1933 D’Angelico Acoustic Archtop Guitar "snake eyes"

******************** SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY ********************

1933 John D’Angelico "L-5" "Snake Eyes" Acoustic Archtop Guitar with the original worn vintage hard shell case and a newer hard shell case.

You are bidding on a very unique and awesome sounding/playing vintage guitar built by John D’Angelico, considered to be the finest builder of orchestral archtop f-hole jazz guitars of the 20th century. This guitar has been worked on for minor repairs by Leroy Aiello of Mandolin Brothers, one of the country’s most knowledgeable and diligent repairers of D’Angelico guitars. The present bridge is a reproduction made by Mr. Aiello that replicates the work of John D’Angelico. The rest of the hardware is original. The guitar is in superb playing condition.

This guitar was insurance appraised on November 15 of 2007 for $12,000 U.S. dollars by Stan Jay, president of world renowned Mandolin Brothers of Staten Island, New York and who also stated on the appraisal signed by him that "this guitar, with its slim, comfortable, fast neck, sounds better than most early D'Angelico guitars we have heard".

Larry Wexler of Laurence Wexer Ltd. from New York got to play our guitar also and he (quoted)- "This is a players guitar and I'm amazed of how beautiful the sound and the tone of this guitar".

The late Jimmy D'Aquisto, who originally started as an apprentice and then became heir to John D'Angelico's work and legacy, was considered as one of the most sought out guitar builders/makers of the 20th century. Jimmy had given us a verbal appraisal when we first visited him sometime in the mid 1990's while he was working in his shop in Greenport, Long Island. Jimmy played our guitar and then evaluated it and stated that this guitar could sell up to $35,000 to a professional musician or a guitar collector. Jimmy loved this guitar and wanted to work on it, but unfortunately Jimmy did not have time to work on the minor repairs that were needed at the time, he was too busy building his own line of superb guitars.

This guitar serial number is 1044 and was built in 1933 for Selmer, recorded on John D’Angelico’s handwritten ledger. “Selmer was best known for their superlative woodwinds, and renowned among guitarists for the distinctive acoustic jazz guitars"; Selmer New York apparently contracted with John D'Angelico for a business venture: to produce a number of archtop guitars under their prestigious name. For whatever reason, the arrangement was short-lived, and only three instruments were produced under the partnership. The whereabouts of the first two Selmer D'Angelicos remains unknown to us at this time. The third and final example was guitar #1062. Three of D'Angelico's earliest instruments share a particularly intriguing design. Built over a seven month period between November 1933 and May of 1934, they are noted in the builder's handwritten ledger as produced for a single notable customer: Selmer. ”  (source was paraphrased from Archtop.com)  http://www.archtop.com/ac_34selmer_da.html

We believe this guitar is (1) of the (2) that were considered “remains unknown”. This D'Angelico's headstock mother-of-pearl label with the word D'Angelico inscribed matches perfectly the mother-of-pearl label with the word Selmer that was mentioned on the above article about the (3) unique Selmer D'Angelico guitars that the builder made and designed for Selmer during their short lived relationship. What makes this guitar so unique is that it was refinished by the master builder himself John D’Angelico from originally sunburst finish to blonde finish sometime in the early/mid 1930’s before it was purchased by my father-in-law Giovanni Ierardi. We also believe that this was the first blonde guitar D’Angelico ever built on record.

The guitar was purchased originally by the late Giovanni Ierardi, known formally as (Johnny Haines of Johnny Haines and Orchestra) sometime in the mid 1930's. This guitar was only played professionally and has been immaculately taken care of. As the story goes… the original owner of this guitar, Giovanni walked into D’Angelico’s shop (when located at 40 Kenmore St. in New York City), and asked D’Angelico if he had a guitar for his size with a slim neck. The master builder himself pulled this guitar out from behind the counter and sold it to Giovanni. We don’t know why D’Angelico never updated his handwritten ledger to accurately reflect who he had sold this guitar to at the time of the purchase.

We hate to part with this precious guitar (over 75 years old) but the time has come for this guitar to have new owners.

Kindest regards and happy “serious” bidding, Arkaeologist