New Selmer branded guitars incoming..?

lucky

Actually 13.2K for us Jamie (in sterling). We just need the Euro to crash and we might even get it cheaper than that!

Just reading it all again, it looks like they don't have 60 ready to go so in effect they will be made to order which will make it less risky for Selmer. They've put a lot of effort into the project and the video is worth watching.

Maybe if it comes off they'll create a budget line in future.

CraigHensley

Great video. They're going through a lot of meticulous care to craft these instruments with precision. Seeing the Selmer labels and headstock logo is pretty exciting. There's a lot of people involved in this project, including the museum resources. I'm glad they have Angelo and Antoine reviewing the guitars, and hearing Angelo talk about the texture of sound being like the old recording, "that particular grain and slight creaking that follows behind. We thought is was coming from the recording but it was coming from the guitars." Very cool.

Price aside, this is a sincere project delving deep into the Selmer archives in making a modern reproduction. I don't feel the need to own this guitar personally but I'm certainly glad for the collaboration and effort, and resurrecting a Selmer is a slight glimmer of hope and excitement in our disturbing world.

Buco

Ok, they've, mostly, turned me around after reading the website page (a tube amp would've sealed the deal lol) . There's a lot of attention and dedication to this that was done. Several cool touches that make each one of these special. A lot of people spent a lot of time on this whole thing. Additionally to what's already known about these guitars. It really has been crafted to the point of obsession over details. I don't think they'll have a problem getting these out the door. Now, what I'm hoping for is these become a huge success and then they make a model stripped of all the fancy stuff and sell it for half that.

And, they actually did do a close study of the 503:

Exclusive access to the original tools carefully preserved by the MuPop - Museum of Popular Music - in Montluçon and to the legendary SELMER guitar of Django Reinhardt (guitar #503) kept at the Museum of Music (Cité de la musique-Philharmonie de Paris), allowed luthiers Gérald Alonso and Fabian Le Dosseur – technical directors of the project – to carry out meticulous reconstruction work, based on an in-depth study of historical models.

flaco

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/121055#Comment_121055

Well said and I agree 100%. This seems like a labor of love: spare no expense and just create something awesome. I don't think they are price gouging - with the attention to detail and the philosophy they have for how they are approaching it, that's probably the actual cost. Even the case is cool! I'm not the target audience for this, but I hope they sell out quickly.

One nitpick: I'm good with the Schatten pickup, but I'm not a fan of the pre-amp with the rechargeable battery. When that battery's life has ended, that thing will be difficult to remove or replace inside a petite bouche guitar. But the integrated volume knob in the tailpiece is clever.

I wonder what things ALD learned in this process that they will apply to the guitars they build under their own names?