product types:
- tube amplifiers
- acoustic guitars
- classical guitars
- electric guitars
Information:
The Selmer Company was established in the 1880s by brothers Alexandre and Henri Selmer. The brothers graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris and then in 1885, Henri began making reeds, mouthpieces, and clarinets. Alexandre Selmer moved to the United States performing as the principal clarinettist for the Boston Symphony and then for the New York Philharmonic. Selmer clarinets became popular, in 1904 they received a gold medal at the World’s Fair in St Louis. Alexandre opened a Selmer retail store in down town New York with teaching and repair services.
In 1911, when Alexandre returned to Paris to assist the family business, he left the New York shop in the hands of George Bundy (who had been working in his store). Bundy expanded the business and eventually purchased the American business from the Selmer brothers in the late 1920’s along with the exclusive distribution rights for Henri Selmer Paris products in the US.
The best known Selmer guitars are those with a large D shaped sound-hole designed by Mario Maccaferri, which Selmer produced in 1932 and 1933. When Maccaferri parted company with Selmer they redesigned the guitar with an oval sound-hole and continued to make it until the early 1950s.
