The Lou Sosa '63 DA Excel

[wintermoon]

The first photo is of the original owner, Lou Sosa.
Lou owned a dress manufacturing plant for girls iirc, He was also a jazz guitarist and hosted jam sessions at his factory, many of the great NY players would come by to play.
Anyway I hadn't heard of him but saw his '63 Excel for sale at a guitar show about 30 yrs ago, it had his name engraved in one of the block inlays. I had already played a bunch of DA's by then as I was fascinated by them and knew what a great one sounded like but this one was just exceptional, the only thing that made me put it down was the 36K price tag.
My buddy who snapped the pic sent it to me recently and I can still hear that thing after 30 yrs, sounded like a Steinway piano and just about played itself. One of those guitars you instantly bond with. The orig guard was already history of course if you look at the pics, but it was otherwise 100% minus the Dearmond and had only beautiful light playwear. Being a '63 I'm guessing Jimmy D'Aquisto did the majority of the work, but it sounded like a DA, interesting, he was likely just following his mentors formula at that time.
I wish I knew where that guitar wound up but then again maybe not, I might get drastic.

[D'Aquisto Fan]

What a fabulous looking guitar. And two great photos to boot!

[wintermoon]

What a fabulous looking guitar. And two great photos to boot!

Thanks man, I know you've played your share of Italian guitars too, I'm not typically as big a fan of John's late period, they don’t normally have that big open sound his earlier guitars do, they seemed to be designed more for electric playing, but that '63 flat out "had it" in spades.

[omphalopsychos]

Awesome photos and great story.

I recently played a blonde 63 DA Exel at Eric Schoenberg's. It was unbelievable. Like nothing else I've ever played. I could not believe how massive each string sounded. Steinway piano is right.

Unfortunately the one at Eric's is left handed.

[wintermoon]

Awesome photos and great story.

I recently played a blonde 63 DA Exel at Eric Schoenberg's. It was unbelievable. Like nothing else I've ever played. I could not believe how massive each string sounded. Steinway piano is right.

Unfortunately the one at Eric's is left handed.

Gopher it Juan, didn't stop Hendrix