NGD and a New Member To An Exclusive Club

[andrew]

I'm very pleased to announce that I officially joined the ranks of those guitar players lucky enough to call ourselves D'Angelico owners when this 1940 Style B arrived this afternoon. I had wanted a "real" D'A for a long time. I like old guitars and I like skinnier necks, which don't always go together (or at least, one must search a bit harder to find a skinny neck in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s than its chunky brethren). I had been searching for a player's grade example with a skinny neck for a while. At one point, I actually purchased a refinished A-1, but the neck dimensions were seriously larger than advertised and it had some other undisclosed issues, so I had no choice but to send it back.

This particular guitar had been for sale for several years. It has a 1-5/8" nut width. It has some replacement parts like tuners, pickguard, a refret, as well as a couple of small repairs and touch ups. I remember some discussion about it on the forum. I don't remember who, but I recall someone knowledgeable saying that they thought it might have even more problems than the ones that were disclosed. As it continued to sit unsold, the store kept dropping the price. Eventually, the price got low enough that I said "I don't care about the issues.I can't possibly resist any longer".

I've spent the past hour sitting on the couch and playing it, so these are just my initial impressions: First of all, the neck is PERFECT for me. I could not be happier, as neck profile is very important to me. Low action and very easy to play. The tone: incredibly warm and well balanced. Really spectacular. It's not quite as loud acoustically as I imagined an acoustic archtop from the era would be. Plenty loud enough for at home playing (which is all I'm going to be doing with it), but not quite the "rhythm cannon" that would cut through a big band. But to be fair, it came with flatwounds on it (I'm going to be experimenting with some different strings) and it hasn't been played much these last few years, so it may need some time to get acclimated.

It already has the "snakebite" from a previous owner's Rhythm Chief, so I think I'll put one of those back on it eventually.

And now what you've been waiting for, pictures:




Ok, back to playing it!

[ThatRhythmMan]

What a beauty. I’m guessing this was the one in Syracuse. I think you got a very nice deal. I also have a Style B, also from 1940 that I adore. Put some nice bronze round wound strings and keep playing and I bet its sound will grow. Welcome to the world’s greatest club!

[Stringswinger]

Congrats and welcome to the club!

My Style B is the last one John D'Angelico made (1948). It will not be for sale again until my wife is a certified widow.

Put 80/20 strings on her (John D'Angelico had a hand in developing the 80/20 strings).

John D'Angelico let Epiphone make the loudest archtops while he made the best sounding guitars ever.

May this knockout of a guitar inspire your playing for many years to come and do get a vintage Dearmond pickup for her. You will be glad that you did.

[DawgBone]

Man, what a sweet axe!!! Big congrats!!!

[andrew]

Thanks for the well wishes! A buddy came over last night and we had an acoustic couch jam. Wow and I thought it sounded good solo! It really felt great in a guitar duo context. I broke a string, so I’m already 1/6th of the way to having the 80/20s on there. I’ll do the rest soon.

Yes, it is indeed the one from Syracuse.

Now to decide whether I want a Rhythm Chief 1100 or an FHC…I’ve played 1000s and 1100s and like ‘em, but I don’t have any first hand experience with the FHC. I hear good things. There’s a very early one for sale locally, I may have to go check it out.

[Stringswinger]

Andrew, I own two DeArmond 1100's and a 1000 (all vintage). In the past, I owned three FHC's. They all sounded great with an acoustic archtop.

Be advised that the Guild impoted repro neck rods do not fit the vintage pickups perfectly. If you go vintage, and you should, make sure the rod is vintage as well. And the Monkey on a stick setup works just fine if that what you end up with.

[vinnyv1k]

A HUGE Congratulations! A real beauty. May it serve you well.
The pinnacle of archtops.

[andrew]

Be advised that the Guild impoted repro neck rods do not fit the vintage pickups perfectly. If you go vintage, and you should, make sure the rod is vintage as well. And the Monkey on a stick setup works just fine if that what you end up with.

Thank you. That's really important information. So many of the ones for sale include the monkey-on-a-stick but not the neck mounting rod. I didn't know that the (prone to snapping) reissue mounts don't work well on the vintage pickups. Since I already have the holes in the neck and an output jack,I think the neck mount option makes the most sense. And when I used a monkey-on-a-stick in the past, I felt like it got in the way a little bit.

I just ordered a vintage FHC with a neck mount. Looking forward to playing it through my '46 Epiphone Electar Zephyr amp!

[spencer096]

sweet mother mercy

[wintermoon]

Nice going, it's hard to find a carved DA for under 10k anymore, even refinished w changed parts. Still has the orig bridge and Grover t.p. too.
Enjoy that one....