Many moons ago, when I used to work for a big music store, it had fallen on my lap the responsibility of doing most of the used instrument purchases for the business. It happened somewhat organically, and truth be told it was something I quite enjoyed: The research, the testing, the haggling, it was all part of a dance I began to crave over the years.

But one day, something a bit too special walked in the doors...

One of those guitar cases...

Wait a minute...

With time you learn to somewhat recognize guitar cases enough to know what might be inside the box of surprises. But this one, this particular one, was even older than anything I had ever seen before, so I knew I needed some help.

The older gentleman carrying the guitar seemed a bit out of breath, just some carrying it from the car, and for some reason seemed already annoyed with our kin (we were not the firs store he visited). I greeted him, and as we walked over to the counter to take my first look, he told me he had owned this guitar since he was a little boy.

As you might imagine my ears perked, and I thought I might need to call someone in corporate for this purchase, the dollar amount might be outside my pay rate, so to speak.

I'm on the phone

He opens the case, and sure enough it was something quite special. A D'Angelico New Yorker in impeccable condition was right there in front of me.

At this point in my life, I had heard of these guitars, but I never expected to see one in our store, in Miami, and yet, there it was.

I'm trying to get someone who can tell me how much I should offer for this. It's not like I can just find old ebay sales for a price reference, but for some reason everyone seemed to coincide on taking their breaks.

After testing it, and admiring the craftsmanship, I witnessed the customer walk away upset I could not give him a number quickly.

Corporate calls back...

The head honcho who oversees vintage instruments can't hold his excitement:

Where is this customer? Is it a D'Angelico or is it a D'Aquisto with the D'Angelico brand?

I did not know the answers to these questions, and when I informed my boss the customer had left, he was truly upset about it. He did not leave a number, he seemed to just want to sell it quick, no chance for regrets.

Two years later

I'm working for a competitor at this point, and it so happens that the guitar was there. Yes, the same guitar, the one that "got away" was right in front of me. It was tagged for sale at $50k so I knew the customer walked away quite happy with what he got for it.

Since this store had a special vintage department, I became friends with the vintage guy, as I will refer to him for the sake of simplicity, and he told me that as much as that was a crazy price for an Arch top guitar, it was nothing compared to what his apprentice eventually achieved.

D'Aquisto, right?

Me: Yes, I heard the name...

Vintage guy: His guitars have sold for millions....

Me: What da f...??

and then...

The algorithm gods intervened last night

Our new-gods, the algorithms, decided to send my way a very interesting documentary. I truly had no idea such a thing existed. Why did I not see this before? I've been making instruments for a decade now, so this seems somewhat weird...

If you fancy the rabbit-holes as I do, you might end up investing and evening on who taught who and get blown away but how connected it all is. That being said, Jimmy, who by all accounts seemed to be too humble for his own good, probably died with absolutely no clue as to how much he would influence the world of luthiery.

Watch it here

I can't embed the video on here because those who own it don't care for such feature, but it's a true delight to watch these windows into the past.

Now, one thing that does leave a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth here is that D'Aquisto, much like his teacher died quite young. I don't really consider 60 to be anywhere close to old age, but seeing how he sprayed lacquer with absolutely no personal protection gives me clues as to why this might have been the case for both him and his teacher D'Angelico.

Which leads me to the beginning of this post of mine..

Jimmy had no clue he would be this important... that his guitars would be worth millions, and that he was killing himself quite literally making them.

A tip of the hat to a master that died way too young...

MenO