D’Angelico NYSS-3b.

 The Holy Grail of semi-acoustics.

The NYSS-3b is a small body semi ( just a little bigger than a Les Paul) but with big sound, superb tone, outstanding character, massive sustain and excellent quality.      Built only with choice woods it is finished in Vintage Natural,  with Gold hardware.     These guitars are a real player’s delight!      

Made in 2011, this fabulous instrument is Brand New and un-played.   It arrive still with it's protective film covering pickups and pickguard and is offered complete with faux Alligator case (which is also a work of art).

It is set-up with an incredibly low, fast action.    As always,  the photos don’t do justice.   This guitar is immaculate.

It is widely believed that these guitars are no longer available, however,  they continue to be made in small numbers,  for the Japanese market only, by the same people, at the same  factory in Tokyo and to the same extremely high quality standards.   This is exactly the same instrument that Vestax supplied from 1999 to 2004 in the USA and until 2006 in the UK.       

In order to continue supplying their home market without infringing the legal ruling that restricted them distributing these guitars outside Japan,   Vestax now distribute their D'Angelicos through their new Distributor - Crews Corporation.     Consequently,  the name Vestax has been replaced on the label by the name Crews Corporation.    

In every other respect, this is the same guitar as played by Kurt Rosenwinkle.

I have an email from Vestax authenticating this guitar and confirming that it was the 4th guitar built on 24th July 2011.

I have owned several Vestax D'Angelicos (acoustic, electric and semi) and they all have in common the most perfect necks I ever have played.     For me the neck is really important and I am totally happy with these amazing guitars.

You just can’t put this guitar down - it’s a players instrument through and through.   The tone of this guitar is unbelievable.   With the bridge pickup on, it gives you that typical Carlton-Schofield 335 sound,  but with the added richness of spruce.   In the neck position, it sounds just like a big fat D'Angelico archtop - the solid spruce top gives it a remarkable acoustic jazz sound.

It is the guitar of choice of one the world's greatest up-and-coming jazz guitarists, Kurt Rosenwinkel and this is what Kurt says about this guitar:

"I’ve always kept an arsenal of guitars, and have always looked for very specific things from each - the response and character of each note, the clarity of each note within a chord, sustain, frequency range, playability. I’ve often found myself compromising, sacrificing one quality for another.

Now that I have the NYSS-3, I feel that I’ve found the single guitar I’ve been seeking for more than 15 years.   It produces a warm, fat tone, with a lot of front end—the kind of tone I need to carry a band and push the music in different directions without the sound getting in the way.    With every note I can feel the whole instrument resonate under my fingers.

When I’m absorbed in playing, I don’t want to be distracted by the guitar, and with the D’Angelico,  I can trust the workmanship,  I can trust it to always stay in tune and always give me the sound I need."

Spec:

Selected Maple neck with

• Ivory neck binding
• 24.75" scale
• Nut Width: 1 11/16"
• Ebony fingerboard
• 22 frets
• Mother of Pearl inlays
• Mother of pearl D'Angelico Logo and New Yorker inlays on headstock
• Rosewood overlay with Mother of pearl diamond inlay on back of headstock
• Multi-ply black and white binding
• Grover Imperial Machines

Semi-Hollow body

• Small size, New Yorker Style 14.75" body with single cutaway finished in Vintage Natural
• 1.75" body depth
• German spruce top
• Flamed maple back and sides
• Multi-ply black and white binding on body and F holes

Electrics

• Two humbucking pickups mounted on guitar
• 2 volume, 2 tone controls
• 3 position toggle selector witch
• 1/4" output jack
• Adjustable "tune-o-matic" type bridge
• Gold hardware
• New Yorker style tailpiece
• New Yorker style stairstep tortoise-shell pickguard with black and white binding