I’ve got a new song showcased on the album “Valentine’s 2013 – A TuneCore Artist Compilation, Vol. 1“. You can download the whole album FREE over at Amazon MP3. Check it out!

It’s now one of two molded plastic ukuleles in my collection, both designed by Mario Maccaferri.

Mario Maccaferri, the Italian guitar designer known for mass producing ukuleles in the US, actually had his start in France. Maccaferri was among the slew of Italian craftsmen who immigrated to France and set up guitar shops in Paris. Their arrival is considered a turning point in the French guitar-making history, even initiating a renaissance of the craft in the country.

French guitar-making is very much like poker, which was also a French invention improved with foreign influences. Poker is said to have started with a card game that became popular in France in the 17th century called poque. In the early 1800s, the French settlers in the US brought with them the game. Poque originally had 20 cards; eventually, in the 1830s, the number of cards would increase to 52, to accommodate more players. The 52-card game would become the poker we know it today. After more than a century, poker is still played by many around the world. Poker players continue to increase in number with the prominence of online poker sites like http://www.partypoker.fr/.

Guitar-making in France started about the same as its better-known counterpart in Spain. The town of Mirecourt in the Voges Mountains was the seat of guitar-making, the home of the artisans producing string instruments with a distinctly French design. The demand for guitars slowly declined as piano became popular in the 1890’s.

It took about half a decade, in the 1930s for the demand for the instrument to climb again and brought about what was called as the renaissance of French guitar-making. This renaissance was fueled by the popularity of jazz, which also took off that time.

The once-again thriving guitar industry attracted Italian and Spanish guitar-makers to settle in the country. Macaferri was one of them. As a resident guitar designer of the Selmer Company, he designed three guitar models: the classical, the jazz, and the ukulele. Macafferi introduced innovations in the classical guitar design, enlarging the cut-away in the upper bout so guitar players could reach the high notes. Though refused by many classical guitarists, the Macaferri classical guitar was embraced by the jazz guitarists, including the legendary Django Rheinhardt.

In 1939, he would leave France for the US, where he would produce plastic reeds, as well as plastic clothespins. Macaferri wouldn’t produce the ukulele until many years after, during the 1950s. He produced nine million units of the plastic ukulele, the Islander Soprano. Later, buoyed by the good reception by the market of the plastic ukulele, Macaferri’s company would also produce an even smaller ukulele designed for children, called the Sparkle Plenty Ukette.

The Islander Soprano and the Sparkle Plenty Ukette would become icons of the 50s, as the inventor in Macaferri would continue testing the limits of plastic. Shortly before he died in 1993, Macaferri was at work in a plastic violin.

I’ve recently published a children’s picture book about a circus of acrobatic fleas, dancing ladybugs, daredevil grasshoppers, and musical beetles, all traveling around the world to entertain children and inspire dreams. The story is based on the lyrics to the title track of my album “Ukulele Jim’s Jumping Flea Circus“.

It’s available now for order as a beautiful 44-page full-color illustrated softcover book. The CD actually comes with the book, too.

This project was funded through Kickstarter with help from the following wonderful people: Aaron Scullin, Adam J Hicks, Alexander Hawson, Andy Clark, Brian Murken, Brittany Davidson, Bryan Ramos, Carmina H Sia-Dictor, Charlene Henry, Charlotte Terzian, Chris Goodwin, Chris Lin, Courtney Andelman, Crystal L Howe, Dan Taylor, David & Angela Hamilton, David Martin, Desiree Monique-Harris, Edward O’Regan, Elizabeth Imhof, Eric T. Newsom, Greg Spalenka, Hector Tan, Hope Newberry, Ian Traynor, Ildiko Palmer, Jeri Bock, Jessica Anne Roberts, Joseph Dean Longoria, Kay Heltmach, Kevin Coulston, Kevin Fryza, Kevin Jackson, Konrad Taylor, Kristine Scullin, Lowell B Stouder, Mark Struven, Matt Groener, Michael Collins, Michael Woods, Michele Hunt, Patricia M Rovan, Paul Ure, Rob Browning, Robert Else, Ryan Newell, Ryan Rifkin, Sean Branam, Sharon Hoffmann, Sherral Smith, Stephen Cheong, Stufenfedder’s Traveling Lyceum and Flea Circus, and Thomas Mauer. THANK YOU ALL!

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