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With regards to the D'Aquisto Jim Hall had made and later had the Sadowsky JH modeled after, was it a solid/carved top and back or was it laminated as with the Sadowsky?
I have the Sadowsky JH and love it but I'm trying to gain some backstory on the original.
Also, was the D'Aquisto a one-off?
Thanks
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09-21-2022 02:04 PM
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It's my understanding that Jim Hall's D'Aquisto was a laminate guitar. Like all D'Aquisto's guitars, it was custom made but there are other examples of similar D'Aquistos out there.
Roger Sadowsky maintained the guitar for Jim in later years, which led to their collaboration on the first Sadowsky archtop. The Sadowsky Jim Hall used the D'Aqusito design as a starting point. There was a prototype with a laminated spruce top before they decided on a laminated maple top for production.
There's some nice footage of Hall and D'Aquisto talking together here.
Last edited by David B; 09-21-2022 at 04:50 PM.
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Man, what a great video! So cool to see Jim a bit younger, and the artistry of James D'Aquisto. Thanks for posting that, David.
Originally Posted by David B
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Here's the entire film:
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Jim Hall had a few D'Aquistos over the course of his career. The D'Q most associated with Jim, and featured in the wonderful New Yorker Special film, was the laminate that Jimmy built for Jim in 1985. That was the second laminate design by Jimmy. Jim's guitar was serial number 110, which means it was the tenth of this design. A total of 27 were built according to Jimmy's ledgers before he switched to the Centura style laminate towards the end of his career of which only 5 were built. One of the Centura styled laminates is featured online in a video by the Blue Guitar Collection if you'd like to check it out. Originally Posted by 2-5Guy
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Wear a mask! Originally Posted by 2-5Guy
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It's common knowledge that Roger Borys built the laminate top for Jimmy D's guitar for Jim Hall.
They were even in business together making those guitars for years, until Jimmy signed the contract with Fender, which stipulated that Jimmy was not permitted to even have phone contact with Roger Borys.
I don't know why Sadowsky's name is being brought up in a question about the original guitar that Jimmy D. made for Jim Hall. I made the mistake of mentioning RS's name in the presence of one of the above named luthiers, and I got an icy stare that made me never make that mistake again!
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"Common knowledge"?
ok...
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Very true that Roger provided the laminates for Jimmy to construct his laminate guitars. I believe these were Jimmy's second version of the laminate beginning in 1982. I could be wrong, but I believe Roger continued to "unofficially help Jimmy even after the Fender deal. Originally Posted by sgcim
It's common knowledge that Roger Borys built the laminate top for Jimmy D's guitar for Jim Hall.
They were even in business together making those guitars for years, until Jimmy signed the contract with Fender, which stipulated that Jimmy was not permitted to even have phone contact with Roger Borys.
I don't know why Sadowsky's name is being brought up in a question about the original guitar that Jimmy D. made for Jim Hall. I made the mistake of mentioning RS's name in the presence of one of the above named luthiers, and I got an icy stare that made me never make that mistake again!
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For those wanting a clone of the Jim Hall D'Aquisto Laminate , buy a Borys B-160 Wyble. The Wyble was conceived when Jimmy D'Aquisto Jr had an idea to build guitars. He brought Roger Borys Jim Halls D'Aquisto and Roger made 2 clones. Unfortunately, the Jimmy D 'Aquisto Jr. endearvor never came to fruition, but one day Jim Wyble visited Roger and bought one of the 2 clones, and that's how the B-160 became the Wyble model. Roger was making laminate plates for Jim D'Aquisto for many years.
Roger Borys and I are friends, and he's told me numerous D 'Aquisto stories. He holds Jimmy D 'Aquisto in very high regard to this day.....
I own 3 Borys and the Wyble is my favorite
Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk
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Yeah, Roger told me that Jimmy started calling him again after a little time passed... Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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That's some great info about the B-160. Originally Posted by QAman
Like everyone else, Roger loved Jimmy W. and was deeply affected by his passing, so he named the 160 after JW in tribute to a great musician and great person.I think Paul Bollenback bought a 160.
Before the pandemic, I'd visit RB and hang out for hours and hear all his great Jimmy stories. I'd always bring my '35 D'A, because he loved that guitar. He had a project where he wanted to make a replica of it. He did a lot of great work on my D'A. He's the only one I'd let touch that guitar.
He'd also have a lot of wild stories about all the great players. He knew them all, except guys like Raney, who had little interest in mechanics of. the guitar, and Farlow, who could do most things himself.
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More snippets about Roger and Jimmy please! It seems that reading them somehow helps with the wait. Getting a bit itchy now...
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Well I could tell you Roger's inside story of the Joe Pass/ Jimmy D. squabble over the Ibanez Joe Pass Model, but the first time I did, Vinny1K and Max405 jumped me when i was leaving Carmine's Pizzeria and worked me over till I couldn't even recognize me!
It's still being refuted every now and then.
Then there's Jimmy's story of visiting John D. in the hospital to tell him about the new Gibson Johnny Smith Model, and John's reaction to Jimmy's' plea to sue the pants off of Johnny S., which was worthy of Mario Puzo, but the JS Mafia hired a hit man to keep me quiet on that one too.
The doctors decided to leave the slug in my upper arm, since it wouldn't do any damage, but it still sets off the machine whenever I need to get an MRI.
Then there's the times that Jimmy used to let Joe Puma use his shop to build his little Puma Guitar when Roger was apprenticing with Jimmy. Jimmy would have a guest there waiting for a guitar or something, and Joe would come hobbling into the room pretending he was Igor, Jimmy's deformed, hunchback assistant. Jimmy and Roger would keep a straight face while Joe would say to Jimmy, "Yes, Master, you rang?" in a Marty Felman/Boris Karloff impersonation.
Then there's the time Roger called Jimmy up all happy and excited that he just got a call from Mundell Lowe to build him a guitar.
Instead of congratulating RB, Jimmy said to him, "You're gonna regret getting that phone call for the rest of your life." The rest of that story is so lurid and disgusting that I can't even repeat it here.
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Nobody wore a tank undershirt better than JD. Originally Posted by Flat
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Great to watch that vid again after a few years. As my appreciation and understanding of these instruments grows, so does my appreciation of the great luthier and beautiful guy. I love how he approached his work and how he talks about it in the movie.
Thanks to the forum for reminding me! I think I'll watch again in a couple of years.
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"The rest of that story is so lurid and disgusting that I can't even repeat it here"
Well, you can't post this w out the lurid.
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After what the Eagles did to the poor Vikings? It was almost as lurid as that. Originally Posted by wintermoon
"The rest of that story is so lurid and disgusting that I can't even repeat it here"
Well, you can't post this w out the lurid.
Mundy would take his guitars- D'AQ's D'A's Gibsons anything, and bring them down his basement and perform barbaric experiments on them like a mad scientist.
Roger said Mundy turned that B-120 into a Frankenstein's monster, drilling in screws, ripping the guitar apart to experiment with placing blocks in different parts of the body- it was just disgusting!
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Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
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A picture... or two... is truly worth a thousand words. Thank you, Gilpy for the beautiful photos. Originally Posted by Gilpy
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
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What was it with Mundell Lowe and guitars? I want to vomit every time I see a picture of him playing the D’Aquisto NY he destroyed with the CC pickup near the neck and the humbucker at the bridge.
Another story about Mundell is that early in his career he supposedly had one of Charlie Christian’s guitars and did something dastardly to it.
John Galich
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