Featured review by:
UG Team, on february 01, 2008
0 of 1 people found this review helpful
Features: The NY-SD has a solid mahogany body with a flamed maple carved top and back. It’s a single-cutaway design with a 7-ply ivoroid/black binding. The neck is mahogany and is set to the body with an ebony fretboard. In the hardware department the guitar boasts 2 Kent Armstrong humbuckers, Grover Imperial tuning machines, stop-bar tailpiece and mother-of-pearl capped volume and tone knobs. All the hardware is gold. // 8
Sound: When I shop for an electric guitar, I play it acoustically first. If the guitar is resonant and speaks to me, then I know it’s worth plugging in and spending some quality time. I strummed the NY-SD right out of the case and knew I was in for a ride. I had to remind myself that this guitar was a solid body! The neck pickup was fat, warm and smooth. This very much sounded like a jazz box rather than a solid body. I believe this is the best sound achieved on the NY-SD. Using both pickup’s together, there is almost a Strat-like sound that is useful if you want a little more bite. The bridge pickup has a lot of edge and is quite capable of articulating country style licks quite nicely with aggressive high-end detail. Thanks to separate volume and tone controls, a variety of these sounds can be dialed in allowing for many possibilities.
// 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The action came perfectly setup. I couldn’t stop playing lines over the medium jumbo frets and low action; accompanied by the bound ebony fretboard, the feel is amazing. The exquisite look and feel of this guitar at a glance is indicative of the quality craftsmanship that is addressed on this instrument. The headstock shows superb attention to detail with the use of abalone for the company name and “New Yorker” logo. There is a “step” style theme starting with the Grover tuning machines and flows to the logo and into the mirrored truss rod cover and finally ending at the pickguard. This adds a subtle touch that sets this guitar apart from others. The frets are well dressed, the binding is practically flawless and the high grade flamed top is stunning! // 10
Reliability & Durability: After playing this guitar for about a week, the tuning machines impressed me. After many string bends and hours of play, the strings stayed in tune and when I did tune the NY-SD, the Grover’s turned like butter. The volume and tone knobs felt like quality and turned smoothly as well. I also like a little weight to my guitars, so when I picked this up for the first time, it immediately made a strong impression due to the select mahogany body. // 9
Impression: I feel totally comfortable recommending this guitar to someone who doesn’t mind paying a little more for a sound investment and a quality instrument. This guitar can be bought for $1,295, which is very competitive considering the features, sound and craftsmanship. I teach guitar and had a couple of my more experienced students play the NY-SD and they were blown away. Finally, if you like the feel of a Les Paul and want to turn some heads without paying the price tag, check out the D’Angelico NY-SD.
Check out D'Angelico NY-SD's demo video at the following location. // 9
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