D’Aquisto’s Wedge Bridge

by John Monteleone

Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013



James “Jimmy” D’Aquisto’s guitar design development falls into two epochs. The early period, beginning in 1965, is an obvious continuation of his teacher John D’Angelico’s instruments in nearly every aspect, with the exception of the D’Aquisto logo on the headstock. Jimmy’s clients were faithful to D’Angelico, and that’s exactly what they expected. Change would come gradually, even timidly, over a period of time as Jimmy learned his independence. Certain ideas about tradition and expectation expressed by his early clients stood in his way for a number of years, hindering his design development.

In the 1950s and ’60s, archtop guitar players were not risktakers, and the market popularity of the archtop was being displaced by solidbody guitars and the new music of the day. Unlike the quick-changing shiny sheet metal of Detroit automobiles, annual adjustments to mainstream guitar designs for the annual trade shows were small and predicable. The few independent luthiers of the day would watch this market closely to see what they would need to offer in order to compete.