D'Angelico Excel SS

[Realshotz]

Attachment 69307

My local dealer had a bunch of D'Angelico guitars with good prices. He had a couple of Excel SS models, a few Deluxe SS models, some big jazz boxes and a few DC models. There were so many it was hard to choose, but this Excel SS with trapeze played the best and sounded really nice, so I brought it home. I'm not really into the look of the guitar. I don't like the gold hardware, but maybe it will grow on me. I bought for the sound.

I thought my SB59 (Eastman LP model) had lots of sustain, but this one has even more it seems. But it also has this airy semi-hollow tone that my SB59 doesn't have. There has been some discussions about the whole centreblock vs partial block and if you look from the upper F hole into the body, it looks like a massive centreblock. However, if you check out the lower F hole, you can see that it's not massive: the block itself is hollow too (actually, it's not a block, its just two big extra braces).

So very interesting sound and lots of colors, also with the split coil option.

The standard strings are pretty much 'dead' already. Does anybody have a good suggestion for a set of strings on a guitar like this? I like sustain (I'm a noob to jazz, so I let my notes ring out longer than most of you). On the other hand: round wounds make more noise when changing positions. I also like low string tension. I play a lot and I already have sore finger joints every now and then.

Guitar looks cool, congrats on your new purchase.

[SOLR]

Guitar looks cool, congrats on your new purchase.

It's a 3 year old purchase !!!

S

[ARGewirtz]

Very nice guitar. As I remember though, that mystery guitar looked as new - but it may simply have been in very good condition. I also remember it being more expensive than the Guild, and I was mesmerized as I love the art deco style, but the price held me back. And wouldn't it have been unusual for a Japanese guitar to be more expensive than an Artist Award?

I agree that the price of the DJArgus would likely have been less than the Guild (or if it wasn't less than it should have been), although the DJA is a very well built guitar and from what I've heard, but haven't been able to confirm, the MSRP was pretty substantial for its time. Regardless, if the guitar you saw was a DJA then I think it's fair to say that the Artist Award was clearly the better choice.