My modified D'aquisto jazz line

[Heybopper]

Hi
Just wanted to show you and tell you about my experience with the d'aquisto jazz line I now have. I have had the good fortune to own many high end guitars, campellones, L5,s, a borys, triggs New Yorker, es 5, tal farlow, slamans, guild artist awards, 350t and a couple of cheaper guitars, a fugijen masterfield, d'aquisto New Yorker and now this d'aquisto jazz line.
I have loved the high end guitars but the feedback has always been a problem. I usually play trio guitar double bass and sax and even without drums it has been a problem. In the end I ended up stuffing the guitars full of cotton as I believe thats what Pat Martino did but it begs the question is it worth having a full depth solid carved instrument worth 5,000 to 8,000 if your going to fill it with batting cotton? im not sure.
Anyway gigs have been a bit thin on the ground and the last archtop I had got damaged and the quotes to re finish it were in the region of 2,000 so I sold it at a loss and bought the d'aquisto jazz line.
I love the shorter scale and the thinner depth. It doesn't feedback and I have done a few gigs with it now. I have done lots of recordings with a good few of the instruments ive listed above, and I can't tell much difference. I do have bad ears though.
I also really liked the d'aquisto New Yorker I had, they both play really nice. Intonation is spot on, action very comfortable, nut width and neck feel great. The only thing I didn't like was the wooden tailpiece and the triangular pickguard
I had a look online but there is not much in the way of aftermarket pick guards, they all tend to be Gibson ones. One guy in the UK wanted to charge me £700 for a d'angelico pick guard but I found someone cheaper. I tried the finger tailpiece which was nice but I ended up going for a d'agelico one. I got the last one in the shop.
Anyway here it is and here is a sound clip too.

All up with the guitar, pick guard and tailpiece the guitar has cost about £1800 and I love it

[Archie]

I have a blonde Jazzline and I like your Pickguard.

The Jazz line is a copy of Jim Halls D’aquisto. OR maybe more accurately, the D’aquisto model that was made for Jim Hall, as there were a few made with some slight variations. They went to quite some trouble to make it faithful to the original. You’ll notice there isn't any purfling on the inside. As far as I can make out, it’s likely the sides are slightly thicker to accommodate the gluing of top and bottom plate.
D’Aquisto used this method too when designing the Hagstrom ‘Jimmy’, which he had designed only a year or two before this.

I find the guitar to be very similar to a Borys, although I think the Borys has a slightly more refined sound.

[jzucker]

regarding stuffing the guitars, me and Bob Roetker both stuffed our L5s after I studied with martino in the '70s and he convinced me to try it. There was something like 3-4lbs of cotton batting in there so it was really stuffed tight. And it still sounded like a hollow body. Much different than playing a 335 or solid body. All those original recordings of Martino's in the '60s and mid '70s were done with stuffed guitars...

[Arnesto]

did you sell the original tailpiece?

[pingu]

1332053[/URL]]regarding stuffing the guitars, me and Bob Roetker both stuffed our L5s after I studied with martino in the '70s and he convinced me to try it. There was something like 3-4lbs of cotton batting in there so it was really stuffed tight. And it still sounded like a hollow body. Much different than playing a 335 or solid body. All those original recordings of Martino's in the '60s and mid '70s were done with stuffed guitars...

and if you want to stuff ,but keep
the weight off , like me ….
try stuffing with soft foam instead of cotton
again it still sounds like a hollow body
jazz box
(i have since settled on half-stuffed
with the foam , just the top half now)
works great …. and still stops the feedback

but it sounds like feedback is
not an issue with the Jazzline
anyway ….

congrats on the new guitar
sounds great

[Heybopper]

Hi thanks for the comments I sold the original pick guard and tailpiece just have the finger tailpiece for sale. I also went up to 13s with a 14 on the top e and an 18 for the b. This has made a very big difference and trying lots and lots of pics I have a bowl of around 100 of different thickness and material. ive settled on D'andrea pro plecs they feel really nice and are very warm here is a vid with the heavier strings, d'angelico tailpiece ect.

[PMB]

regarding stuffing the guitars, me and Bob Roetker both stuffed our L5s after I studied with martino in the '70s and he convinced me to try it. There was something like 3-4lbs of cotton batting in there so it was really stuffed tight. And it still sounded like a hollow body. Much different than playing a 335 or solid body. All those original recordings of Martino's in the '60s and mid '70s were done with stuffed guitars...

One of Jack Wilkins' guitars was so full of stuffing that he renamed it the 'Towel Farlow' model.

[Woody Sound]

As far as looks go, I too like the NY'er tail better than the finger. From a practical standpoint, I would have kept the original guard and tail, and sold the finger. You never know if you might part with the guitar down the road. But that's just my own way of thinking.