An Inside Look: A Special Collection Of D'Aquisto Guitars
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- Опубликовано: 29 авг 2024
- In this Jazz Guitar Today video interview, Ted Ludwig and Paul Asbell go through six very special D’Aquisto instruments.
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There were no experiments or concepts on the guitars that were completed, everything was executed and sure to function my father was a genius and a one-of-a-kind innovator for the instrument
Very cool, Thanks for sharing that James!
To me his Blue guitar is one of the best and most beautiful ever made. I have been in love for years. Now that I have heard it a few times I am not sure I can take it anymore!
I'd read that John D'Angelico had said of your father, _"Do not underestimate James. Someday he will surpass me."_ How right he was! Thanks for sharing and God Bless.
❤
Obviously, he had the best work attitude, cooperative personality, and teachable spirit around. Sad he was not around longer. I can only hope whomever owns the D'aquisto brand name will do justice and research how to produce laminate guitars equal to the one in this video. (By the way, a friend a work from NY claims her father was a friend of Jimmy D'aquisto and, I think, also Jim Hall. Small world).
The reason for the oval sound hole is that it projects the sound further. My father would describe or compare it to water coming out of a hose.
When the tip of a hose is round the water will only go so far, but when you squeeze the tip into an oval shape the water shoots further, even with the same amount of pressure. So sound acts the same way.
So my father always chose an oval sound hole he never made a round hole he said
"the sound falls right in front of you whereas with the oval hole the sound projects 100 to 250 ft in front of the instrument and that was the reason for the oval hole.
Good to know... makes you wonder why there aren't more oval sound holes.
@@jazzguitartoday I recall that Benedetto said there is much more to be explored with the oval hole tops.
@@jeffhildreth9244 That would be great! Thanks for watching and for your input! Please feel free to Like, Share and Subscribe to our channel.
@@jazzguitartoday Done. Outstanding presentation.!
@@jeffhildreth9244 Excellent! Happy New Year!
Ted Ludwig showing the blue guitar and explaining the purfling on it is awesome. He appreciates the guitars.
Never heard of a guitar with purfling but seems archtop makers would have used that more since traditionally violin, cello etc had it.
The players loved the presentation, the interviewer not so much.
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I am an amateur hobby luthier and discovered D'Angelico and D'aquisto many years ago in the 1960s. I read ad mush about those master arch-top luthiers over the years and realise they can never be replaced.
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I remember several of those guitars. I worked part time cleaning, shipping strings and gofer work for Jimmy from 1972 to 1981 (when he moved to Greenport). Pretty good reviews, aligns with some of my memories from the when I worked there. Great showing that he was always trying to improve.
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Excellent! Ted Ludwig was my guitar teacher in Memphis. Amazing player
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Being in my 20s in the 70’s I first learned about John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto in an article from the 1970s Guitar Player Book. Each has a story in the book. It states that Jimmy ordered the bodies from the Hagstrom company for the solid body guitars. Of course I have no way of knowing if this was true. Later years and seeing his work in color photos shows the master craftsman he was.
Glad to see this video about him. Thank for doing it.
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Mr D'Aquisto had customers who thought the original F hole design was too edgy and they were looking for something more warm and less bell like. At first he widened the f holes and then he acknowledged the Flat Top Market as being the sound of the day and he put his particular spin on it using oval holes .He made a flat top with a small or Petite bouche for Ted Iwin that had unusual bracing and it was used on Tequila Sunrise. At this time he started to make the tops much thinner then the more standard d'Angelico.
Sal D'troia, a very accomplished player who was on Paul Simon
records would talk to Jimmy about the sounds of the folk rock generation and their needs. He made an early oval hole for the folk singer Jake Holmes but it was a little too big for him. When a carved guitar is new it often has a bright sound and it takes a while to develop its mid-range. When Jimmy was apprenticing for John d'angelico they had a lot of mandolins,Gibson A series in For repairs from The Mandolin Orchestra and he was familiar with oval holes. and of course he was familiar with the Selmer guitars with oval holes. Some of his other customers were Melanie and Janice Ian. Janice's guitar is a flat top with a wide neck similar to an instrument she had grown up on. He prided himself on making instruments for the player. the instruments he made for Jim Hall Grant Green ,Joe Pass and some other well-known jazz artists were very well made with great playing necks, and great intonation. It was a little bit of a quandary because so much of their sound was based in the pickup and the amp . Each instrument was a learning experience And he found out you don't necessarily need a big 18-in guitar to get a warmer sound. During the 40s and 50s the instruments were designed to get the Freddie Green rhythm playing volume which cut through the big bands.
Jimmy's instruments were very responsive and the player had to adjust to this.
A good player could find The Sweet Spot. A mediocre player would not get a great sound out of his guitars. That certainly wasn't Mr D'Aquistos
fault. He had a pic that he like to recommend which he thought would get the best sound out of the instruments he made. He would often have to show people where to strum or pick the instrument to get the desired result, a lot of sloppy players just didn't know that much except to play as fast as they COULD.
And when you got the action low with very light strings you didn't have a lot of force to drive the top. If you get a chance to see that John Monteleone movie "The Chisels are calling" please do. John show such respect for Jimmy and as I understand it they would spend a lot of time talking about the future for the modern luthier.
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Stunning guitars
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Love that little solid body, "it has it's place," if it needs a place, let me know, I have a place, be in touch! The Blue Centura is really one of the best ever made I think.Thanks for this.
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I was incredibly fortunate to come across a 1968 D' Aquisto New Yorker Special at a guitar show on Long Island, NY in 1999. It and another similar D'Aquisto were at a table and were for sale. One was pristine, seemingly unplayed for the most part, and the other was a real veteran of countless gigs in very smokey rooms. The vet had a layer of yellow cigarette smoke residue all over it and looked pretty sad. Much of the colour finish on the back of the neck was worn off, but the rest of the finish under all that yellow residue and the overall condition of the guitar looked fine. It was going for a ridiculously low price for what it was even with the yellow coating. I played then both in a quiet room and quicky discovered why the unplayed one was unlpayed.
It just didn't sound or feel half as good as the veteran. Not that it sounded bad, no D'Aquisto sounds bad. It just didn't have the sparkle, depth of character and instant, almost telepathic response that the one that had been lovingly played for hundreds maybe thousands of hours had, which makes a lot of sense. That sad-looking box was one of the best guitars of any kind that I had ever heard and played, very resonant, sweet and very loud.
I had to have it.
I asked the owner if I could show the combat-worn guitar to a friend of mine who he also knew who had a table at the show. My friend just happens to be one of the greatest luthiers still living and an expert regarding D'A's.
When I showed it to him, he winced at its condition. I asked him if he could get all that yellow residue off and still preserve the original finish. He looked it over carefully and said that he could, that it was otherwise in great shape and for the price it was a no-brainer purchase. Well, having maybe just a few parts of my brain still working, I bought the guitar.
Fast forward two months. My friend presented me with an absolutely gorgeous close to mint-condition D'Aquisto New Yorker Special. It is, of course, the pride and joy of all of the guitars I now have or have ever had or will ever have, however, it's currently back in my friend's shop for a complete binding replacement.
Virtually all D'Aquistos (and many D' Angelicos and Gretsches) have bindings and pickguards made of celluloid (cellulose nitrate), a material that eventually de-gasses into a crumbling, useless mass of gunk, the gases of which being camphor can and will destroy the guitar. Cinema film stock used to be is made of this material and it, too eventually crumbles and melts to nothing after a while.
Accordingly, the binding and pickguards of most D'Aquistos have to be replaced at some time, and the time had come for my one. I anxiously await its return.
RIP Jimmy, you were and are the greatest of them all.
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@@jazzguitartoday BTW, the luthier friend I mentioned is Cris Mirabella who I
have known and who has been my dear friend since he was a teenager in Ronne DeMarino's shop.
I also have Bernie Lehmann's exact clone of the D'Aquisto Blue Centura. It looks identical in every respect right down to the fine, spectacular wood grain figuring. It sounds like an authentic D'Aquisto guitar and very close to the original.
It's still a beautiful blue and has not "greened" because Cris tells me that Bernie used a water-based clear top-coat finish that does not yellow over time, blue + yellow = green, of course. Bernie did a great job making it with a lot of love and a lot of skill and talent. It's a stunning, magnificent tribute to Jimmy and is as an amazing, inspiring instrument to play, or just to look at as you might well imagine.
Nice to see and hear the original one here.
@@Glicksman1 Very cool!
Awesome story. You should make some videos featuring those guitars to share with the world. I’d love to hear “the veteran” in action
@@literallyshaking8019 I'd gladly lend them to someone who makes videos.
The D'Aquisto Centaura and The Benedetto are my two favourites from Scott Chinery''s Blue Collection
They are superb Robert! Thanks for watching and for your input! Please feel free to Like, Share and Subscribe to our channel.
Wow!!!!.....nice to see my D'Aquisto Excel on this video.....I was not associated with Mandolin Brothers. I ordered the guitar directly from Jimmy in 1981, and sold it to Rudy Pensa several years ago. I still have another guitar I had Jimmy make me in 1991 which I will never sell!!....Great video...love seeing all these D'Aquisto guitars. Jimmy was a great guy, very humble!! I loved going out to his shop in Greenport. I spoke with Jimmy just prior to his trip out to Fender. I was planing on ordering a Centura. Unfortunately, Jimmy died while out at Fender.
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Excellent showcase for these beautiful instruments. I've never heard of Ted or Paul but they are great players. I only subscribed yesterday after watching very entertaining films featuring Steve Howe and Molly Miller. There are so many great guitarists out there that it's impossible to know and hear them all but I'll always be a guitar lover. Thanks for posting Bob.
That could be a Guild pickup in the laminated guitar. That is what Jim Hall used.Thanks for sharing these with us.
@@barrycooper1631 welcome Barry! Thanks for watching and for your input! Please feel free to Like, Share and Subscribe to our channel.
@@barrycooper1631 yeah he couldn't get pickups from Gibson lol
Very cool guitars guys, and great playing !!!! greating from the vintage archtop geeks in Paris
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Thank you Bob for your video… amazing guitars and players … as a beguiner I would spend hours looking at those guitars … grazie 🙏🏼
Greetings from Lugano, Switzerland 🇨🇭
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Jimmy's son still has the jar of blue dye used on this masterpiece
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Interesting, thanks
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EXCELLENT video!!!
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I would love to see a Monsters of Archtop tour, where you'd take a slate of excellent players across styles/genres, combine them with some of the classic guitars that are out there from the great luthiers, including of course but not limited to D'Angelico and D'Aquisto, and schedule a bunch of dates with a rotating slate of players and guitars. I'm so glad to see more and more videos highlighting these magical instruments and the folks who make them sing.
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it is a kent armstrong pickup in the sunburst archtop
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i knew Jimmy I saw both guitars I believe the acuusticwas made for pop star MELANIE
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D'Aquisto's flat top bridge was not experimental. The idea spawned from guitar designer physicist Michael Kasha and besides the early Gibson Mark Series and D'Aquisto flat tops other builders who used the design included Richard Schneider and Steve Klein. Jimmies flat top bridge continued to become thinner until his last flat top in 1984, the bridge was almost wafer thin while the acoustic response on that guitar was quite impressive.
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So, the laminate at the end did sound spectacular for an electric, considering it is plywood, and much better D'aquisto inspired laminates I have heard. But at a price i estimate to be $25k or $30k (if you could find one for sale) is not gigable. NOT NOT NOT. Nothing in the media seems to suggest that the modern D'aquisto manufacturers have made an attempt to duplicate that guitar or one like it at an affordable price.
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Very interesting video.
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Grover imperials 😉👍
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The pickup in the electric Centura looks like a Guild HB-2.
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My solid spruce body guitar weighs 4 lbs. But the neck is too thin for my taste.
Better for small hands... :)
Beautiful guitars. Jimmy was the master! Thanks for sharing.
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Cant say, but Jim Hall, a well respected jazz player, and foremost endorser of D'aquisto just ruined the tone, assuming there ever was such on the D'aquisto, IMHO. Why would you turn the tone knob to zero to make a carvred archtop sound like a sorry made plywood guitar? That's exactly the Jim Hall tone, and I hate it. Of course, Hall did the same on a D'Angelico, but the consequences were not as deadening to the sound. Worse, in later years, Jimmy D'aquisto is known for his laminated archtops which sound, to me, like what they are, laminated. The 3 arguments for laminated tops are not enough for me to want one: 1) reduced feedback, 2) carved bodies resonances don't sound any better at live gigs, and 3) famous guitarists got paid to play and promote cheap laminated hollowbodies. There are workarounds.
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OK, so the laminated archtop at the end of the video did turn out sounding great, considering, and better to my ear than those that were manufactured by some company based on D'aquisto's design.
ruclips.net/video/0oJ0Xbt7GUw/видео.htmlsi=F0JmVD9elK5McHzQ
beautiful tone, man.
Scott in TomsRiver who had Cyber Genics use to own a bunch of those peices
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