Hagstrom JIMMY D'AQUISTO 1978 Amber Sunburst. EXTREMELY RARE. D'Angelico Trained Builder. BEAUTIFUL

HAGSTROM

“JIMMY D’AQUISTO” GUITAR

My opinion:  I consider the Hagstrom brand of Sweden to be one of the premier lines of guitars during the time period of the 1960’s through the 1970’s.  They are stylistic while also be extremely well made with many innovations.  And I believe the Hagstrom “Jimmy D’Aquisto” branded “Jimmy” guitars (both models) are vastly underrated and undervalued in the guitar secondary market and will increase in value as demand increases based on the “discovery” by collectors of this incredible guitar.  Will that accretion in value reach the plateau of other D’Aquisto guitars?  No, of course not because this Hagstrom “Jimmy” was designed by D’Aquisto, who was the overseer of its original construction in the Hagstrom factory, but not built by his hands.  Still this direct tie to James D’Aquisto, and his direct connection to it, will continue to add value to the “Jimmy”.

In discussing this guitar, Karl Erik Hagstrom, son of Albin Hagstrom who founded the HAGSTROM Music Company,…”considers the ‘Jimmy’ to be the best guitar ever built by the company.” (p. 116, SUPERSWEDE, Mikael Jansson, 2008).

About Jimmy D’Aquisto.

From Wiki:

James L. D'Aquisto (November 9, 1935 – April 18, 1995) was an American guitar maker best known as the premier maker of custom guitars.[1] He served as an apprentice to John D'Angelico from 1952 and was considered his successor after the latter's death in 1964.

From his shop in Huntington, New York then in Farmingdale, New York and later during his "golden period" in Greenport Long Island, New York, D'Aquisto became known as the world's greatest guitar maker from the late 1960s until his death in 1995. James D’Aquisto, born November 9, 1935 was trained by, and is the successor to, John D’Angelico. Both men are considered to be the finest independent builders of arch top guitars in the history of the instrument. James apprenticed to John, starting in the 1950s, possibly as early as 1954. Jimmy said “I was making $35 a week. I was like the runner: I’d go to the stores, pick up the tuners, go get the tailpieces from downtown, take the necks to the engraver, all that. I cleaned the windows, swept the floors, everything – we all did that. On Friday we put away the tools and cleaned the shop so when Monday came the place would be spotless.” Later, James learned the “rough work” of the D’Angelico building style. By around 1960, John’s health was failing and Jimmy was asked to do more and more of the finishing work, and, finally, the hand-crafting of components. John died on September 1, 1964 at age 59. Jimmy continued the business of building guitars, under his own name. In 1966 he moved to Huntington, Long Island and in 1973 moved to Farmingdale. In 1977 he made his final move to Greenport, Long Island. His guitars are considered without peer. Jimmy D’Aquisto was always afraid that he might die at the same age as his mentor, at age 59. In fact, he died Tuesday, April 18, 1995 at the age of 59. [2] D'Aquisto's name is attached to many guitar models from brands like the Fender "D'Aquisto Elite" "D'Aquisto Ultra"[3] and the Hagström Jimmy, and his blue "Centura Deluxe" was the inspiration for the book Blue Guitar.[4] There is another book titled "Acquired of the Angels:The Lives and Works of Master Guitar Makers John D'Angelico and James L. D'Aquisto[5] Today, his guitars sell for tens of thousands of dollars to over $400,000. And the first to be worth a million dollars.[4][6]

About Jimmy and Hagstrom

Given James D’Aquisto’s fame as a guitar designer extraordinaire, it was a significant achievement for Karl Erik Hagstrom to bring James to Sweden to design guitars for his company.  He first arrived in Sweden at the Hagstrom Bjarton factory in 1969.  In the short time he was there he laid out the design for the “Jimmy” and worked with their staff to build ten prototypes.

The first Jimmy guitars made by Hagstrom were the ones with the “F” holes and two pickups.  Approximately 480 were made.

In 1975, D’Aquisto returned to Sweden with the goal of improving the “Jimmy” model.  Resulting from that trip was slight modification of the original Jimmy design and the creation of the new Jimmy design guitar with a single oval sound hole with an attached pickup at the top of the sound hole. This last effort produced 1,083 guitars of which 727 had “F” holes (the original design) and 356 of the new design with the “oval sound hole”.

The guitar shown here is one of those 356 pieces.

Later D’Aquisto made statements that indicated that he was not happy with his joint venture with Hagstrom.  Karl Hagstrom attributed this unhappiness to the American distributor who had failed to pay D’Aquisto his royalties according to an agreed upon schedule.

Regardless, these HAGSTROM “James D’Aquisto” guitars are extremely stylish in the design trend of D’Aquisto and extremely well crafted by Hagstrom.

THIS GUITAR.

1.   1978.

2.   Birch laminate body.

3.   Birch neck.

4.   Ebony fingerboard.

5.   20 Frets.

6.   23 ¾” Scale.

7.   Ebony bridge.

8.   Oval sound hole.

9.   Single floating humbucker.

10.                   Volume and tone controls.

11.                   Amber Sunburst finish.

12.                   OHSC.

CONDITION:

This guitar is in Very Good cosmetic condition.  It has the usual scraps, scratches, dings, dips, finish cracks, etc. normal for a guitar of this age.  There is a small spot on the back of the neck that does not interfere with the playing of this guitar.  Also, there is finish missing at the nut area which seems to have been caused by the guitar being left on a stand too long.