Hagstrom D'Aquisto Oval Hole Archtop

My "Jimmy" is the blond model with black pickguard, completely original in lovely shape. My serial number is 53 987087, and after speaking with Anders at the Hagstrom Museum in Sweden, I was told that it was made in 1977 of a run of 105 guitars made that year, and mine is the 87th one made. These guitars are extremely rare with only 356 manufactured by Hagstrom over three years (there were more than 1000 of the f-hole models). Designed by Jimmy D'Aquisto in 1969 during a month long stay Sweden in an agreement with Hagstrom and manufactured between 1976-1979 where construction was supervised by Jimmy, they are exemplary guitars (this is all documented at the hagstrom UK website). As mentioned earlier, the "Jimmy" oval holes are archtop florentine cutaways with a single floating pickup in the neck position. Construction is arched, laminated (very thick, like 1/4"!!) birch top and back, rim, and two piece neck. The neck is a bolt on and is cleverly disguised as a strap mount in the rear just below the neck joint. It is also bolted from the inside and is extremely solid. The body, neck and headstock are all bound -- with 4 ply w/b/w/b around the top, w/b on the back, single white binding up the neck, and a gorgeous bound headstock that is overlaid with black headstock plate with "Hagstrom" in mother of pearl script and has the famous "Designed by James L D'Aquisto, New York" mother of pearl inlay and D'Aquisto designed asymetrical headstock shape. The fretboard is a beautiful grained ebony with amazing abalone rounded block inlays with a double at 12. The white bound oval-hole is home to a Hagstrom humbucker with adjustable poles and it sits on a metal plate which is sandwiched between the body and neck. A black, uniquely shaped, thick, but single ply pickguard houses the voluem and tone controls. Gorgeous hand-carved ebony bridge sits behind the oval, followed by a huge chrome "H"-inspired tailpiece which is completely unique. The body dimensions at the lower bout are 15 3/4", 11 1/2 at the upper bout, 9 1/2 at the waist. She has a 24.75" scale and the nut is 1 3/4 inches...it is a remarkably smooth and easy guitar to hold and play because of these dimensions. The tuners are the D'Aquisto designed imperial style and the bodies made by schaller are huge, smooth and just the best tuners I have ever touched. This guitar is a semi-hollwbody -- there is a big block that sits under the bridge that connects the top and back of the guitar. Finish is a thick and mirror-like nitro-cellulose and mine has some long checking that seems to be consistent with these guitars. Features everything you could want in a professional jazz guitar, and everything is extremely well thought out and implemented, so I will rate it based on what it was designed to do.

First off, I love this guitar. It's one of those instruments that impresses upon its player to bring their best because it can sing.
I play all sorts of stuff with both my fingers and a pick, metal and heavy rock excluded. I have many, many vintage archtop acoustics which are my favorite type of instrument, and they are used to play blues, jazz, roots, bluegrass, acoustic alt rock, etc. The archtop acoustic seems to me to be the ultimate in guitar purity, and when picked-up, a solid wood archtop acoustic resonating with vintage woods can just sing like few other guitars. Jazz influences on my playing are Wes, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel. My love of the acoustic notwithstanding, I bought the Jimmy with the intent and requirement to play electric jazz gigs and wanted/needed more flexibility in the kinds of live tones I could get from my other archtops.
First the acoustic sound. When I got the Jimmy it was strung with 10 year old heavy flats and setup for pretty high action. The acoustic sound was lame. After a thorough cleanup I restrung her with elixir 10s to see how broad a range I could get acoustically. It's a very different guitar with these strings. Acoustically, I think you could actually jam with a few folks, the guitar projects so nicely and the all birch construction makes for such prominent range and volume -- jeez, you think Jimmy knew a thing or two...?
Plugged-in I play through a 74 Fender Vibro champ with 10" speaker to get more lowend than the standard 8". The sound of this guitar through this amp is so very fine. I use no effects and my amp has no reverb. I play straight into 5 tube watts and a 10" speaker. The guitar has such nice tone and sustain while chording and playing lines that I just don't miss the verb. What is very nice about the Jimmy is that the tone and volume pots are are very responsive. I can get pure Wes tone from the tone wheel at 0, volume at 10 and my Vibro at pretty much between 4-5 for volume, bass, and treble. Roll the tone wheel up and you move through Joes Pass, right up through a nice Pat Metheny. In many ways, it has a very 175 sound, but a good 175.
Surprisingly, the Jimmy is also a pretty versatile box. Playing with volume and tone AND your amp, you can get some sweet blues tones while moderating your amp drive you can evoke some just crystal-y beautiful clean tones. This is a special guitar. It responds well to playing dynamics and rewards you with every note and chord. This I consider a bonus to a Jazz box and so I will score the Jimmy based on its merits as a jazzer...which will outclass many guitars priced far higher.

MAde in 1977, this Jimmy is nearly 30 years old. Other than some lacquer checking it looks like a new guitar (maybe a few years old). The binding has yellowed commensurate with a vintage guitar taking on a nice cream color. However, based on my guitar and a few other online reports, the binding and the lacquer at certain points (mainly the necks) seem to be the only issue with the Jimmy's. On mine a piece of the treble side neck binding broke off and was glued back. It doesn't affect anything, but alas.
According to the history of the D'Aquisto/Hagstrom deal, Hagstrom appealed to Jimmy because the craftsmanship in the Swedish factories could nearly rival handmade guitars. This shows in the fit and finish of my Jimmy and to see it and hold it is to really appreciate how well made these instruments truly are. It is a heavy guitar and extremely well balanced. The neck shape and radius are perfect as is the body size for extended playing. You canfind the article where Jimmy is interviewed about these guitars and he says that they are designed for pro players and to be as comfortable as possible. This is exactly the way this guitar feels when you play it.
The top and back of the guitar are magnificently bookmatched birch and in the back at the seam form subtle long-legged spider legs that open and close the seam. The ebony used for the neck is gorgeous and the abalone inlays are rich and perfectly set. Frets are medium jumbos if I'm not mistaken and the edges/binding is smooth as can be.
Ebony bridge is a piece of art in itself. Lovely design carved of ebony and set perfectly flush on the archtop with out a single gap. The electronics all sit snugly and perfectly under the the pickguard and the pots after 30 years of life are still quiet and very responsive.
Pickguard is black plastic but of a slick design (by Jimmy) that kind of reminds me of a bat wing and is and well mounted to secure the electronics and protect from scratches. Wish it was bound...but I'll live. There's a guy who swapped the original pickguard for a wooden one (a la D'Aquisto Centura) and it looked very sweet. He also swapped the hagstrom tailpiece for a Benedetto after taking to Bob and it looked VERY nice. I may do the same.
Speaking of, the original tailpiece is a large number, and is a big chrome H. It has a huge hinge and connects to the rim and is where the serial number is. It's big!
Pretty sure it's a bone nut which is 1.75". the neck has a nice C shape to it and is not too big or small; I have big hands and it feels perfect...I prefer big necks and I would not consider this a big neck, but I still love it, maybe it's the nut width that makes up for it...again, you think Jimmy D'Aquisto knew something about guitars?
The thing that you can't really see in any pictures is how the arch on the top and back comes up as it meets the binding at the guitar edge. It drops down below the edge and then comes back up at the edge. When you see this in the light it appears like there is a guitar inside the guitar. It is beautiful craftsmanship and compliments the nitro finish in a wonderful way that I've not ever seen on another archtop.
If you can find one, Jimmy oval holes are going for between $2000 - $3000 and they appreciate by the day. Find one under $2000 in good shape and sell your clothes for it. You may be ugly naked, but at least they'll all be staring at your "Jimmy"
This is scored straight-up as any other guitar would be.

She's lived this long as a professional player, so I think she speaks for herself. The hardware is immaculate, I mean PERFECT after 30 years and the schaller tuners are the best tuners I've ever touched (including the newest, and the best vintage). The pickup is worth it's weight in gold for some of the tones it can conjure, and the tone pot is some of the best, widest ranging, smoothest I've found on a jazz box from the factory.
I will depend on this as the other two owners (and pro musicians) did. I do gig with a backup only because sometimes I want that other flavor at the last minute (the other flavor is a 1955 Harmony H65 with orignal Gibson P-13 pickup -- sweet, amazing guitar). The only issue would be the binding cracks that folks seem to get on the neck.

Nope, butI've communicated with the Hagstrom Museum folks and they are awesome people. Anders was very helpful.

I've been playing for about 20 years. I have many nice vintage archtops but the Jimmy is a special guitar. It has pedigree and street cred. The headstock tells you the pedigree and the tone makes it all real. There is nothing i hate about it. If I could have one guitar it would be this. There is a lively group of Jimmy fantics out there and if you want more info on these pieces of art just hit "hagstrom d'aquisto in google and you will lose an afternoon reading and then spoil your month trying to find one.

I believe from speaking with original owner this guitar is a 1978 model. It has a chery red sunburst finish, white binding, floating ebony bridge, , floating Hagstrom pickup in the rhythm position, and the volume and tone controls are mounted on the raised pickguard rather than the body. It has a single cutaway and is approx. 17" wide at the lower bout.
Block inlay on the ebony neck, and the headstock says " Designed by James D'Aquisto New York, USA" on a beautiful pearl inlay block.
The finish is in very good shape for a used guitar, the usual dings and dents I suppose, but overall it doesn't affect the playablily or appearance of the instrument.

I play mostly jazz/blues/rockabilly both figerstyle and with a pick.
I have played it through a Traynor TS-25 amplifier, and a Fender Sidekick 20 Reverb. It sounds awesome !!! This guitar can project acoustically very loadly and it seems to transfer over when you plug it in too !!! The tone with a set of flatwounds strings on it would rival ANY archtop guitar, even those that are worth considerably more, or at least were bought for considerably more . I feel pretty lucky to have found this instrument.

I didn't like the way it was set up when I bought it, I had to reset the bridge to correct the intonation, tighten up the tuning machines so it would stay in tune, and ofcourse get rid of the roundwound strings that were sucking the tone out of it.
The nut also was nut glued properly, but that was easily fixed.
the neck did not need to be adjusted.
The pickup is not a noisy one and is very responsive to volume and tone adjustment.

I love the finish, and the hardware on the instrument is top quality.
The only thing that Hagstrom scrimped on was the ugly single ply pickguard ! It looks out of place, and belongs on a Harmony guitar not one of this quality !!!

None

i own a couple of other archtops and and have sold off the ones that just didn't feel right. I also have a Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II, and an Epihone/Gibson Sheraton and consider these keepers as they suit my playing style and are quite pleasing to the eye and ear. I will gladly add this Hagstrom to this short list ! I don't think I could part with it.
I would definelty buy another one if I could find one !!! I think I'd just sit and cry if it was lost or stolen.
I wonder what the F hole versions sound like ...Hmmmm.......

This guitar is a Jimmy D'Aquisto designed archtop, with his name and Hagstrom's name adorning the headstock. They were made in the late 70's It has one Hagstrom humbucker attached to the neck, sitting in a cutout on the upper side of the oval hole. It has an ebony fretboard, and the body and sides are made of finely grained birch. As you may find on many "high end" archtops the controls (volume and tone) are mounted on the pickgaurd. The neck is very comfortable to play and has the very cool Hagstrom "rail" truss system. The finish on the guitar is a high gloss nitro-cellulose finish. It has a 17" lower bout, very similar in size and feel to the George Benson model by Ibanez. The neck appears to be a set nect but upon further investigation it is a bolt on. Appears to be bolted on w/ a very heavy screw that acts as a strap button on the back side.And also bolted from the inside too.The tuners are Grover Imperial looking tuners. I own two " Jimmy's" one has the same tuners you'll find on a Swede they are made bt Van Geht. On the other "Jimmy" the tuners are idenical looking but have a tension adjusting screw on top of the tuners. They both stay in tune but I prefer the latter style for obvious reasons.

All I can say is that this guitar sounds AMAZING!!! Do you hear me AMAZING!!!!!!. Even at very low volumes this guitar sounds like the most spectacular archtop. Here I will inject some of my own deductions and assesments. Jimmy D'Aquisto is probably the most praised american guitar builder (aside maybe from his mentor John D'Angelico). His handmade archtops sell for $25,000 to $75,000. He entered into an arrangment w/ Hagstrom in 1969, some guitars were made. But due to a screwy "deal" w/ Unicord Jimmy did not really turn out the bulk of these guitars until the late 70's. Any other questions or history should be directed to Kwinn @ Hagstrom USA (www.hagstromusa.com). Anyway I'm sure Jimmy knew the limitations of this deal. Hagstrom made some really nice medium priced guitars. But a handmade archtop? But Hagstrom did have something that appealled to Jimmy and that was that they had some really good woodworkers who were dying to make a upper end axe. Don't believe it check out a Swede.

As I said I own two "Jimmy's". Both are Oval holes, one sunburst and one natural. They both play great w/ D'Addario Chrome 11's. Only complaint is that the binding in the neck on both "jimmy's has split, but under the finish. Not a big deal to me as you can't feel it when you play.
On my Natural "Jimmy" the two piece back is matched very well.
The neck is also a two piece design. Is it maple or is it birch? Can't tell.

they are both over 25 years old and they look like they were 5 to 8 years old.
I would gig w/ them no problem....but I really don't want to. There is something very special about these guitars.

Hagstrom long gone, but....Call Kwinn at hagstromusa or Jim @ hagstromchicago. They are the default Hagstrom support team.

I must say I own lots of guitars. i own a few archtiops. They are a Gretsch Super Chet,Gibson Custom Tal Farlow, a handselected Custom Shop Guild Manhattan (very fancy), A Kay early 50's w/ a D'Armond Rhythm Chief p/u. And a spectacular Guild Benedetto Artist Award.
These Jimmy's tonewise stand up the the best of them. Are they fancy? No. Do they have the dreaded bolt-on neck? Yes. but thet are the best kept secret in the guitar business for sure. Most dealers don't even know they exist. I would not have either if not for saving my old Guitar Player mags. Oh and btw there were only 356 Oval Holes made!
They also were f-hole models made as well.
As a guitar collector I can tell you these guitars will be sought after someday.