D’ANGELICO MEL BAY

John D’Aangelico (1905-1964) built arch-top guitars and mandolins and is universally regarded as the finest archtop guitar pioneer that ever lived. D’Angelico instruments were strictly hand made, in limited quantities. In the late 1930s, when production was at its peak, D’Angelico was able to make approximately 35 instruments per year with the help of two or three workers. In late 1952, Jimmy D’Aquisto began to work as an apprentice, and he was D’Angelico’s only assistant from 1959 until D’Angelico’s death. Production during this period was limited to approximately 15 instruments per year and an increasing amount of work was done by D’Aquisto under D’Angelico’s guidance, until the instruments made just prior to D’Angelico’s death were finished almost entirely by D’Aquisto