 |  | |
 |
We can assume that Mario Maccafferri was the first to think of a cast plastic ukulele, but with no doubt year 1950 has been a sprint competition, as stated by the « patent patent run » one can follow through the filing dates. Mario Maccaferri filed the Islander® on March the 15th, its bridge system on May the 15th and the Islander Deluxe®. On 19th, Robert H. Crowle filed his Modern Bali uke design. Then Maccaferri filed the Deluxe fingerboard on July the 3rd. Exactly twelve days later, G.A. Finder filed the design of what would become the Fin-Der® Diamond Head, including a triangular peg design. Then, early October, D. J. Rosenheim filed a new plastic ukulele, construction system and peg design (the Happy Tune).
I didn't find any patent by Emenee® for a ukulele - even not for the Flamingo® tuning-pipes gizmo - and I assume the big firm dealt the rights with the respective creators (or not, as testified by the Aug. 1950 prosecution intended by Maccaferri). |
The series of patents, with nice ukuleles drawings | | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | |
 |
Mar. 15, 1950
Islander
- enlarge - | |
Mar.15, 1950
Islander
- enlarge - | |
May 15, 1950
Isl. bridge
- enlarge - | |
May 19, 1950
Modern Bali
- enlarge - | |
Jul. 3, 1950
Isl. Deluxe
- enlarge - | |
Jul. 3, 1950
Isl. Deluxe
- enlarge - | |
Jul. 15, 1950
Fin-Der
- enlarge - | |
Jul. 15, 1950
Fin-Der
- enlarge - | |
Oct. 2, 1950
Rosenheim
- enlarge - | |
 |
 |
Well, here we touch the core (and heart) topic of this site : the automatic chording devices, those remarkable little mechanics dedicated to the lazy novice's easy pleasure, and adding just a light touch of obsolete sci-fi to the ancient art of music.
There had been lots of these articulated boxes, designed for banjos, guitars and even pianos, patented since 19th century. Some were very simple, with a few chords or even no chord at all (one button per note!) like the Instant Player®, and some were more intricate in their engineering, providing a nice number of combinations (up to 21, as far as I know, on the Key Kord®).
Some were already specifically dedicated to ukuleles - or 4 stringed instruments like mandolins or banjos - before Maccaferri's 1951 patent. Here again, the real innovation was to make a plastic one, light on the neck, cheap at the store and easy to produce in the factory, allowing an incomparable hype design with so stylish colors, crimson and cream... But it was a real creation : Maccaferri's patent makes no reference to previous and alien ones, contrarywise to posterior patents which refer to Maccaferri's Chord Master® (the last one dates from 2005!).
|
|
 | |  | |  |
The Instant Player
Patented in 1921 by Ferry &Co., Chicago | | Instant Player ad
in Popular Mechanics, 1926. | | The Key Kord
ca. 1929, by Stromberg-Voisinet, Chicago. |
- enlarge -  | | - enlarge -  | | - enlarge -  |
|
In the classic age of plastic ukuleles, there were two competitors of the Chord Master®, both under the branded Emenee®.
The first one, named Uke Player® and endorsed by Arthur Godfrey, was very similar to the Chord Master® with hardly displaced controls, but dressed with different colors (including marbled ones), thinner and fancier buttons, a purer design (no printed chord grids) and the elegant famous singer signature. On the downside, the functional parts look rather fragile, and this lack might have been the origin of the second Emenee® device, ratherly dedicated to the « fake » four-stringed guitars.
The second one was called Chord Selector® and seems posterior. The design is heavy and not very attractive. The interesting thing is that the buttons are placed according to a new pattern and that the reinforced inner parts are obviously from a different conception. There were at least two variants of this model, one a bit longer than the other. Anyway, both provide the inescapable not-always-necessary but absolutely-sufficient chords series : C, C7, F, G7, A7, D7, with no minor chord at all, in order to preserve our children from sloth and melancholy. |
|
 | |  | |  |
| The Chord Master | | The Uke Player | | The Chord Selector |
| - enlarge - | | - enlarge - | | - enlarge - |
|
 |
Why should we talk about future ? Present is here and now! And the automatic chording devices spirit has already taken the new technologies over, as seen in a video on Youtube.
|
| |
 |
| The Iphonelele |
© 2010, Antoine Carolus. This site has been made with a head, two hands and a computer but no webdesign or HTML editing software (fatto a mano). |
|
