The danger of Selmer

[mick hearn]

I think it is well known that Selmer ( or Selmer-Maccaferri ) produced some very nice acoustic guitars and lap steels - however there have been some second hand lap steels for sale on Ebay with the label "Selmer London". Whilst there was a Selmer distributor in Braintree this was set up with the permission of the French company to sell the French Selmer brass instruments it also sold amplifiers and a host of other brands of guitar and guitar associated equipment. I for one in the 60's was the owner of a Selmer echo unit which was built similar to the WEM Copicat. It follows therefore that Selmer could have instruments manufactured to their specification under the "Selmer London" banner.

So - do we have a danger here. Those lap steels produced by the French company could certainly be worth the money - but I would suggest that those from Selmer London would not command the price. I would also suggest that some dealers looking at how original French made Selmer lap steels could sell are jumping on the band waggon.

Any thoughts?

And while I am at it - I have a Hofner lap steel - nice looking but made from good old English plywood once you look under the pearloid plastic. It bends nicely when a recommended set of C6 strings are attached. Another Selmer product if I remember rightly.