One day at the end of the summer, I was driving down the West Side Highway and saw this giant D’Angelico guitar on a billboard. I didn’t exactly know how that balance would work, but I knew that my days of being around guitars for five hours a day would probably be over. I was interviewing at places like Atlantic Records and Spotify, in hopes of balancing a job in the industry with my passion for playing the guitar. In 2016, I decided to move back to New York to pursue a career in the Music Industry. I never forgot that guitar in the years after graduating high school and attending college in Connecticut. Joe Carbone (left) and his 1937 Style B visiting the D’Angelico Showroom with jazz guitarist Peter Rogine (right) in 2016. They project, they cut, they have that sound.” “I could play this guitar acoustically through an entire horn section” Carbone said.
It carried with it the history of New York and of the old shop that once stood on 40 Kenmare Street where John D’Angelico practiced his craft. The sound and look of that guitar changed my life forever. He told me to open it, and with amazement, I pulled out his 1937 D’Angelico Style B. Carbone called me over to his office and said, “J, I gotta show you something.” He ushered me over to the closet where inside lay a beat-up brown leather guitar case. He educated me on the history of the instrument and all the forgotten masters who once wielded it-guys like Johnny Smith, Joe Pass, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Tony Mottola. He taught me everything he knew about the guitar. Over the next five years, Carbone took me under his wing and became a mentor to me. Carbone finally let me in the club and that’s where our relationship began. Īfter several attempts at auditioning, Mr. In the confines of my New York high school, he was the boss. Some people called him the Don Corleone of the school while others actually believed he had secret ties to the Italian Mafia. He always wore a custom, perfectly-tailored suit with designer cufflinks, a shiny diamond pinky ring, and handmade leather shoes-all topped off with an italian Borsalino hat. He was short and stocky with a thick white mustache.
It was run by Joe Carbone, an old-school Italian-American who looked like more of a relic from the 1920s than a schoolteacher. When I was 14 years old, I had the audacity to audition for the advanced guitar club at my high school. We’re overjoyed for him that he was able to make one of his lifelong dreams of owning an original D’Angelico come true. He’s been a part of the D’Angelico family for three years. Justin Friedman is the Director of Marketing & Artist Relations here at D’Angelico Guitars. Restoring Michael Pica's 1949 D'Angelico Excel
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