D'Angelico Kurt Rosenwinkel Signature Model

[mule71]

I wonder if it's Korean made like the EX-SS? Perhaps a spruce top to match his older NYSS? No specs on D'Angelico's site yet:

Kurt Rosenwinkel will be performing at... - D'Angelico Guitars | Facebook

[Jabberwocky]

Kurt Rosenwinkel has been associated with a few guitars from D'Angelico-Vestax to Moffa to Westville. And now, back in the fold of D'Angelico Mark ??

He is a guitar geek, like many of us. I won't put too much stock on what guitar he is playing as any sort of validation. He is just as likely to play a Westville or some such tomorrow.

[mule71]

Sadowsky too. I'm curious to see how much this signature borrows from the Vestax, specs-wise. Will be interesting to see if it has a full center block, vs the smaller bridge post block of the EX-SS.

[Jabberwocky]

Yeah, I forgot about Sadowsky!

[Gitfiddler]

I'd like to see specs. Most D'A's have very thin neck profiles.

[tomems]

Anybody know any more about this guitar? The price is decent... just want to make sure it's not too good to be true...

[David B]

[jasaco]

I haven't checked the specs but it looks a lot like the Comins GCS-1...

[tomems]

I'm just curious b/c normally you have to pay a few extra bucks for a celebrity "name" and this is significantly cheaper than the EX-SS. Perhaps the KR is made in China and the EX-SS is made in Korea.

[David B]

Well there are two Kurt Rosenwinkel models at two different price points:

The 'Premier' has chrome hardware, plainer appointments and proprietary pickups. $1099 looks to be the going price for that one.
Premier Kurt Rosenwinkel SS | Premier Series | D'Angelico Guitars

The 'Deluxe' has gold hardware, ebony appointments, locking tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups. I expect that to cost more than the EX-SS.
Deluxe Kurt Rosenwinkel SS | Deluxe Series | D'Angelico Guitars

[mule71]

The Deluxe model appears to cost significantly more:

D'Angelico Kurt Rosenwinkel Signature Deluxe SS Electric Guitar

I'd sooner get a Japanese made Vestax NYSS-3B for that kind of money.

[feet]

for that money, the first and only question is: "country of origin"? good or not, nobody's paying $2800 for a mik or mic guitar. mij is already a tough sell at that price point. the mid range ($1600ish) dangelicos i've tried weren't overly impressive during an inital unplugged plinking at guitar center. but things are just more expensive now, i guess.

doesn't appear to be a bad guitar, though. fairly close to something i'd spec myself.

[tomems]

I'm sorta making this up, but this seems to be the archtop pricing system:

1199 and below - China
1200-1999 - Korea and Canada
2000+ - USA and Japan

[Jabberwocky]

For $2800, add $500 more and you can get a better pedigreed MIJ Sadowsky SS-15 or Semi-Hollow from Japan.

Or I'd save meself $1300 and get the Comins GCS-1 from Bill.

[drbhrb]

I'd rather have chrome than gold anyway. Gold never stays in good shape, not sure why you'd pay a premium for it.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I'm sorta making this up, but this seems to be the archtop pricing system:

1199 and below - China
1200-1999 - Korea and Canada
2000+ - USA and Japan

I assume you are using Canada as a synonym for Godin. There's a luthier just south of me on the lake, Peter Hopkins, whose archtops start at around $6,500 and are awesome!

[feet]

I'm sorta making this up, but this seems to be the archtop pricing system:

1199 and below - China
1200-1999 - Korea and Canada
2000+ - USA and Japan

that isn't a horrible guide. its worth noting that there are plenty of used mij guitars that fall into the $1200-2000 range that i'd rather have over a new mik every day of the week. the odd american guitar falls into that range, too. mainly guild and heritage, which i'd also take over a shiny new mik offering.

and i miss the days when a solid mik guitar was around $500 or less. i think my issue is more with inflation than the guitars themselves, which are about as good as they ever were, or a bit better. just can't bring myself to pay that much yet.

[tomems]

If you want a cheap MIK guitar that is great, check out the Samick Greg Bennett JZ4. I love mine. The pickup was lifeless but I put in a Lollar. There are JZ4s on eBay usually...

[gator811]

The Premier model D'A's are made in Indonesia.
I didnt try the KR model, but managed to play a couple of the Premier SS and EX-1 models. At least as good as anything else at that price point

[Robertkoa]

Rosenwinkle sounds like himself on the $2800. MIK - but I agree almost no one will pay that nor should they IMO.

That Fingerpicking Modulating Joni Mitchell thing he does is really unique.


I mention the DAngelicos and the Prestige Guitars in another Thread...about Semi-Hollow 25.5" Scale Semi's.

This 25.5" Scale DAngelico sounds promising in this Video..but Guitar World Reviewer only played a little over 1 Minute before kicking in the
Higher Gain Crunch.( may be a Record for him to go over 1 minute on clean tones)
EDIT -Others have told me who own them that the EX-DH D angelico does not really achieve much of a 175 Sound or Archtop Tones- despite it's appearance and 3 inch thick hollow body.
Will the Rosenwinkel Upscale Model have an Ebony Fingerboard?

Gold Hardware is unfortunate but for Duncans and better Tuners and IF the Guitar is 25.5" scale I would like to try one out.

The only Set Neck Semihollows with 25.5" scale are DAngelico and Prestige both MIK and the Prestige Guitars seem to have more Hollow vibe than 335's etc.in Videos or let's say a 'bigger sound'.

[GNAPPI]

I'd like to see specs. Most D'A's have very thin neck profiles.

Don't have specs but do have two MIK D'A reproductions on hand :-)

My EX-DC (.880" @ 5th fret) is not thin at all and is nicely hand filling. For comparison my Ibby AS-153 is .875" at the 5th.

For a Gibson comparison, my 2000 ES-335 is .845" I don't feel it's thin but it is very playable. My EXS-1DH is .845" the same as the 335. The 335's "slim taper" neck doesn't seem to be objectionable to most.

For sure there is variation between models but none like the 60's ES-150 DC. I hope that helps.

[gator811]

for that money, the first and only question is: "country of origin"? good or not, nobody's paying $2800 for a mik or mic guitar. mij is already a tough sell at that price point. the mid range ($1600ish) dangelicos i've tried weren't overly impressive during an inital unplugged plinking at guitar center. but things are just more expensive now, i guess.

I thought the DA Excel guitars varied depending on the model - I wasnt as impressed with the DH models I tried, and the EXL guitars were well built if just shade too heavy for a 17'archtop. The 59 model I tried played well but not my vibe, and the DC Excel model I tried was great - quite reminisicent of my old AS200.
But the feel and tone of all the SS models I played seemed really good to me and I tried a bunch of them - there are two models, one which is a stoptail version very similar to Kurt's model - but laminate top.


Excel SS | Excel Series | D'Angelico Guitars

and the hollowbody with trapeze tailpiece (my preference) which is lighter and fatter sounding IMO. I went in trying guitars for students and walked out with one of these.


I was reasonably impressed with the Indonesian ones too - I tried to be objective because I was trying them out as potential guitars for some students as they are in the <1k range and while the trimmings arent flash (hardware very plain, pickups ok but not as sweet sounding as the Excel's KA's, and one had a scratchy pot), the bones of the instruments seemed very good and the other stuff is all upgradeable. I thought the SS and EXL versions of the Premier series would be good starting out guitars - if budget is an issue and the KR Premier is of a similar standard then its probably a goer - otherwise as above, you may want to investigate one of the Japanese D'A's although the Excel SS will come in at well under half the price of one of those - the Vestax models start around 3500 USD plus shipping in this part of the world.

[Robertkoa]

for that money, the first and only question is: "country of origin"? good or not, nobody's paying $2800 for a mik or mic guitar. mij is already a tough sell at that price point. the mid range ($1600ish) dangelicos i've tried weren't overly impressive during an inital unplugged plinking at guitar center. but things are just more expensive now, i guess.

doesn't appear to be a bad guitar, though. fairly close to something i'd spec myself.

I agree...

For $2800. - it should be Made in Canada or USA or
POSSIBLY Japan.

Just today I spoke to a Retailer in Vancouver who sells a lot of the Prestige MIK Guitars - asking about their 25.5" scale Semi Hollows ( demos remind me of what a 25.5" scale ES 137 might sound like in a good way and turns out they are a bit heavy like a 137 but with excellent sustain and resonance.)


I asked him about a Premium Line- Made In Canada-
He said the Semihollow Musician Pro would be about $4,000 if Made in Canada ( I'm in Florida..).

So the MAP might be around..$2800.

But lucky for us the Market will not support MIK Instruments above a certain price point- it seems.

But D'angelico , Peerless, and Prestige seem to be upping their Game ...

However -I am listening to Demos of the D'Angelicos in the 16" wide approx. 3" deep Archtop in the Deluxe Versions and the Semi Hollow 335 25.5" scale and so far I am not hearing the Deep Tones ..
Some of the 'Demos' are not emphasizing 'Deep' and I will try a 3" ( never owned one before )..
If is not a Deep Sounding Axe..acoustically ( aside from pickups ) I may not bother to plug it in.

Think of a Violin - turning the treble down does not make it sound like a Viola or a Cello..

At least deeper/ darker than ES 347 I had or no sale .
Lots of these Demo Guys are dialing up twangy sounds too..so I won't know till I try one.

Not only that ...the Rosenwinkel Deluxe would have to sound great at $2800 except for Fans that want the ' Name' thing- it's just a Single Cut 335 at 25" scale.

Not that easy to get a Guitar with a really Phatt neck pickup sound like a 175 or even an ES 137 apparently ?

The 'Deluxe' tier of D'Angelico features Jescar Frets ( you can probably feel a difference from these...and they have a cool 6 way switch to get Single Coil Variations- but if it's not Phatt in the first place...I don't care.