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2025 Jean Barault Modele 7 String
Price and Status: For pricing and hold status of this instrument, please check here. If this instrument does not appear on the Instruments page it has been sold. To be notified of examples of this or any other model in the future, please email your specific requests to [email protected].
Serial #: 207. Body size at lower bout: 40cm (15 3/4") Scale length: 670mm (26 3/8") Nut Width: 41mm (2") Neck depth: 23mm (.90) / 25mm (.97), 1st/10th frets
Materials: Bookmatched solid Alpine spruce top; Brazilian rosewood back and sides with mahogany liner; solid walnut neck; solid ebony fingerboard; 5 ply body binding.
Hardware: All original hardware includes solid ebony bridge with Bigtone pickup; gold SB Barault tuners and tailpiece; hex key adjustable truss rod.
Notes: Stochelo Rosenberg, Birelli Legrene, Angelo Debarre, Tchavolo Schmitt. Just some of the prominent players in the artist roster of Jean Barault, a pre-eminent builder of gypsy jazz guitars. From his workshop near the Cote d' Azur, Jean Barault has been one of the most renowned luthiers of the gypsy guitar revival, and his instruments remain among the most faithful recreations of the original Maccaferri/Selmer guitars made today.
In the 1932 debut of the Maccaferri guitars, four versions were offered: the steel string (later known as Modele Jazz), a gut string classical, a 4 string tenor, and the 'Modele Hawainne', a 7 string version designed for lap style play. Built with a non-cutaway body, only a tiny handful of the Hawaiian Maccaferris were ever produced, but have been renowned ever since for their deep, rich voices.
This Grande Bouche instrument was built with the wider 7 string fingerboard, long 670mm scale, and a 14 fret cutaway body, as seen on the later Selmer guitars favored by Django himself. The striking Brazilian rosewood body is backed with a mahogany interior liner, ladder braced and continuously kerfed in the Selmer style, and is topped with a colorful solid Alpine spruce soundboard.
Resonant and well balanced, the guitar weighs in at just 1.85kg (4lb.) and the voice is notably deep and clear, with outstanding volume and projection. The neck is carved of elegant figured walnut, with a wonderfully comfortable D profile, gently flattened across the back. Warm and rich in voice, the guitar has excellent cutting power, and is fitted with a Bigtone bridge pickup and endpin jack.
Newly built, he instrument remains in showroom condition, with all original hardware and finish, and free of cracks, buckle, thumb, or fingerboard wear, with fretwork in gleaming condition. Rarely seen on the vintage market, the Barault 7 String is a welcome find, with new examples entailing a considerable wait from the builder.
(Oh, and the tailpiece has a small sketch of a hedgehog inscribed on it. Pourquoi non?) A uniquely versatile creation from a world renowned luthier. One only: call now.
Setup: This instrument is strung with light gauge silvered steel strings. The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference.
Case: Deluxe black rigid foam plush lined hardshell case.
