel 1967, contribuì
nel 1955 la Mastro vendette piastrelle per alla decisione di chiudere la produzione
tre milioni di dollari. Ma nonostante il degli strumenti, ma questa non fu la fine
successo raggiunto, si tratteneva uno sti- ufficiale della Mastro. Dopo alcuni anni di
pendio annuale di soli 31.200 dollari per- contatti con ditte esterne per lo stam-
ché pensava che gli fossero sufficienti. paggio della plastica, Maccaferri fu inco-
raggiato dalla RCA a sviluppare una cas-
Nei primi anni ’60 la Mastro cominciò a setta per nastro ad 8 tracce e nel 1972 la
subire un lento declino economico, ma Mastro registrò un guadagno netto di
Maccaferri riuscì comunque a trarre dei 200.818 dollari. Questa cifra rimase co-
stante sino al 1975. Nel 1981, all’età di 81
(Page 3) Mario Maccaferri, heir of the eclectic at 9 years of age, saying: (…) dad it’s over, here’s my
spirit of Mozzani, during his long career managed school report, I’m not going there anymore (…) and
to influence the musical, guitarist and also indus- he went to wash teacups and mugs, but he broke
trial environment. so many cups that he was fired, he then went to
Guitarist, luthier, performer, entrepreneur and a butcher shop but when he saw the blood and
inventor with his ideas (many of which were pat- the cow heads hanging outside the shop he got a
ented), left a deep imprint of his personality. fright and run away!”
Famous all around the world as a guitar innova-
tor with the model Selmer Maccaferri, he suc- (Page 4) When he was eleven years old, in 1911,
ceeded, also thank to the guitarist Django Reind- he started to hang out at the Mozzani’s work-
hardt, to influence at a planetary level the guitar shop which was then located in Via Gennari, in
lutherie, so much that many guitar makers of the Cento, where he stayed until 1917 when he had
past and of the present built and still build copies the call up for the first world war.
of his instruments. During the war he broke his leg and he returned
With the French American Reed Company, that to Cento after one year, he then went back to
builds reeds for wind instruments, (at the mo- the Mozzani workshop where he worked until
ment managed by his doughter Eliane) Maccaferi 1922. During this period of time the “Liuteria
modified with his inventions and devices the Luigi Mozzani” reached its peak.
tools for the manufacturing process of the reeds. Many types of instruments were built in the
workshop, from the strings family (violin, viola,
With the Mastro Plastics Corporation and after cello) to the plucked ones (Spanish and Gua-
with the Mastro Industries Inc. Maccaferri em- dagnini style guitars, harp guitars, mandolins,
proved the molding process of the plastic, pro- mandolas, mandocellos, and also mando bass),
ducing and patenting musical instruments and instruments suitable to form an entire plucked
objects for the everyday life. orchestra.
Mario Maccaferri was born in Cento on the 20 of Mozzani supervised the workers in his workshop
October 1900. Born in a numerous family formed and he noticed that Maccaferi was very skilled
by his father Erminio (1863-1918), his mother and with an enterprising character, so much that
Demetria Atti (1867-1954) and seven brothers: after one year he choose him as a guitar pupil.
Aurelio, Attilio, Mario, Brenno, Adelmo, Dante Mario learnt all the techniques of his Maestro,
and Ermanno. particularly the so called “Mozzani’s tremolo”
He lived in Cento (Ferrara), first by the Valentini and the use of the metal thumb pick, that al-
Mill in via Bulgarelli, where Erminio worked as lowed him to start soon his career as a concert
janitor, and then in Via Cremonino, 12. performer.
Succeeding the premature death of the father, In 1916, Maccaferri attended the music conserva-
mother Demetria started to work as seamstress tory of Siena and from 1920 he started to be well
to support the family, while the oldest brothers known as a performer.
started to work. In 1926, he won the title of “Professore” (lectur-
Mario left school at 9 and found a job as dish- er) by the Italian music magazine “Il Plettro” and
washer in a bar. soon after that with a good repertoire he under-
His wife Maria Centuori recounts: “he left school took an Italian tour.
30
(Page 5) He performed for Arturo Toscanini at London where he performed many concerts
the Teatro Alla Scala di Milano. (Mortimer Hall, Wigmore Hall, etc.), there he
Maccaferri met Segovia and the two guitarists found a favourable environment and started
became close friends, their friendship was a long teaching guitar.
lasting one. We can find out know which music Maccaferri
Maccaferri then started to tour successfully was playing reading the set list of a concert that
across all Europe, he was really well known in he performed on the 24 of March 1932.
Belgium, Great Britain, France and Germany. The performance was divided in three parts: the
From 1923 to 1927 he opened a workshop in first featured the “Rondò” by F. Carulli, Regondi’s
Cento, during that time he built 80 violins. “Reverie”, and “Studio” by Napoleon Coste.
He also published a catalogue with the descrip- The second part featured “Sei Capricci” by Luigi
tion of the instruments, there were three models Legnani, “Quattro preludi” and “Tre canzoni Mes-
of “Chitarra lyra” with a cutaway and sub basses, sicane” by Manuel Maria Ponce.
those were available with nine or eleven strings, The final part of the performance included “Alle-
a standard guitar with cutaway, and a terz gui- gro” by Ponce, “Fandanquillo” by Federico Turina,
tar, four models of standard guitar, one of which “Cadiz” by Isaac Albeniz and “Seconda Fantasia”
featured three extra sub basses, seven types of by J.K. Mertz (…).
mandolin from the “quartino” to the bass man- (…) his showpiece was the beautiful “Variazioni
dolin. su Mozart” by Sor. It’s said that the exhibition was
In the catalogue the instruments were priced as “drenched” by his strong romantic personality (…).
such: 650 lire for a chitarra lyra with 9 strings Meanwhile with the help of a friend he re-start-
“very special for the concert performer”. The violin ed to build guitars and to apply new ideas to his
was costing 1.300 lire, the viola 2.000 lire, the work: (…) A friend of mine that was building furni-
cello was priced 3.800 lire. ture pushed me to reach him in London, he helped
me to get tools and tone woods and I built many gui-
(Page 7) During that period of time he won many tars in my new style, among those guitars there was
prizes and medals at several lutherie fairs and ex- the one that would became famous as the “Django
positions: at the first International Exposition of Reindhart Guitar” (…).
Fiume he won the first prize and a gold medal, Maccaferri designed and built a guitar that was
at the third international lutherie exposition of suited for the jazz sound, he submitted it to Ben
Montecatini, in 1926 , he won the “Croce al Meri- Davis, then the director of London’s biggest
to” and the gold medal; in 1927 at the National instruments shop and salesman of the Selmer
Lutherie Competition of the Regia Filarmonica Company.
Romana (in Rome) he won the second prize and (…) he was so impressed with the beauty of the tone
“La Menzione Onorevole” (…) my violins, I’m happy the he immediately rang the Selmer offices in Paris.
to say, satisfied the most demanding artists and they Selmer wanted to produce this type of guitar, we
are the best choice for projection and sweetness of reached an agreement and after a couple of days I
sound. (…) returned to Paris.
(…) in August 1927 I left Cento and moved to Paris, I went to the Selmer headquarter which was located
where my uncle (Ferdinando Atti) was living, he was thirty miles south of Paris where they had a special
trading accordions. workshop for the guitar building.
There I worked on accordions and guitars, I was I was in charge of all the machines, the tools and
teaching guitar and playing concerts and I built six the wood which were needed to start the production,
violin (…). some workers were employed and the production
In those years, Maccaferri recorded many songs started (…)
for the Columbia Records Label and for the The factory was located in Mantes de Ville.
Odeon Fonotipia Records label. Thanks to the experience that he acquired at the
The fame he gained as guitar player led him to Mozzani’s workshop, Maccaferri organized the
31
production. The following year: Tènor, Orchestre 4 cordes
The first model to be built was the “Classico” Grand Modèle, Orchestre 4 cordes Eddie Free-
model, Henry Selmer then asked Maccaferi to man, Concert Harpe, Orchestre without cutaway.
extend the production and then the new models The Concert and Espagnol models had a bridge
“Spagnolo”, ”Orchestra” and “Hawaiano”; he also that resembled a classical guitar bridge but with
invented and patented a new system to improve two divided bone saddles (dividing the bass
the sound projection of the guitar: the “Resona- strings from the trebles) to improve the intona-
tor”. tion; the remaining models had a floating bridge
and a Maccaferri model string plate.
(Page 11) From a 1932 Selmer Catalogue : “with- The Orchestre model remains the most well
out going into scientific details we can claim that the known, this innovative guitar was played by the
volume and the quality of sound favor the listening in Belgian gipsy jazz player Jean “Django” Reinhardt
big halls and radio recordings with a new quality of (1910-1953), so much that now it’s widely recog-
sound” the resonator was mainly included in the nized as a symbol of the so called “gipsy jazz” or
following models: Concert, Orchestre, Espagnol. “manouche music” .
It was basically a soundboard inside the sound-
board, a device that was initially successful but (Page 12) While Maccaferri worked for Selmer,
that was lately abandoned for the high produc- from 1932 to 1933, more than two hundred in-
tion cost and the difficulties in the construction; struments were built.
furthermore the device did not produce the ef- After six months of collaboration with Selmer,
fect that Selmer claimed it had. Maccaferri noticed a fine print clause in the con-
Nevertheless in April 1931 Maccaferri patented tract that stated that Maccaferri could be fired at
in the United Kingdom “Improvements in guitars, any time by Selmer, without a short notice and
violins, mandolins and like stringed instruments” without any financial obligation.
patent n. 376.338 the same was patented in the The day after that discovery Maccaferri spoke to
U.S.A. in February 1932 and in France in the Henri Selmer and resigned.
month of May of the same year. Maccaferri’s resignation caused problems in the
production, but the success of the guitar was so
(…) after the production of the first guitars, Selmer
big that Selmer continued to manufacture the in-
asked me to make three new models, a Spanish style
strument until 1952, when the company ceased
classical guitar, an Hawaiian guitar and a jazz guitar.
to build guitars.
For the first two there were no problems, but having
During twenty years of production Selmer built
not a jazz background I started to do researches on
about 1000 guitars.
the subject attending jazz clubs and I realized that
a specifically made guitar should have a loud and After 1935 Selmer made some design changes
piercing sound. to speed up the manufacturing of the guitar: the
To obtain that effect I designed a guitar with a con- sound hole was not “D shaped” anymore but
vex soundboard (like a mandolin). “oval shaped” and the neck to body joint was at
I used a non fixed (floating) bridge and a string plate the 14th fret to improve playability.
similar to the ones used on mandolins. This is how Maccaferri took leave of Henri Sel-
I’m glad to say that the guitar was really successful, mer: (…) Henry Selmer said to me with a worried
and the popularity of the instrument was increased tone “So Mario will you now start to build guitars ?”
by Django Reinhardt. Even if we never met, our I answered in a humorous tone: “no Mr. Selmer I will
names are inextricably tied together. (…) start to produce reeds!”
The models produced were : Concert with cut- Obviously I didn’t have a clue about reed building at
away, Espagnol Classique for the gut stringed fam- the time. (…)
ily. (Page 13) Maccaferri started again his activity as
For the steel string family: Orchestre (jazz) with a musician playing in several “cabarets”: in July
cutaway, Hawaien. 1933 was hired to play in a movie (...) I broke my
32
hand during the making of the film “La Fille Du foreign office, she was suggesting him to go back to
Lac”, in which Simone Simone was starring (...) I re- the USA (...).
alized that my days as a musician were over, but it In New York Maccaferri arranged the French
didn’t disappoint me because I had started to feel American Reeds Manufacturing Company inside the
bored of practice and shows (...) ten years passed Roseland Building located in the Bronx, on the
before I started to play guitar again (...) 50th street at number 40. There he developed
Living in Paris at the time wasn’t easy, Maccaferri three models of reed: Masterpiece, Isovibrant, Pop-
started to produce reeds and in 1934 he set his ulaire. During the war Maccaferri had problems
new enterprise buying machineries in order to in finding and importing from France the raw ma-
produce reeds. terials needed to build the reeds (...) looking for
In 1935 MASIM (Manufacture d’Anches Scienti- cane, he ended up in South America: here Maccaferri
fiques pour Intruments de Musique) opened to bought a piece of land by the Rio Grande riverside.
produce reeds for sax and clarinets. He slowly introduced the Mexican cane plant in the
While watching a clarinet player disassembling cultivation of reeds and he built a cut and exsicca-
his instrument, Maccaferri noticed that the reed tion plant in Nogales, Arizona. He then discovered
was bent by humidity, so he had a new idea: to that Mexican cane, if left some months in the crates,
produce the “Isovibrante” reed. turned up into rusty color. So, after the war, Mac-
Cutting diagonally the cane prevents the reed caferri decided to import again the cane from France
from bending, thanks to an equal number of open (...)
pores along the four sides. Maccaferri says: (...) the quantity of cane sent didn’t
He then associated with Pier Rosier, a jeweller, last long and due to the war it was impossible to gain
they designed and patented a machine able to cut some more, so I designed a plastic reed. I understood
the cane with the help of diamonds in order to that plastic was the biggest business of my life. Sol-
make the reeds. In 1936 the factory changed the diers needed reeds and thanks to this I had been able
business name in French American Reeds Manu- to buy machineries even during the war. I moulded
facturing Company (FARMC). reeds for the army, for the navy and for anyone else
This new type of reeds invented by Maccaferri that was willing to pay me (...).
were named “ ISOVIBRANT”, they were imported Between 1940 and 1945 Maccaferri made two
and distributed in America by W.R.Gratz Import models of plastic reed: the Miracle and the Fu-
Company. The business was good in Paris and the turity.
reeds were required also in Great Britain and To promote his products he hired some endors-
America. ers: Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Eddie Mill-
Maccaferri also hired two young Italian sisters, er and Irving Fazola, Woody Hermann, Freddy
they were about twenty years old; the youngest Martin and Johnny Hodges. In those years he
one, Maria Centuori, was a precious co-worker patented the plastic reeds, the plastic mouth-
and became his wife in 1937. In 1939 their daugh- piece for clarinet (a device to fix the reed into
ter Eliane was born. the mouthpiece) and the Reed-O-Meter to define
Maccaferri was scared by the prospects of the the flexibility of the reed.
forthcoming war, in those days Europe was going During that period of time some happy private
through a lot of social tensions that eventually events enriched Maccaferri’s life: Marco, his son,
would have led to war. In 1936, invited by Gratz, was born in 1941 and his daughter Antoniette in
Maccaferri took the opportunity to move his 1944.
business to New York (...). After having performed During the ‘50 and the ‘60, with the raise of Rock
in New York, Maccaferry left his wife and child to and Roll, the amount of reeds sold deeply de-
come back to Paris to check his French factory, at creased, so the FARMC reduced the production.
the time managed by his brother-in-law. On the 15th His wife, Maria, kept working in the factory until
August 1936, while he was in France, he received 2003, when Eliane and his son Eugene moved the
a phone call from a friend who was working at the factory from New York to Jackson (Tennessee).
33
Today the French American Reeds Manufacturing lele”.
Company is called French American Reeds Company But still, Arthur Godfrey was always on TV with his
and still produces reeds. ukulele and someone told me that more than 35.000
(...) Since the plastic field was so wide, I started to people were following him, so I decided to produce
think of new ideas. At the end the production ex- the plastic uke anyway. Thanks to the precision
tended more with the introduction of new plastic equipment and moulds it was easy to make an ac-
items: tiles, hangers, toys, boxes, cassettes and spe- curate instrument with a nice sound.
cific parts for other factories (...). The bright mind of We called it “Islander”, it was sold by musical dis-
Maccaferri was never resting: during the summer tributors; after that we produced a cheapest model
of 1944 he needed to buy clothes pegs for his that was sold by toys manufacturers, the “TV Pal”.
wife, but due to the war the import of pegs from
Swiss were interrupted so they were no longer (...) Between 1949 and 1968 Mastro produced and
available. sold about nine millions of ukuleles, that means that
one in four families owned one! (...)
(Page 17) Back to the factory he built a plastic The factory started to produce forty different
prototype that he later improved and patented: instruments such as a clarinet, a trumpet, a sax,
between 1945 and 1946 he started producing drums, many models of guitar, violins and so on.
plastic clothes peg in cooperation with Mastro Every instrument sold by Mastro Plastic Corpora-
Plastic Corporation, in 1951 350 million pegs were tion was given with the instruction booklet, a
produced. (...) Plastic pegs became so popular that songbook, a maintenance manual, a pick, a strap
Maccaferri had to buy a three buildings factory with and the warranty.
nine production machines and soon he was produc- Maccaferri used to spend a lot of time and money
ing one million pegs per day (...). in order to pack the songbook and the instruc-
That has been the beginning of Mastro Industries, tions for each kind of instrument. The musicians
that shortly became so big that sixty italian me- were buying not only a musical instrument, but a
chanics were hired to work in order to make complete musical set.
parts and moulds for Mastro. Maccaferri, maybe enlightened by the daring
Another invention led Maccaferri to celebrity: spirit of his first teacher, tried to use different
the low cost plastic ukulele. The idea came to his materials to build musical instruments, investing
mind while he was watching TV: Arthur Goffrey, a huge amount of money in research. The first
a famous musician and showman, was playing an examples of this expensive researches are the
ukulele. plastic guitars such as the models G-30 and G-40
Here’s Maccaferri describing how the idea has for which he spent around 350.000 dollars.
born: (...) during one of my holidays at the Kenilworth
Hotel in Miami, I met Arthur Godfrey in the swim- (Page 19) (…) His passion for guitars led him to
ming pool (...). He told me he really liked my ukulele draw the first guitar made of plastic in 1953. He
and he was wishing to encourage young people to realized two models: the G-30 flat-top and the G-40
play it. He thought if someone could produce an uku- arch top. Both are symbols of his ability as a builder.
lele easy to play, with a nice sound and that could People don’t take seriously the idea of a high qual-
cost less than 10 dollars, he could sell more than one ity instrument made of plastic, but Maccaferri’s idea
million instruments. wasn’t to replace the wooden guitar with plastic ones,
(...) Back in New York I called Charles Sonfield of the he wanted to offer another choice to customers and
Bruno Company asking him how many ukuleles were to musicians. He was aware that a guitar made of
sold the year before, in 1948. He answered “about plastic would have sounded different from a tradi-
26.000”, I told him I could make a plastic ukulele, tional one. (…)
that the equipment would have cost 25.000 dollars Maccaferri has been a pioneer in plastic mould-
and I could produce 26.000 ukes per week. He told ing, he invented and patented new systems to
me “forget it, no one would ever buy a plastic uku- inject plastic into moulds. Thanks to this in 1996
34
(after his death) he had the honour to enter the the help of John Monteleone and I’m deeply grateful
“Plastic Hall of Fame” as inventor and entrepre- to him (…).
neur, Mario Maccaferri was the first to experi- The last important project that Maccaferri was
ment with markets and technologies that con- involved in was the plastic violin that he designed
nected plastic to music”. and built in his workshop in Mount Vernon (New
York) between 1986 and 1987, he then patented
(Page 20) He invented, produced and patented it in 1989.
soundproof tiles made of plastic (…) Mastro In- The violin was made of polystyrene, Maccafer-
dustries produced 22.000.000 square feet of that ri invested 350.000$ in research projects, at-
tiles per year. After a while we produced “Stereo 8” tempts, models. Some people believed that Mac-
cassette and their cases: we used to make 120.000 caferri sent to Canam Tools Ltd. (the company
per day of them. We had 46 injection moulds (…). that produced the violin) the project for a toy.
At the end of the 40’s Maccaferri was having big Joe Grossman, one of Canam’s managers said: “I
commercial success but the 50’s were the golden thought that the violin was a toy, but then I saw the
years: in 1955 Mastro sold tiles for three million accuracy of their measurements and other details
dollars! (…).
Although his success, he kept for himself a yearly Maccaferri is not the easiest man to work with, he is
salary of “only” 31.000 $, he thought that this a genius, he cannot accept that other people might
amount of money was enough for him. not understand what he wants.
In the early 60’s Mastro’s commercial decline He’s always changing his mind and it’s hard to under-
begun but Maccaferri still succeeded in some stand him talking with his strong Italian accent (…)”.
economical achievements and in 1964 business The first plastic violin was officially presented
improved again. with a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall in
The real decline started in 1965 due to the highly March 1990, on stage the instrument was played
raised cost of the materials, the cost of labour, by Dorothy Happel.
the cost of advertisement and also due to a legal Nowadays Maccaferri’s daughter, Eliane, owns
action promoted by his workers. and runs the reeds factory in Jackson with her
Mastro faced a great loss until 1969, when the son Eugene.
production of musical instruments ceased. Marco Maccaferri followed his father’s steps and
In 1967 he was also diagnosed with a faint heart worked with plastic manufacturing, he’s now
disease, but that wasn’t the end of Mastro yet. president of Scott Industries Inc. located in Lou-
As a matter of fact, RCA convinced him to de- isville, Kentucky.
velop a plastic mould for the “stereo 8” cassette His sister Antoniette is not involved with plas-
that was then produced by Mastro, between 1972 tic production or the manufacturing of musical
and 1975 Mastro was earning about 200.000 $ instruments.
per year producing cassettes .
In 1981 aged 81 Maccaferri retired and closed the Notes on Django Reinhardt:
Mastro Industries Inc. Django Reinhardt was the first great European jazz
musician and he still is one of the greatest musicians
(Page 21) Maccaferri never lost his passion for mu- ever lived in Europe.
sical instruments and until his death he worked Born on January 23, 1910, in Liberchies, Belgium,
on guitars in his workshop. Django Reinhardt became famous for his unique
In the early 80’s he started to work with John musical sound, which blended elements of American
Monteleone, a very skilled guitar maker from jazz with traditional European and Roma music. Rein-
New York, together they started to build and set hardt’s father was a musician and entertainer and his
up Selmer – Maccaferri model guitars. mother was a dancer, according to some reports; they
This project kept Maccaferri busy until 1993 were Manouches, or French gypsies, and they eventu-
when he died (…) lately I’ve built eleven guitars with ally settled in a camp near Paris. Raised without any
35
formal schooling, Reinhardt was practically illiterate. zis took control of France, a move that put Reinhardt
In his youth, Reinhardt learned to play an interesting in jeopardy. The Roma, or gypsies, were among those
instrument - a hybrid of a guitar and a banjo. He considered undesirable by the Nazis, and thousands
was largely self-taught, never learning how to write and thousands of them perished in concentration
or read music. Later on, Reinhardt had to depend on camps during the war.
others to transcribe his compositions. He was already Remarkably, Reinhardt was allowed to play freely in
playing in clubs in Paris by his early teens. Reinhardt the clubs of Paris during much of the war. It seemed
started out playing popular French music, but he be- that the Nazis viewed this famed city as their play-
came interested in American jazz in the mid-1920s. ground to some degree, and their military person-
He especially liked the works of Duke Ellington, Louis nel enjoyed frequenting its nightclubs. Reinhardt ex-
Armstrong and Joe Venuti. His promising career, how- pressed his melancholy over the occupation in one
ever, was almost ended by a terrible accident in 1928. of his most famous compositions: “Nuages,” which
means “clouds.” According to Contemporary Musi-
In 1928, Reinhardt was injured in a fire in his caravan. cians, the musician made two attempts to flee France
A lit candle fell into some paper, or celluloid, flowers for Switzerland, but both of these efforts proved to be
that his wife had made to sell, and the flames quickly unsuccessful.
spread throughout their home. Both Reinhardt and
his wife made it out of the fire, but Reinhardt suf- After the war, Reinhardt became interested in electric
guitar and experimenting with other styles of jazz.
fered bad burns to his right leg and left hand. Perhaps
He toured the United States with Duke Ellington in
worst of all for this talented musician, he permanently
1946, but he failed to win over American audiences
lost the use of two fingers on his damaged hand. He
and critics. Reinhardt also started recording with a
would spend the next 18 months to two years recu-
new version of his beloved quintet, but rarely gave
perating.
public performances. Instead, he spent much of his
During this time, Reinhardt taught himself how to play time in the South of France.
music again. It was a slow, painful process, but he
In 1953, the famed improviser jammed with another
devised an innovative style of guitar playing. With his
jazz legend, Dizzie Gillespie and made some of his fi-
two fingers and thumb, Reinhardt handled his instru-
nal recordings. The music world lost a great talent that
ment with remarkable speed and agility. He was back
May. Reinhardt died from a massive stroke on May
to dazzling audiences in the Paris nightclubs by 1930. 16, 1953, in Fontainebleau, France. He is regarded
By the mid-1930s, Reinhardt had joined forces with among the most prominent European performers to
violinist Stephane Grappelli to form the Quintet of have heavily influenced American jazz. Additionally, his
the Hot Club of France (Quintette du Hot Club de work has had a lasting impact on other guitarists in
France).Their group, which grew to include Reinhardt’s different musical styles, influencing such diverse art-
brother Joseph and others, became the first major ists as B.B. King and Carlos Santana.
European jazz band. Some of the band’s early record- (From biography.com)
ings included covers of American songs like “Dinah”
and “Lady Be Good,” and these tracks helped win
them a following on both sides of the Atlantic.
Reinhardt also produced original music, which fused
his musical heritage with the latest jazz and swing
sounds. Some of his most famous works with the quin-
tet are “Djangology,” “Bricktop” and “Swing 39.” His
style from this period has been called “gypsy swing”
and “le jazz hot.”
According to some reports, Reinhardt was in England
touring with Grappelli in 1939 when World War II be-
gan in Europe. He decided to return to France, but his
cohort remained abroad. The following year, the Na-
36
PHOTOS 20) Flier of the French American Reeds
1) Mario Maccaferri’s parents: Erminio Maccaferri 21) Clothes pegs produced by Mastro Industries
and Demetria Atti Corporation, the top picture is the prototype
2) The seven Maccaferri brothers with their 22) The Weill Recital Hall’s concert poster
mother, Demetria Atti
23) Mario Maccaferri with a G-40 Islander guitar.
3) Mario Maccaferri working in the Mozzani’s
workshop, then located in Cento, via Gennari, 24) Mario Maccaferri with John Monteleone
1908-1915 25) The stereo 8 cassette produced by Mastro
4) Mario Maccaferri in a duo with chitarre –lyra Industries Coporation (property of Maria Mac-
(harp guitars) of “Premiata Liuteria Prof. Mario caferri)
Maccaferri” (by courtesy of Amneris Maccaferri) 26) Eliane inside the French American Reeds
5) Firebrand of the Maccaferri lutherie Company, in Jackson, Tennessee, U.S.A.
6) Frontispiece of the catalogue printed in 1926 28) Mario Maccaferri as a child working in Moz-
7) Poster with the concert program of the show zani’s workshop, Cento
held at the Salle Gaveau, Paris 1930
8) Poster with the concert program of the show Cover Picture: Mario Maccaferri with a Sel-
held at the Mortimer Hall, London 1931 mer Maccaferri Guitar, 1931 (by courtesy of J.
9) The guitar building workshop of the Selmer Tubbs)
Factory (by courtesy of F.Charles) Back Cover: a poster of Django Reinhardt
and his Selmer guitar n. 503 (by courtesy of F.
10) Django Reinhardt and his Selmer Maccaferri
Guitar n. 503 Charles). A young Mario Maccaferri
Foto di copertina:
Mario Maccaferri con chitarra Selmer Maccaferri, 1931
(per gentile concessione di J. Tubbs)
Retro Copertina:
Locandina di DJango Reinhardt e la sua chitarra Selmer n. 503
(per gentile concessione di François Charle)
Mario Maccaferri da giovane
(per gentile concessione di Amneris Maccaferri)
Finito di stampare nel mese di Marzo 2017 presso la Tipografia Bagnoli 1920, Pieve di Cento, Bologna, Italia
Via Fratelli Rosselli 4 - 44042 CENTO (FERRARA) ITALIA
Telefono 051 6836466