D Angelico Guitars of America New Yorker NYL-2

A very decent looking and feeling copy of the D'Angeliico with all of the acoutrements. Looks real good, feels real good.

Sound was very sweet. Pick-up was ok, nothing really special, in my opinion. Played through an amp it has that nice cool, laid back jazz tone ala Russel Malone. This was not an acoustic guitar, in the sense that played sans the amp you would get a loud sweet tone. The top is pressed and lacked the warmth and resonance of a hand carved box. This is clearly a jazz guitar and would not, in my opinion be well suited for a very diverse musical experience as might be needed by the "outside" musician. While the pressed top is not as aesthetically "hip" there is something to be said for it musically as these type of instruments tend to have less problems with feedback...a real plus for the gigging musician.

The guitar was well made. The e and b string needed to be set up better as there tended to be buzzes. But, in general construction seemed good. The pick-up seemed to be mounted a bit sloppily. But those things really seem to me to be of minor importance. The thing feels very solid and well constructed. Almost too perfect.

I can't say. I only tried it out in a store. But I would be very surprised if the instrument didn't last 5 lifetimes without a hitch.

Don't know.

Its hard to say. To be fair, I am sort of intrigued with the guitar. It looks great, I like its sound...buttttt, it is clearly not the real deal. I think that truth be told I would be looking for an older gibson maybe an es 175 for greater versatility, or an older l-5 or l-4. But for the bucks its not a bad deal. I have to say, that I have a Yamaha piano (c-7) and its really good, but its not s Steinway or even a Baldwin. Also, there are some inependent luthiers that are making "real" guitars with solid hand carved tops for a little bit more. Still, all in all, it is really a preyty nice guitar that I still think about...who knows, maybe I'll go back and buy it!!! Personally, I've been playing for 37 years and I hope to be playing for another 37. I have been playing straight ahead in a low volume setting and I have to say I love to play Jazz more than anything in the whole world. I also love Russel Malone's sound and I believe that he actually plays this guitar.

I recently purchased the new D'Angelico New Yorker re-issue made by Vestax in Japan. It is a 17" single cutaway archtop with a solid German spruce top and heavily flamed maple sides, neck, and back.

It is an exact duplicate of THE MASTER'S work made under license from his family. One dealer told me that the luthiers at Vestax actually disassembled an $85,000 New Yorker to make sure that their re-issues were authentic in every detail. And, in looking at this guitar, and playing it, that is an easy statement to believe.

The neck is a three-piece maple with a walnut accent stripe. It has that nice chunky feel of a guitar built in the 40's. The 22 jumbo fret fingerboard and bridge are made of ebony. The fingerboard is inlaid with split-blocks in mother of pearl. The bridge saddle is also inlaid with solid mother of pearl blocks. The headstock is a masterpiece with heavy mother of pearl inlay with a mother of pearl Empire State truss rod cover. Even the back of the headstock is inlaid with a large mother of pearl diamond set into the ebony veneer. At the very top of the headstock is the signature D'Angelico gold plated finial.

The floating pickup is a mini-humbucker mounted Johnny Smith style to the heavy tortoise shell, multi-bound, stairstep pickguard right below the neck. Also mounted to the pickguard are a volume and a tone control. This is a very sweet sounding pickup with excellent depth and just the right amount of shimmer to make it ideal for virtually any type of jazz.

The tuners are gold plated Grover Imperials with stairstep buttons and like all Grovers; they work perfectly keeping the guitar in tune without effort. The tailpiece is made of gold plated solid brass and is the traditional New Yorker stairstep style, and extremely elegant.

I ordered mine with an antique sunburst finish. It is flawless and absolutely gorgeous, and makes the flame on the back look three-dimensional. It is absolutely breath taking! There is multiple cream/black/cream binding everywhere, on the top, the back, the neck and headstock, the pickguard and even the f-holes.

D'Angelico includes a beautiful alligator grained hard-shell case with the guitar. The color of the case is a reddish brown or cordovan, with six heavy-duty, polished brass, luggage style latches. There is a small, white pearl, cloisonne emblem on the case midway between the handle and the top of the case with "D'Angelico New York" in gold script, very classy. The inside of the case is done in a light cream colored velvet like material. The case fits the guitar like a glove.

This is without a doubt the finest looking, sounding, and playing guitar I've ever had my hands on. I absolutely love it!

I play mostly jazz standards of the 30s, 40s, and 50's and it fits my style like nothing else could. I play a solo gig at a very nice supper club in the San Francisco Bay area and the rich, full sound of this guitar makes most people melt. I have had people who know nothing about guitars come up to me and comment on this one, and not just because of its stunning appearance. You have to hear it to believe it.

The mini-humbucker is totally silent. I play my New Yorker through a mid-sixties black face Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, and it is a match made in heaven.

I ordered the guitar out of a dealer in New York (seems appropriate doesn?t it?) called "THE MUSIC ZOO." I dealt with Chris Dee and he was a pleasure to deal with. The guitar lists for $3900.00 and Chris made me an offer I couldn't refuse. And, when a little shipping SNAFU occurred, he jumped in and covered every dime of the freight costs. I highly recommend Chris and "THE MUSIC ZOO." They are dealers of impeccable honesty and integrity.

The guitar came perfectly packaged and IN TUNE. I couldn't believe it! The action and intonation were perfect right out of the box. I had to do nothing other than plug it in and make sweet music.

Everything about this guitar is wonderful. I have yet to find a flaw or anything else wrong with this guitar. Unbelievable craftsmanship!

I use this guitar exclusively without a backup and I am sure it will still be around and playing perfectly for my great, great, great grandchild. I have owned many fine guitars in the past 45 years including Gibsons, Epiphones, Guilds, Gretschs, you name it, but I have never owned or played a guitar as fine as this one. It is the Stradivarius of jazz guitars without a doubt.

I've not had to deal with the folks at D'Angelico yet, other than to ask them a few questions via email, and I doubt I will ever have to. I believe the warranty for the New Yorker is one-year, but I'm not really sure. It didn't seem to matter much. You have to see and play one of these to believe it. I can't fairly give any rating on this because it seems rather a moot point. I have no doubt that if a problem presented itself; D'Angelico would be there to help in a heartbeat. It's obvious how much they care, by the quality of the instruments they produce and how prompt they are to respond to their emails.

I have been playing for 45 years and as I said before, this is the finest instrument I've ever had in my hands.

I looked at every good jazz box on the market including the Gibson L-5 and Le Grande, Fender D'Aquisto Ultra, Guild Artist Award, Heritage Johnny Smith, etc. before buying my D'Angelico. There is truly nothing out there that compares to it, and at only $3900. M.S.R.P., it is an absolute steal.

If it were lost or stolen, after I quit sobbing, I would hunt down the thief and . . . well use your imagination. I would then get on the phone to Chris and order another one just like it.

I don't think there is a better guitar built anywhere in the galaxy.