Mario Maccaferri

In 1933, Maccaferri injured his right hand in a swimming pool accident, ending his career as a concert performer, though he continued to work as a luthier and inventor.^[3]

Maccaferri is best-known for designing the Selmer Maccaferri guitar played by Gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt.^[4] His design featured the distinctive “D-shaped” sound hole. Maccferri's innovations extended to materials as well: he was an early adopter of laminate backs and sides for guitars, and for instruments made entirely of plastic.

In 1941, Maccaferri patented a plastic woodwind reed, in 1947 he patented two plastic clothespin designs, and in 1949 he launched his line of plastic "Islander" ukuleles in collaboration with television star Arthur Godfrey, which would sell into the millions of units.^[5] Maccaferri also developed the Chord Master, an automatic chording device originally designed for the ukulele.^[6] In the 1950s, Maccaferri produced a line of plastic guitars, but they had little commercial success.^[7][8] Later in his career and up until his death, Maccaferri worked on the design for a plastic violin, which in 1990 was used at a performance at Carnegie Hall.^[9][10]