Jack Maskiell Guitars

JMG - Jack Maskiell Guitars
Jack Maskiell Guitars were made in Perth, Western Australia in the 1940's and 50's and branded JMG

Jack Maskiell may possibly have worked making Violins and Guitars in Adelaide before WWII? However after the war, and having been a Japanese P.O.W., he ended up in Perth. Here he started making instruments again in partnership with a fellow P.O.W called Les O'Connell. This enterprise was possibly funded through some government post war therapy program, and employed ex service-men and other returned P.O.W.s to help build Ukuleles and Guitars. The firm continued trading up until 1959, but I can only guess that foreign competition was the cause of the demise?

The Ukuleles are Soprano scale and have an overlapping arched back and front with little or no kerfing, a bolt on neck, plus a floating bridge and tailpiece, so not using the the standard Ukulele construction methods and more like a Violin, (giving some credence to the history of Violin making).

The "patent pending" written on the sound hole label was for a special second sound chamber that was suppose to amplify the sound, (it didn't and these have usually been removed in the surviving examples, but maybe also explains why they were built the way they were). There is also a serial number stamped on the top of the headstock