Superb Boogie-Woogie model produced in the workshops of Antoine Di Mauro in Paris in the 1940s.
The Boogie-Woogie is the most essential of the jazz guitars produced in the workshop located at 50, rue de la Réunion – and perhaps the closest to the original spirit of the European steel-string guitar as designed by Mario Maccaferri in collaboration with Selmer in the previous decade! Indeed, it is the only one in the catalog to have a neck with 12 frets outside the body and a large oval soundhole (the same one that earned the Selmer-Maccaferri models the nickname of Grande Bouche).
Soundboard made of Romanian spruce, back and sides made of maple. This guitar is certainly among the first productions of Antoine Di Mauro when he set up shop at number 50, rue de la Réunion in Paris where he settled around 1942 in company of his sons and his wife who all worked in the workshop. In fact, the guitar has typical features of this early period, including the original label glued inside the body (which would later be abandoned in favor of the A. Di Mauro brand applied to the headstock of the instruments); the maple pickguard inlaid in the soundboard (later productions would have a plastic ‘guard); the handcrafted tailpiece, identical to the one visible in the catalog illustration, later replaced by a trapezoidal tailpiece. We have endeavored to restore all of its qualities as a musical instrument to this Boogie-Woogie: the original fingerboard of this guitar having deteriorated irreversibly, we opted for the making of a new rosewood fingerboard in copy of the original, followed by work including a full refret and complete adjustment of the fretwork, making a new bone nut, adjustment of the shape of the bridge to obtain a low action and accurate intonation. Despite its somewhat washed-out appearance, the guitar is completely intact, free of cracks or major defects, and perfectly adjusted for playing with undeniable character.
Sold in a modern hardshell case.
