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Review: The New Yorker Special by Frederick Cohen

Review: The New Yorker Special by Frederick Cohen

Reviewed by Tim Olsen

Originally published in American Lutherie #9, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000



The New Yorker Special
Frederick Cohen
Available from Filmakers Library, Inc

This charming little film is a valentine to a guy who deserves one: Jimmy D’Aquisto. Jimmy was my childhood hero, and visiting him in his shop in 1977 only built my admiration and affection for a man that to me is a genuine paradigm for luthiers.

This film is far above the average coverage that luthiers generally get from journalists. You know the type: They breeze in, ask a few irrelevant questions, then write a piece that makes you seem like something between a wacko and a wizard. Frederick Cohen obviously knows something about guitars, as well as being a fine filmmaker. He has succeeded in producing a film which is perfectly suitable and entertaining for the uninitiated, yet one in which the luthier will find many informative gems half-buried.

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