D’Angelico Guitars

D’Angelico had a photo booth in the lobby set up for a contest where they were giving away free strings and a chance to win a D’Angelico Guitar.  Take a photo, post on social media, enter to win a D’Angelico Guitar – that simple.  Of course, I had to enter the contest and don’t particularly like being in front of a camera and I’m not that animated.  My photos looked like mug shots (so I will spare you the photos)!  After that fun adventure, I ventured over to the D’Angelico booth to claim my free set of guitar strings and was able to check out their 2017 Deluxe Series that were introduced at Winter NAMM.

New for Summer, the series will feature limited edition matte finishes in Matte Emerald, Matte Plum, Matte Cherry and Matte Powder Blue.  These guitars feature custom-made pick-ups from Seymour Duncan and TV Jones, Jescar fretwire, Grover locking tuners, and a six-way toggle switch for coil-tapping on double-humbucker models.  Also new for 2017, D’Angelico introduced the DC Shoreline and SS Shoreline electric guitars to their Excel Series.  These guitars come in Vintage White, Indigo and Surf Green.  The SS is a single-cutaway, semi-hollow body electric guitar with P-90s and a Bigsby B-50, slim C shape neck, 15-inch wide body, and lightweight centerblock.  The DC is a double-cutaway, semi-hollow body electric guitar with the same P-90s and Bigsby B-50.  The booth was crowded so we didn’t get a chance to touch and feel these babies, but sure would love to.

The strings D’Angelico was giving away are the Electrozinc which are zinc-coated round-wound electric guitar strings engineered by D’Addario.  The story behind this new line:  more than 50 years ago, John D’Angelico and John D’Addario partner on a line of round wound, zinc-coated electric guitar strings called Bethanized Steel which were popular for their fullness, volume, and brightness.  However, the plant that manufactured these strings closed in the ‘60s.  Hence, the return of this type of string in today’s market.  The strings are available in for rock and jazz in extra-light, light and medium.  We picked up a set of the Electrozinc Jazz Extra-Light.  We’ll let you know how they sound!