Product Description

Hand-carved and built by the master himself: John D'Angelico! This A-1 is serial number 1409, logged in as sold to Newcorn once completed in April of 1939. An early 17" non-cutaway model, the A-1 features many similar specs as the more ornate Excel including a hand-carved spruce top, hand-carved curly maple back, maple sides, two piece curly maple neck, and ebony fingerboard.

The A-1 is essentially the more affordable D'Angelico. It has single ply white body, neck, and headstock binding, nickel tailpiece and tuners, a simple headstock inlay, non-engraved block fingerboard inlays, and a transparent brown finish back and neck (as opposed to sunburst on higher grade models). The A-1 is however 100% D'Angelico in terms of carving, woods, quality, and tone.

This guitar has been well-played, but also well-loved. It belonged to the original owner's family since purchased new until last year. The original pickguard disintegrated long ago, and there is plenty of discoloration from the off-gassing on the top, as well as pick wear through the finish to the wood. The newer replacement guard covers most of this. Fortunately there is a photo of the guitar brand new with the original owner, so the replacement guard template was recreated from the photos.

This guitar shows dings, scratches and checking over its entire surface. The finish is original, as are the tuners, bridge, and tailpiece. There is one side crack below the pickguard bracket that seems stable. Otherwise the wood is in great shape with no other breaks. This one weighs 5lbs 13oz. The neck measures .935 at the 1st and 1.020 at the 12th. It's a full, round, C shaped neck with a nice shoulder. The frets are wide and low, and appear to have been cleaned up at some point. The guitar plays well with no dead spots or fret buzzing.

Tonally, this one is voiced to the music of the era. It's loud and clear with a warm mid-range cut. It has more bass presence and warmth than say most L-5 guitars of the era. The resonance is excellent, and it sustains for days. The more these are played, the more they open up. The guitar is stil made to sit in the mix of a big band, so again it's a bit more mid-rangy and jaunty sounding as you'd expect.

Ships in a modern hardshell case.

Product Details