Bought a DAngelico (sorry hot rod ford)

[fws6]

Okay to beat all your comments; it is the player not the guitar that matters most. But owning a DA is a long obsession of mine so I am glad that I finally got my hands on one..... It still needs a bit of TLC but sofar it sounds great very loud and punchy for a 16" body great wide and flat neck too.

[carlescountry]

Congratulations!!! A very nice guitar full of history. One of my dreams would also have an original D'Angelico.

[63Bigsby]

Oh yeah, sweet snakehead!! Very cool! Is it a Style A??

[fws6]

Thanks for the compliments, but it is not an A - D'Angelico started out making Gibson Loar era L5 copies ('snakeheads') like this one. Only later he established his own models A, B, Excel, and NY. A B and Excel were pretty much alike in construction yet with increasing level cosmetics, whereas the NY had a bigger body and highest degree of ornamentation. Later he would also make Excels with fancy NY inlay and binding usually dubbed 'secial'. But this guitar is from way before that period. This is apparently the 5th he ever made, it was made for one of the most famous guitarists of his time Harry Volpe : the whole story is on my page here niceguitar.eu

[63Bigsby]

Oh ok, it's the Volpe Special, even more cool!!!

[M-ster]

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

[hot ford coupe]

HOLY CRAP !! YOU GOT THE VOLPE SPECIAL ????? Now that's what I call reaching out and touching musical history right on its pointy nose.

You're definitely right as I found out myself that it's the player that has to work to bring the sound out that's built into a guitar. During my so called guitar history education, I had the good fortune to play a 1934 D'A which was made in the same style as yours and I was bowled over by the sound. It was loud, well balanced (for those not familiar with that concept, each note is as loud as every other note with no dead or loud spots), and very resonant especially when the back was free to vibrate. I played it beside a 41 Stromberg and the difference was apparent. The Stromberg was big and boomed while the D'A was warm, refined, sweet and you could hear every note in the chord when you were playing chord melody. That's where the D'A shines and gets its legendary status from. Will the guitar make a guitarist play better? No. Compared to another guitar like an L5, will the player sound better? Not really, but after a player has worked to get the sound out can you notice a difference? Absolutely. Guitar collectors have deified the sound of he D'A's to the point of myth generation where we've imagined all sorts of things without really knowing what to listen for. What's worse is that when we get one, many times it doesn't sound like you thought it would. Once you've heard a number of D'A's and really know what to listen for, you can understand what the experts are revelling about.

Good luck Frank. You've got yourself a fantastic piece of archtop history. I can tell you from experience you will not be disappointed.

[hot ford coupe]

Check out this link, guys. If you click on the name John D'Angelico, it will bring you to a page where if you click on the pictures, you can hear recordings of a few D'As. This will give you an idea of what those babies can do. You've love it.

Selected Objects in the Exhibition | Guitar Heroes | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

[D'Aquisto Fan]

Congratulations! Great guitar.

[gcb]

Superb piece of art. I especially like the wide fingerboard. Congratulations!

[kamlapati]

I played a D'Angelico snakehead at Rudy's last week when I was in NYC and it was absolutely outstanding, a religious experience. Best guitar I ever played. Congrats, dude. Play it!

I just keep looking. That is so beautiful. You are a lucky man.

[teleman3726]

Nice. Be great to have one some day. Congrats!

[mangotango]

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

Check out this link, guys. If you click on the name John D'Angelico, it will bring you to a page where if you click on the pictures, you can hear recordings of a few D'As. This will give you an idea of what those babies can do. You've love it.

Selected Objects in the Exhibition | Guitar Heroes | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

HFC, thank you so much for that link - really enjoyed that!!

[hot ford coupe]

Hey mango. When I found this, I thought it was the most fortunate find I came across on the net. Until that link, I had loads of pics of D'As but never any decent sound clips worth a crap. When you hear someone who really knows how to play one, it knocks you over.

[wizard3739]

Wow! That picture brings back memories. I had one almost identical to that one except the owner had cut a pickup hole in it. I had the hole patched and mounted a floating "Johnny Smith" pickup on the neck. It was a great sounding guitar after I got it set up.

wiz

[hot ford coupe]

I just spent a bunch more time on that link. If you click on the pics of the D'As on that first page, you can see a couple of other performances where you can really hear the guitars. Bob Grillo plays 3 different D'As from different times including one just like you have, Frank. I could listen to those recordings for hours. I don't know if you'll do like I did since there is no reason for you to liquidate your collection like I had but once I started to play that D'A of mine, I didn't pick up another archtop except just to play a couple of chords on it. BTW, George Gruhn himself told me that the 30's guitars were made in D'Angelico's golden period.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

I just spent a bunch more time on that link. If you click on the pics of the D'As on that first page, you can see a couple of other performances where you can really hear the guitars. Bob Grillo plays 3 different D'As from different times including one just like you have, Frank. I could listen to those recordings for hours. I don't know if you'll do like I did since there is no reason for you to liquidate your collection like I had but once I started to play that D'A of mine, I didn't pick up another archtop except just to play a couple of chords on it. BTW, George Gruhn himself told me that the 30's guitars were made in D'Angelico's golden period.

I meant to thank you for posting that link. #1. I totally forgot about the exhibition and need to get there. #2. I didn't know there were actually clips of the guitars being played so i really enjoyed hearing them. Where are the other videos? I could only find the 1 Bob Grillo vid playing the non-cutaway.

[hot ford coupe]

Originally Posted by spiral

I meant to thank you for posting that link. #1. I totally forgot about the exhibition and need to get there. #2. I didn't know there were actually clips of the guitars being played so i really enjoyed hearing them. Where are the other videos? I could only find the 1 Bob Grillo vid playing the non-cutaway.

Hey spiral. Here's what you do. When you go to the link, scroll down about half way and you'll see several pics of D'As. Click on each picture. Each one will bring you to a larger picture of the guitar. Then scroll down and you'll see some "related performances". They're not all together but like I said, click on each one and look down. Besides Oh Marie, he plays two other chord melodies and they're incredible. There are also some commentaries from Bucky Pizzarelli which are worth listening to.

There are also a few videos on YouTube done by Mark Cleary where he plays an acoustic 49 cutaway. Also, check out Ron Anthony. He does some playing on a blonde cutaway. They're also worth listening to.

[hot ford coupe]

Here's another one where the guitar is amplified. The guitar is a 39 Style B and he's using a DeArmond Rhythm Chief through a Polytone amp. This is pretty much like mine and also sounds pretty much like mine. It's the same year as mine but mine's an Excel and I use a tube Ampeg amp, reissue, not vintage. (The only difference between mine and his is that his just has different trim. That's all.) The volume is a bit low but Keith takes a solo a little more than half way through the song. The axe amplifies nicely. Keith does a great comp on this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt0MTuTvPFc

[spiral]

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

They're not all together but like I said, click on each one and look down.

Thanks. I tried finding the vimeo page but they hid the videos so digging is necessary. That Excel sounds like thunder from the gods. Wow.

[edit] All performances are listed on this page

[SamBooka]

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

Check out this link, guys. If you click on the name John D'Angelico, it will bring you to a page where if you click on the pictures, you can hear recordings of a few D'As. This will give you an idea of what those babies can do. You've love it.

Selected Objects in the Exhibition | Guitar Heroes | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

This should be its own thread!!!

[fws6]

the one Bucky is playing seems closest to mine. Mine is louder though.

[hot ford coupe]

A picture of yours is in the last book about the D'A guitars. With that wide flat neck, it sounds like it was one of those built for chord melody which was John's favorite style of guitar playing. Also, yours has been on a number of famous recordings incuding one or two with Sinatra. Now how cool is that? You've got a world class collection.

For those of you who haven't yet clicked on fws6's link at the bottom of his posts, you're really missing some great info on some incredible guitars. Each guitar comes with a very comprehensive description and clear, close up shots of these beautiful instruments. It's well worth checking out. Tell 'em HFC sent ya.

[fws6]

thanks for the compliments. As on your other remark, is that so ? did Volpe play with Sinatra , and if so which records ?

[hot ford coupe]

Originally Posted by fws6

thanks for the compliments. As on your other remark, is that so ? did Volpe play with Sinatra , and if so which records ?

I must have been half asleep when I said that. I can't find anything that says that and now I can't remember how I linked the two things. I think it was the one Bucky Pizzarrelli played on one of the videos on that guitar heroes site I found. I reserve the right to recant my statement. You have to remember that when you're dealing with D'Angelico guitars, the brain tends to turn to mush, the eyes get weak, speech tends to slur a lot and you begin to say goofy things. It's part of the D'A mystique. I remain the classic example.

[fws6]

OK understandable ;-)

I just wondered if I could find old recordings or pics of this guitar with Volpe but so far no luck

I can find heaps of pics of the Gretsches and Epis he used in the 50s but I guess snapshot photos werent so common in 1932 ;-)

[hot ford coupe]

Originally Posted by fws6

OK understandable ;-)

I just wondered if I could find old recordings or pics of this guitar with Volpe but so far no luck

I can find heaps of pics of the Gretsches and Epis he used in the 50s but I guess snapshot photos werent so common in 1932 ;-)

I can sympathize with you, Frank. I know exactly how you feel. Finding pics of a famous guitarist with a particular guitar can many times be like finding a diamond. I bought my D'A from Gruhn Guitars, but a number of years before, the same exact guitar (serial number was the same) was offered for sale at Mandolin Brothers. The instrument description said that it was once owned by George Benson and there was a letter with it to prove it. When I bought the guitar, there was no letter. The previous owner either kept or lost it or whatever. In either case, I can't find any pics or recordings by Benson anywhere with my guitar to prove it. In that case, no paperwork, no dice. You're lucky that your D'A has the all telling inlay and pictures you can find in the D'A books. I wish you a lot of luck with the instrument and hope at some point you can find a good pic with Harry holding it.