Maccaferri Islander Ukulele Uke 1950s Styron Vintage Soprano

Deluxe model ...

One 1/2” crack on upper bout ...

One rosette piece missing ...

Perfect low action ...

Brown ‘simulated rosewood’ ...

Styron plastic ...

14” scale, 21” overall length ...

Mario Maccaferri was born in Cento, Italy in 1900. He became an apprentice at the age of 11 to Luigi Mozzani a master luthier and musician. Mario studied lutherie and the playing of classical guitar. Beginning in 1916, he studied ten years at the Conservatory at Sienna, where he graduated with highest honors and became a teacher. He pursued a career of guitar performance leaving lutherie temporarily.

In 1929, Maccaferri moved to London where along with performing concerts, he taught guitar. He always thought about ways to create a better guitar. The Davis brothers who managed Selmer's London dealership saw Maccaferri’s guitars and introduced him to Selmer, a guitar manufacturer. Selmer agreed to making Maccaferri’s design in his factory near Paris. In May of 1932, a patent was registered in Paris concerning the resonation chamber of the guitar.

1949 saw the invention of the Islander ukulele. The popular entertainer Arthur Godfrey saw Maccaferri's Islander ukulele and gave it an endorsement as an affordable quality instrument and he refused any payment for that endorsement. It is reported that between 1949 and 1969, 9 million plastic ukuleles were sold. This success encouraged him to go back to the guitar, but guitarists did not take to plastics and his guitar was not a success. Around 1969 the musical instrument division of his business was sold to Carnival.

The type of plastic used in making his instruments was Styron. According to the Dow Chemical website this plastic has various formulas and is used to make food packaging, appliance parts, toys and medical items.

Mario was always seeing the possibilities of plastic. He even made a plastic violin which was played in Carnegie Hall in 1990.

When Mario decided to get out of the plastic business Maria talked him into keeping the reed business. Mario Maccaferri passed away in 1993 at the age of 92. Maria took full control of French American Reeds INC and it is still operating in Jackson, Tennessee under the leadership of daughter Eliane Reese.The Islander soprano came in three models. A base model, a Semi-Deluxe, and a DeLuxe. They all had metal friction tuning pegs, the same basic body shape and were equipped with strings made by DuPont. They did have some different styles of head plate designs as well as bridge covers and sound hole ring variations. A multitude of colors were represented. The basic Islander was sold for $4.50.

Within the crest you can see the Maccaferri "M" and three notes. The item going diagonally is a reed representing his French American Reed Company. In the small banner beneath the crest it says "Summum Persto". Summum means above/high. Persto means persist/remain strong. After studying Mario Maccaferri's life I imagine this motto helped him get through many ordeals.

The original color was "simulated rosewood". It didn't take long for a rainbow to appear. Because of the unpredictable nature of mixing colors in the injection molding process every color became one of a kind. Some look striated while others look speckled.