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Maccaferri model G40 “DeLuxe”, c. 1954
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Maccaferri’s strong believe in plastic and the successes with his ukuleles led him to design a Dow Styron guitar. After two years of time and money consuming research, the French American Reeds Manufacturing Company of Mount Vernon, New York began production. During the introduction at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on April 29, 1953. Maccaferri expressed confidence: “I do not hesitate to say that our 1953 all-plastic guitar compares favorably with any wooden guitar made”, and in a publicity ad: "I consider this guitar the crowning achievement of my entire career!" His pride is reflected in the number of logos and initials on the guitar itself: “Maccaferri” and the crowned initials “M.M.” with coat of arms, both in maroon on the white headstock, “M” on the pegs, and finally on the metal tailpiece “Maccaferri” in metal and “M.M.” on a round plastic disc, again with coat of arms. The G40 is a small-sized archtop with f-holes and one cutaway. It is made from 100 individual parts, many of them moulded plastic, and it is unconventional in many other ways. The contour of the body and headstock are based on Mario's successful design for Selmer, as are the bridge and the tailpiece. It has a cream top, and the back and sides are in swirled reddish-brown “rosewood”. The fan bracing differs from most steel strung wood archtops of the era, which had either X-bracing or parallel bars. The design for the neck construction is radical as well. It is secured with two screws. A wood core inside, sheathed in aluminium runs all the way through the body, with a threaded screw at the rear to adjust the string height. The outside of the neck is made of plastic with white dots on the front and back, and a plastic nut is incorporated.
Maccaferri clearly intended it to be a highly functional instrument that happened to be made of plastic, which is not sensitive to changes humidity, and cheap (it sold for $39.95), but also quite reliable. It was even endorsed by the great Andres Segovia. And while it sounds more metallic than most wooden guitars it has a sound of its own, with a good balance and sustain. But despite the warnings in the instruction booklet not to drop it or expose it to heath, it proved prone to cracking and, in many cases quickly became unplayable. In addition a minor design flaw early in production caused the heads to warp. For all these reasons and surely because the guitar world is rather conservative, the G40 didn’t sell well, so production was discontinued sometime between 1956 and 1958. Yet, because of their daring features, these guitars have found a place in important museums such as the Metropolitan in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Museum of American History in Washington. |
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Hofner Verithin, 1963
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Gibson's successes with thinline semi-acoustics led Hofner to offer a number of narrow-body models. Launched in the UK in 1960, the Verithin became something of a classic among budget-conscious British beat guitarists, as US-made guitars were hard to come by at the time. Issued on the model 4574/E2, the Verithin, distributed in the UK by Selmer, would be Hofner's best-selling semi-acoustic . British session guitarist Bert Weedon helped popularize the guitar through his regular appearances on TV shows. Sharp Florentine cutaways, introduced in 1965, were retained on all Selmer-distributed Verithins until the model was dropped from the catalog around 1971.
With a rib height of only 3 cm this model is extremely thin, despite the arching of the fine spruce top and the flamed maple back. Two “bass bars” running lengthwise reinforce the top with its bound f-holes. Binding also runs around the symmetrical body with two rounded cutaways. As with most Hofner jazz guitars, the set necks is made of 5 parts laminated wood: maple outside, then tin mahogany stripes, and a strip of beech in the middle. To enlarge the headstock two pieces of maple are glued on either side. Black, white, ”mother-of-pearl” and “tortoiseshell” celluloid stripes are used as position markers on the rosewood fingerboard. The head has the typical floral ornament with stylized bell-flowers below the “HOFNER” logo in mother of pearl. The two pickups that look like humbuckers, are actually model 510 single coils made by former Hofner employee Franz Pix. The electronics are simple: four rotary controls and no pickup selector switch. The label reads:” Hofner foreign N° 2447 Verithin model. This master class guitar is covered by the guarantee supplied”. All in all, this very light guitar with its bright cherry-red finish is an attractive alternative to the more expensive thinline archtops out there. |
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Oahu solid body “electric Spanish” guitar by Valco, 1953
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Following the competition closely, the Valco began manufacturing solid-body "Spanish electric" guitars in 1952, ten years after the company had adopted its new name. The National Model 1122 aka “Cosmopolitan” was the basic version with no cutaway and a single pickup in the neck position. Other single and double pickup models, all with small slab bodies with or without cutaway and with different finishes were released, the Supro Ozark Model 1522 being one.
The Oahu version, nearly identical to this guitar except for the logo, was only sold between 1952 and 1954. The non-cutaway body was covered in a “Sparkling bright Wear-Ever finish”, as the thin yellowish white pearloid layer is described in the 1953 Supro catalog. The one piece neck was painted black and bolt on to the body at the 14th fret. The Brasilian rosewood fingerboard has only 19 frets and pearl dot position markers. The guitar is shorter and smaller than most electrics, but still has a 24 ¾ inch scale length, which is just below normal. The 3 plus 3 Kluson tuners are screwed on to the symmetrical headstock. A trapeze tailpiece and a height-adjustable compensated rosewood bridge are mounted on the body. A single floating pickup is attached in the neck position to a large black plastic housing containing the wiring harness with one volume and one tone knob, much like on many amplified jazz guitars of the time. It has an old type screw-on socket, so a cord with a matching jack is required. Often confused with a humbucker, that neck pickup is actually an in-house designed, patented single-coil with a high output offering some fantastic tones. Early in their career musicians like Ray Cooder and Jimi Hendrix played similar guitars, as did Joe Perry recently. |