D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Stosh221
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D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Stosh221 » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:43 pm

Well dang. This specimen of newly available offset-ery may plague my slumbers.

Image

It's ugly, but fascinatingly ugly. I think it's the headstock design. If I had to describe it over the phone to someone I'd say it's got a 1920s era funerary aesthetic going on. Like an adornment one would see on Rudolph Valentino's deluxe ebony casket. I'm repelled, and yet. . . not. Anyway, it sure snapped me out of my ruminations over Fender's new American Original offerings.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Grey » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:48 pm

If I had to describe it over the phone i'd say "the body looks like someone who's never seen a Jazzmaster tried to copy one while being told over the phone what a Jazzmaster looks like."
Last edited by Grey on Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Pogue Mahone » Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:49 pm

It looks like when I was in junior high and used to doodle vague looking "guitar shapes" in the margins of my notebook instead of paying attention to my teacher....
"I sat for a while by the gap in the wall, found a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball"

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by tealsixtysix » Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:26 am

The Deluxe version with P90s is still ugly, but... cool-ugly. I could see owning one.

I can't find a photo that isn't stupid-huge, but it's here: https://dangelicoguitars.com/guitars/de ... DBEDNATGS9

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Kent » Sun Jan 21, 2018 8:13 am

That thing would look lovely on stage though. I can't wait to play that freak-nasty mutant!

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Jan 21, 2018 8:24 am

:k

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Embenny » Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:10 am

It's like someone took a Toronado's wide body and then gave it the lumpy misshapen cock-eyed Jag-stang treatment.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:47 am

Looks to me like yet another example of some chancer having bought the rights to use a once-respected name, setting about immediately devaluing the brand.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by tealsixtysix » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:46 pm

UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:47 am
Looks to me like yet another example of some chancer having bought the rights to use a once-respected name, setting about immediately devaluing the brand.
The current owners have had the name for several years. Their Excel and Deluxe lines are MIK to a very high standard -- like the current Guilds, they're really nice guitars for the money -- and they have a little NY-based custom shop that builds (mostly archtops) to order. Bob Weir plays one.

These solidbodies are a new thing for them, and they're clearly testing the waters.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Sun Jan 21, 2018 1:15 pm

tealsixtysix wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:46 pm
UlricvonCatalyst wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:47 am
Looks to me like yet another example of some chancer having bought the rights to use a once-respected name, setting about immediately devaluing the brand.
The current owners have had the name for several years. Their Excel and Deluxe lines are MIK to a very high standard -- like the current Guilds, they're really nice guitars for the money -- and they have a little NY-based custom shop that builds (mostly archtops) to order. Bob Weir plays one.

These solidbodies are a new thing for them, and they're clearly testing the waters.
"Made to a very high standard" is not the same thing as preserving the reputation of a brand renowned for its aesthetic values. Neither D’Angelico or D'Aquisto, I suspect, would approve of these dog's dinners. Why, it's almost as if someone simply took the neck from the guitar pictured on D’Angelico's wikipedia page and grafted it onto a (very) loose facsimile of Fender's current most-fashionable body shape.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by tealsixtysix » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:28 pm

The “brand” was originally one guy in a tiny shop in Little Italy making guitars for (mostly) local guys playing restaurant gigs.

I think what they’ve done with it is cool.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Grey » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:35 pm

tealsixtysix wrote:
Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:28 pm
The “brand” was originally one guy in a tiny shop in Little Italy making guitars for (mostly) local guys playing restaurant gigs.
Does that imply that he didn't care about how they looked? ???

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by countertext » Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:27 pm

Let’s be honest - D’Angelico Guitars effectively died with John D’Angelico in ‘64, and the ones made thereafter by Jimmy D’Aquisto were really D’aquistos. D’Angelico was about as legendary and prestigious as you could get back in the day.

The current D’Angelico Guitars has no real connection that I can see to the original company, even if they own the trademark and license derivative designs from Korean factories. It doesn’t matter to me (I’m just a jackass on the internet) how the name gets used, but it is certain that the current company is squeezing (very little) credibility out of an honest, old reputation they have nothing to do with.

Also, those of us old enough to remember will note the late-‘80s vibe from this model. Put a reverse six-on-a-side headstock on it, and it could be one of several different designs from large and small manufacturers in the waning days of hair metal, when the superstrat was on the fade and new ideas were being tested by building a few examples and throwing them out there.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Lamar Fandango » Sun Feb 11, 2018 11:45 am

For what it’s worth, I am partial to the Ludlow. I had planned on buying one immediately. Then I learned that the crap version (defined as Duncan Designed) is $700. I was thinking the deluxe version w/ ‘59s would be $700-$800. Build quailty is good in South Korea, but it cannot exceed design specifications. Plus, they put a strat trem on an offset...so I’d have to get a hard tail version and install a Stetsbar or something. Little disappointed....a lot actually.

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Re: D'Angelico Bedford. Sweet Caesar's Ghost!

Post by Lamar Fandango » Sun Feb 11, 2018 12:39 pm

Stosh221 wrote:
Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:43 pm
Well dang. This specimen of newly available offset.....Anyway, it sure snapped me out of my ruminations over Fender's new American Original offerings.
From what I can tell, it will be an expensive Korean import with bad electronics, it will still set you back $700-$800.

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