MARIO MACCAFERRI, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1950
Lot 59 MARIO MACCAFERRI
Born in 1900 in Cento, Italy, Mario Maccaferri was apprenticed at the age of 11 to the luthier Luigi Mozzani. Having excelled in both the performance and making of classical guitars, Maccaferri was not above bringing new ideas to guitar construction. In 1931 he partnered with Selmer & Cie to design a guitar that would be tonally louder and bolder than any on the market. The outcome would be Selmer’s Modèle Jazz guitar made famous by the Parisian Gypsy Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. By 1940 Maccaferri had emigrated to America, where he began many production experiments with plastics while living in New York. When the material became commercially viable after World War II, Maccaferri became involved with the production of a multitude of plastic objects from toothbrushes and clothespins to ukuleles and guitars.

MARIO MACCAFERRI, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1950

AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, GA-40 DELUXE

Closed20 June 2019

Price Realised

USD 50,000

More Information

How to sell

MARIO MACCAFERRI, NEW YORK, CIRCA 1950
AN ACOUSTIC GUITAR, GA-40 DELUXE
Bearing maker logos, with original hardshell case bearing a label inscribed MACCAFERRI - PLASTIC
Length of back 17 ¼ in. (43.9 cm.)

Specialist note

David Gilmour received this guitar as a gift in the late 1980s from friend and fellow guitarist Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company, who had toured with Gilmour as second guitarist on his About Face Tour from 31st March to 16th July 1984. Gilmour kept the Maccaferri at his London home for private use.