Written By: Dan O'Donnell
Founded in 1932, D’Angelico Guitars have been a fixture on
the record charts with guitar greats as diverse as Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler using them from their introduction to the present day. The innovative,
stunning and highly sought-after guitars helped give voice to guitarists by
increasing their volume while playing acoustically, and also gained a
reputation for style because of their hand crafted artistic beauty.
They have been shown in at least two major museum exhibitions,
one at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. and one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2011. In the New York exhibit at least, D’Angelico’s
workmanship and tone were seen as on a level with that of late Renaissance violin maker
Antonio Stradivari.
Though D’Angelico typically charged between 250 and 300
dollars for an archtop (a considerable sum when noting that houses were
routinely less than $5,000 then), his guitars have exploded in popularity and
while a model from his original studio is often worth $65,000 or more, some
models (his New Yorker Teardrop shape and others) can fetch well over half a
million dollars at auction and remain perennial favorites among archtop
players.
Now, for the first time since the legendary luthier’s death
in 1964, D’Angelico Guitars will be unveiling the first D’Angelico production
guitars made in the United States in their booth at the winter NAMM show later this
month. Made of select materials to exacting specs by luthiers in California the
first model, the USA Masterbuilt Excel, will be available in the coming days
followed at select intervals by other D’Angelico classics according to Brenden
Cohen, CEO of D’Angelico Guitars.
The USA Masterbuilt Excel will retail for around $9,000,
Cohen said. That compares to the company’s imported “Standard” line of archtops
that sell for $1,000 and up. The sale of
imported guitars has been a boon, Cohen said, adding that the Korean imports
“Made us one of the best ‘new products’ if you can call it that, this year.”
He added that the company has enough faith in their Masterbuilt
reproduction to allow winter NAMM visitors the chance to play and compare both the original and reproduction guitars.
“At the NAMM show we’re going to have the original, and the
reissue right next to it,” Cohen said. “And it’s going to be pretty cool, that
you can play a 70-year-old guitar right next to an identical, modern guitar.”
The 1943 USA Masterbuilt Excel’s heritage is easily
recognizable, from its art deco trapeze tailpiece to its intricately carved
headstock. In fact, the guitar is so recognizable and so entrenched in New York
City music scenes that Cohen said they took extra pains to make sure the guitar
was replicated exactly from the original.
“John has a huge guitar collection and we took one of his
D’Angelicos (the 1943 Excel) and we took it to a place in Tampa to get a guitar
MRI,” Cohen said. “Then we took that to (Chief Master Luthier) Gene Baker,
who’s making the guitars at the Premiere Builder’s Guild, in Arroyo Grande, CA.
Gene worked on the aesthetics, and he did a really great job.”
Baker, a former Gibson and Fender Custom Shop luthier, puts
out his own boutique “b-3” guitars. He and a number of other luthiers, many
with Gibson or Fender custom shop experience, also make their boutique guitars
at the workshop where the production of the Masterbuilt models is being done,
Cohen said.
“Premiere Builder’s Guild, they took a bunch of luthiers and
they hired a guy who worked at the Fender custom shop for a long time, and they
opened up a workshop in California where they build all these guitars for these
boutique builders,” Cohen said. “It was a perfect fit for us.”
In November, PBG took the step of hiring a luthier to
oversee creation of the Masterbuilt Excel.
Art Esparza, a former senior master builder at the Fender
Custom Shop, quit Fender in 2006 to begin building Strussart guitars. He became
a part of Premiere Builder’s Guild and will now be primarily focused on the USA
Masterbuilt reissues that will be going out, according to PBG.
Unlike their recent “Standard Series” guitars, which are
built in Korea, D’Angelico’s Masterbuilt guitars will be the first to use nearly
the exact materials used in the original Excel, though Cohen said to expect
updated hardware, like pots and switches.
The Excel, like the original, will have 3A flame maple back
and sides, a solid spruce top, ebony fretboard, mother of pearl inlay/headstock
design and Grover Imperial tuners. The electric version will also feature a
Johnny Smith version Lollar pickup with one volume pot mounted in the pick
guard.
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| Bernie Williams with the prototype USA Masterbuilt Excel |
Grammy nominee and
Gold Glove winner Bernie Williams to introduce Excel Masterbuilt at Winter NAMM
On the first Thursday of the Winter NAMM show Bernie Williams, of the NewYork Yankees and jazz guitar fame, will be introducing the new Masterbuilt to
the world musical community. He has some experience with the new Excel, having
played a prototype of it early on.
“I recently played the raw wood prototype of the USA
Masterbuilt and I was extremely impressed with the craftsmanship and tone. I’m
looking forward to playing the finished guitar at NAMM,” Williams said. “I’m
delighted to be working with D’Angelico and impressed with all that the
D’Angelico team has done to take this legendary brand forward.”
That same thrill that Williams felt playing the Masterbuilt
Excel is apparently contagious; Cohen reports that a vast majority of customers
and retailers have expressed interest in the line.
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| D’Angelico Guitars |
The backlog for a new Masterbuilt Excel is currently at about three to six months, Cohen said, adding that he is okay with that because of the time needed to do the job right.
Cohen also noted that the hand built guitars will be a good
value.
“The USA Masterbuilt Excel will retail for $9,999,” Cohen said,
adding that customers get a lot for their money. Noting that the perfect
reissue of the D’Angelico is an artwork that can be admired as well as played,
he said, “You can own a piece of history at reasonable price.”
And, if the Masterbuilt USA Excel is as much like original
D’Angelicos as it would appear, its sound will only appreciate over time.
Contact:
D’Angelico Guitars
110 Field Crest Ave. 1st Floor
Edison, NJ 08837
110 Field Crest Ave. 1st Floor
Edison, NJ 08837
(P) 732 266-1912
Posted 01/2013
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