This is a 1953 D’Angelico New Yorker, rare and one of a limited number.
John D’Angelico was born in New York City – the Lower East Side of Manhattan – in 1905. His parents were immigrants from Naples, Italy. As a boy, he worked in the instrument shop – building mostly traditional-style bowl-back mandolins and flat-top guitars – owned by his uncle Ralphael Ciani and D’Angelico took over around the age of 18, when Ciani died. Around 1932, he opened his own shop and was building archtops based on the popular Gibson design used by many big-band guitarists. In 1952, he took as an apprentice James D’Aquisto, who ultimately bought the business following D’Angelico’s death in 1964 at age 59.
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