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I’ve bought a guitar that I’ve been watching on Reverb for a few months.
It was priced at £1,660 (without offers).
I didn’t feel comfortable at that price hence why I didn’t move on it.
When the seller finally put it on ebay a day or so ago, with offers; I decided to pounce.
It’s a blonde 2003 D’Aquisto ‘Jazz line’, in mint condition.
I’m interested in this due to the D'Aquisto lineage and that it is renowned to be the same, as a Sadowski Jim Hall. That is to say, made by the same people and same specs. I’m not sure about that but suffice to say, it’s a modern archtop type, low arch, thin lamination from Japan; from Terada which is actually my favourite factory.
I’ve also recently had the pleasure of playing a Borys B120 and want to compare it to that. I don’t expect it to come too close but will be fun.
My appraisal of its value was always around £1,400 but the seller and I made a deal at £1,450, which I thought was a fair attempt to negotiate on his part so I’m going to pick it up from London, on Monday eve (tomorrow).
As with the Hagstrom ‘Jimmy’, I’m going to film the trip and post the deal in real time (well as best as possible). I’ve not yet had the courage to ask a buyer to be a willing participant in such a documentary (for want of a better term) but I’ll see if they are up for it. I’m still a bit old fashioned in that doing such things seems a bit impersonal and you’re putting someone else in potentially an uncomfortable situation.
I suspect gen millennial and z, would have no compunction doing so.
Guitar buying is to me a fascinating experience and one I’d like to document further.
Regarding the sale, my two concerns are:
1) As always, does the truss rod work?
I’ve asked the seller if he has the truss rod key, which he does. I just need to take a screwdriver set, to remove the rod cover.
2) Is it going to be in * mint * condition?
As per my experience, some peoples appraisal of *mint* is way off and that would be the case, probably 60% of the time.
3) How much protection do I have on reverb? For example, if the truss rod doesn’t work and the seller refuses to refund, how does that work on reverb? And how does a seller refund via reverb?
On ebay, if the guitar does not work properly, it’s an open and shut case. I;ve heard people grumble about Reverbs service.
That being said, everything should be fine.
There’s not too many things I can’t buff out regarding finish, so as long as it’s not chipped.
Regarding the truss rod, I turned down a D’Aquisto Centura last year for £1,000! Because the truss rod wouldn’t turn.
Same company, same era, so the thought lingers.
Stay tuned for updates. Let’s hope this works out!
Here is a pic from the sale:
Last edited by Archie; 08-28-2023 at 08:08 PM.
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08-27-2023 08:18 PM
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Right, just got back from London. It's 01:09 am.
The trip was a success. The seller was good fun and we had a good chat about the British jazz scene over the last 30-40 years. He's very knowledgeable and came up around some of Britain's best jazz talents.
I got ripped off by Google maps, which told me to go through London. It went from a 1hr 30m drive, to a 2hr drive.
I took plenty of footage and will edit and upload the video shortly.
The guitar was good. The condition was used but well looked after. The feel and sound is very reminiscent of the Sadowsky Jim Hall.
In the near future, a fellow forum member is coming over (again) with his B120 and we'll A/B them.
The sound is as you would expect. Very much in the vain of that type of D'Aquisto/Borys design. Soft but punchy.
It has a one piece rift sawn maple neck. The plates are 3 piece lamination of what looks like birch, maple, possibly more birch and a thin decorative veneer of book matched, rippled maple. I assume the same construction for the back plate.
The top arched plate is shallow with not much of the pressing, going into the horn section or the top shoulder (much like a Borys). The majority of the arch seems focused to the centre of the plate. The arch starts near the tailpiece but tapers off rather quickly as it approaches the neck.
The neck is typical of the D'Aquisto 'soft' D shape. Somewhat shallow, not as much as say the early model JP-20's but also seemingly wide. Neck angle and break angle are not too heavy, again in that more mellow, modern style.
I look forward to getting it to the workshop, cleaning it, setting it up and taking some studio pics.
I will do another review video with the specs being measured; nut, body width, scale length, length from nut to pickup pole pieces and an internal inspection.
All in all a successful trip and worth the 4 hour drive.
Last edited by Archie; 08-30-2023 at 05:22 AM.
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It looks great, and you got it at a great price.
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Beautiful guitar! Terada certainly knows how to make 'em. Congrats!
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I just noticed that the headstock is tapered, in the style of D’Angelico.
I assume D'Aquisto did the same thing then?
There is also no kerfing internally, just like the D’Aquisto designed Jimmy Hagstrom.
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OH Wow Archie!
That is a really beautiful guitar. The Classic Jimmy D'Aquisto design. Great looking wood too!
Since the originals will always be well out of my league, I've always wanted one of Fender D'Aquisto's made when Jimmy was still alive.
I've heard that when Jimmy signed the deal with Fender, he finally started to enjoy life a little bit. He started making some decent money which took care of him and his family. And he could relax a bit. Unfortunately, he was taken from us in 1995. He said many years before he passed away, "in a 100 years, somebody is going to want to buy one of my guitars. The name D'Aquisto is gonna mean something". And boy does it ever. He's been gone almost 30 years. And yes, his name is still spoken with the greatest of reverence. A short life, well lived.
His designs are timeless. I am so glad this style was copied. There are ahandful of guitars that are original designs. We are know what they are. This is one of them.
You really know how to pick em Archie!
Enjoy your beautiful Guitar!
Joe D
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nice stripes.
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That truly is a beautiful guitar!
Originally Posted by Max405
And let’s face it, how many of today’s luthiers were inspired by Mr. D’Aquisto? He went from a student to become a Master builder!
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These are really nice guitars. I just missed out on getting one a while back (tried it in Guitar Center of all places, went away to think about it, came back the next day and it as gone). ISTR stumbling on a thread somewhere (I thought here, but I'm not finding it) where Roger Sadowsky actually showed up and explained why the Jazz Line and his JH model are not exactly the same and the Sadowsky is so much better ... The differences are there (nut width, body depth, pickup), but I wouldn't swear to one being better than the other (limited playing experience with both). Not to knock the Sadowsky (maybe it really is better in some ways), but the Jazz Line strikes me as about as good a quality laminated archtop guitar can be found, and the differences strike me as in the realm of preference rather than objective quality. [To be fair, that's my opinion about lots of guitars.]
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Originally Posted by John A.
Having looked online, I cannot find any difference in build or quality between this and the Sadowski, except for some fundamental design changes, made on the Sadowski, that aren't on the original DA's.
1) Extended 21 fret neck + different style extension support (more like a Johnny Smith than a DA).
2) Violin style Tailpiece
3) No block Inlays
The Jazz Line therefore has more in common with Jim Hall's DA than the Sadowski. I presume Sadowski was under orders from Jim to make the guitar Jim wanted, not an exact copy of the DA Jim played.
If someone wants a more definitive answer regarding quality and comparisons to the Sadowski JH guitar, I can only say that from my memory of playing a SJH, there isn't any; or none that leap out at me. I actually turned the Sadowski down, having driven 3 hours to get it and it was being offered to me at a very low price.
But then I've turned down many great guitars so it's not a reflection on how good it is. It's more a reflection on an individual's taste.
I'm not entirely sure how much of an exact copy this D'Aquisto is. I can see that the neck heel carving is different.
They have though gone out of their way to taper the headstock, something almost no one would pay much mind to and glue the top and back without perfling.
It could therefore be that this is the best (or most accurate) copy of the original DA, to date.
Whether better or not in comparison to the Sad; it's not really relevant. One could make a value judgement in that the Sad is not worth 2x or 3x more than this but a guitar is worth what people are wiling to pay and I have no issue with that. If we were making value Judgements on guitars the market would be a very different place. Probably ruled over by Yunzi.
Videos to come and comparisons to the Ibanez Jp-20, Hagstrom Jimmy and Borys B120.
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A beautifully put post as always JD. Originally Posted by Max405
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The D'aquisto line of guitars like this I think are very good jazz guitars. While they are not Gibson's they do the job and then some. I have played a number of Sadowski guitars, and they have never hit me. Nothing wrong with them as such but they did not necessarily inspire me to play more, and truth be told I like the D'Acquisto's much better. The felt more solid in my hands.
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The S-JH is also a little deeper than the D'A-JL, and it has 1-3/4" nut (as opposed to 1-11/16"). Someone I know has a S-JH, but his has something wrong with the electronics (the pup has very little output), so I can't gauge how it sounds. Compared to the D'A-JL I tried, but online demos of the two models sound very, similar to me (maybe the D'A-JL is a little brighter) Originally Posted by Archie
I don't know the history of the MIJ (Aria) D'Aquistos or whether they're based on specific guitars Jimmy D made. Originally Posted by Archie
You can make some objective statements about build quality independent of price or subjective value judgements. Again, I'm not finding the where read this before, but Sadowsky claimed that his guitars were better in that sense as a matter of the specs he gave to the builders in Japan. In hand, they both seem like really nice guitars to me, an that's all I can really say. Originally Posted by Archie
. Originally Posted by Archie
Looking forward to it. Another point of comparison could be the Ibanez PM200 (or at least Pat's prototype). That's the same body shape as a the JP-20 (and FG-100, AF200, LGB300 ...), all maple laminates, and without the whacky pickup location.
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I've never had a PM model but when a nice one comes along, I'll try to get my hands on it. Originally Posted by John A.
Yes you can make a subjective value statement but I think one can draw their one conclusions. Prices of Sad's have also gone up quite a bit so the comparison wouldn't be fair to where things were nearly 20 years ago.
As far as I know Aria bought jimmy's workshop and some models. A Jim Hall was part of that and that is what they reverse engineered to make this.
It would have been good for Aria to release a picture of the two side by side. Or maybe they built if off plans that they purchased along with everything else?
Are the arched plates exactly the same as the original DAJH? I don't know. I'd hope so but unless I can have a real one in front of me, then I won't know.
Regarding the lamination. In the strictest sense it is 5 layers. Sadowsky claim 5 layers of maple. The JazzLine also has 5 layers but not convinced they are all maple. I counted them as 3 earlier but I wasn't counting the very thin centre lamination (which is likely maple or basswood) and the two very thin decorative laminations top and bottom (also maple).
Having peeked at a real DA JH somewhere else online, it seems this is the correct lamination process.
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A really nice pickup in a cheap guitar
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