D'Angelico Excel SS semi hollow guitar

[b3l5tele]

I was always a fan of the D'Angelico NYSS 3. It has been discontinued. D'Angelico now produces the Excel SS. I would be interested in any comments or reviews from anyone who has played or owns one.

[carlescountry]

D'Angelico Vestax continues to manufacture the NYSS-3, but only for Japanese market.

About the new Excel SS, korean guitars, see the website of J. Hale:

http://www.jhalemusic.com/pages/DAngelico.html

[bebopgtr]

Throughout the web I’ve read just thread about vintage D'A vs Japanense and Korean-made guitar. Nothing else…..:bonk
Excluding Rick Stone, who is endorser for D’Angelico…. he said it plays great.
So, has anyone tried or own the Excel SS

[daddyo]

I don't know if she's an endorsee but Susan Tedeschi plays a NY-SD.

[bebopgtr]

I think she is an endorser
Susan is on the D'A site and on her site by media (http://www.susantedeschi.com/media.aspx) Susan chooses the winner of a guitar (D’Angelico of course)…
Can't believe nobody hasn't at least played one of the D’Angelico Excel SS.

[daddyo]

Years ago they were blowing out the Excels EX-DC online for $799 and I kick myself for not getting one.

[aarondavis]

I don't know if this matters, but I believe they're starting a US made line in partnership with Heritage. I've always dug the NYSS 3 too!

The only issue is that if I were to pay for one of the new US made ones, I could almost get a Koll with one on one custom attention. :D I'd choose the Koll...

[bebopgtr]

Anyone played one yet?

[The bear]

Nope not yet. I have seen them, but not played them.

[whomad1215]

J Hale Music does have a great selection, went there when I was looking for a jazz guitar.

I've played basically a small sample of each guitar he had there and the eastmans were my personal favorites for smaller guitars. For the traditional jazz box I really liked the D'angelico's

[bebopgtr]

bump

[bebopgtr]

where are you D'Angelico players??????

[jads57]

Playing Benedettos,LOL! (Bambino Std. to be more precise)

[MartinPiana]

Playing Benedettos,LOL! (Bambino Std. to be more precise)

Gratuitous me too. (La Venezia, Andy).

tho my 335-type is an Eastman....

[daddyo]

It's funny, the new D'angelicos should be discussed in the Guitars in General section as they are produced by a rather large Asian factory. Not that they are bad guitars, but they are really a totally different animals than the handmade by Mr D'Angelico guitars.

[The bear]

It's funny, the new D'angelicos should be discussed in the Guitars in General section as they are produced by a rather large Asian factory. Not that they are bad guitars, but they are really a totally different animals than the handmade by Mr D'Angelico guitars.

The handmade D'angelico's are works of art.
Go down to Rudy's Soho store, I think he's got 17 original ones displayed.

[jads57]

I guess you could say they same of the larger makers as well, Gibson,Fender,etc.
Brand name recognition is the key for most people.

[toddinjax@yahoo]

I don't know if she's an endorsee but Susan Tedeschi plays a NY-SD.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the guitar she plays belongs to Derek, she just got in to it and won't give it back!

[bebopgtr]

This thread will keep trying more then 1500 views and still no one!
I'm writing from Europe and the D'A here costs around 2,5K $ and not easy to try one....

[daddyo]

This thread will keep trying more then 1500 views and still no one!
I'm writing from Europe and the D'A here costs around 2,5K $ and not easy to try one....

I did a quick search and found a few. There is more but I don't have time to do your search. Advanced search is the ticket.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=270386&highlight=d%27angelico+excel
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=414975&highlight=d%27angelico+excel

[Dutchmaster55]

Yes!!! I'm the first one to post thats played one?!?! I feel like Sandemose right now!!! So with that said. I've been looking into these guitars and specifically the Nyss 3. It just so happened that a local shop had an D'angelico Exss in stock.
I went in thinking that the two aforementioned guitars were similar close to the same guitar. I was wrong. The Nyss has a solid block running the length of the body while the Exss has a small block beneath the bridge only giving it a much more acoustic sound. Nice surprise. So heres the scenario:

Blonde D'angelico Ex-ss(12 guage rounds)>Rivera Venus 1x12 (http://www.rivera.com/products/venus/venus5_112.php)

All amp settings at 5 (except reverb and volume of course).

At first I was unimpressed by the tone. I felt it rather weak. Not nearly punchy enough. I tried both pickups combinations with a variety of tone control settings and was ready to put it down. Not a good sound in it I thought (compared to the same settings on my '84 As200). Being a small music store I was weary of turning the amp up as to not recreate the horrors of the local guitar center. Well, HERE IS THE TURNING POINT! As I increased the gain/volume on the amp, the guitar began to fill out. There WAS meat. Not undefined midrange, but clear chordal movement and well defined single note lines. Both the Neck and Bridge pickup had nice tones. The neck pickup could get dark when rolled off and the bridge pickup could get a nice funky Sco sound when provoked. The best part, however, was when the volume was turned down on the guitar the acoustic properties were apparent, much more so than any semi-hollow. This characteristic happened to be exactly what I was looking for so in my review this guitar gets two thumbs up. Action, fit and finished seemed superb (after only 25 minutes in my hands).

All in all a guitar is a very personal choice. I play mostly Jazz and Funk/Neo Soul. The tones that I found in this guitar were very complimentary to the sounds in my head and therefore get good reviews. I was not able to play the guitar in a live setting or through my pedal board and cannot vouch for those situations, but with a variety of pickup and tone settings I'm sure this guitar can certainly cover a lot of ground. :aok