The reason early jazz bands used banjos and never guitars was simply because guitars weren’t loud enough. But using new recording and amplification techniques, Eddie Lang played guitar for him in the movie “The Big Broadcast of 1932” and the banjo players immediately recognized that guitarists would soon be taking their seats at the bandstand. Pawnshops were soon stocked with banjos, and the guitar craft produced instruments of lush-sounding quality that were in enormous demand.
The Museum of the American Guitar located in New Hyde Park, Long Island, showcases the best work of the artisans who poured their skill and love into this wonderful instrument. The museum puts us in touch with both the history of the guitar and its future.
It stands to reason that the person responsible for establishing this museum is not only a guitar player and collector, but as he is affectionately called the “Guitar Doctor”, Chris X. Ambadjes is one of the best luthiers in the business who designed a guitar museum Some 33 years ago, Chris was able to make his dream come true about 16 years ago. Fortunately, Chris’s friends Demo Manolis, the late great Wayne L. Wright, and a few others were keen to make this museum a reality. The friends pooled their resources and formed a board of directors there.
The American Guitar Museum has a real charm. Your home is a restored three-story colonial building that is one of the original country houses in the area. Going through the outer doors (which are shaped like a guitar, by the way) and into the front door, you can’t help but get caught up in the images that seem to be everywhere. These are images of the great players of both today and yesteryear.
Moving into the main room, directly ahead at eye level is a magnificent oval-hole D’Aquisto New Yorker on loan from the talented player Joe Carbone. Before his eternal death, luthier Jimmy D’Aquisto was considered the greatest guitar builder in the world. For this beautiful Sunburst instrument I would charge around $50,000 with a three year wait.
The ceiling in the main room is certainly worth a look. It’s designed like the inside of an archtop guitar with f-holes, cross bracing, and wood grain all painted on the ceiling. A display case at the front of the room contains some of the original punches used to make picks around 1910. These punches were contributed by the D’Andrea Company of Long Island, which is still in business today. If you have a pick in your pocket, there is a 90% chance that the D’Andrea Company made it. The spikes were originally made by piercing small tortoise shell plates into different shapes.
The Guitar Museum is full of luthier’s tools, various tailpieces, books, plans, biographies of various musicians, and stories of some of the guitars that adorn its walls. An impossible to miss piece is located on the right side of the room. This is a 400 lbs. Strad-o-Lin Company press used to bend the sides and tops of guitars and mandolins. It dates back to the 1890s.
One of the oldest guitars in the museum was built in 1861. Chris Ambadjes says, “We like to tell kids who come on tour that this guitar is from Abraham Lincoln’s time and they love it.” Displayed in its original hard case.
Two guitars that always get a lot of attention are the 1965 Olympic White Strat that belonged to a friend of Jimi Hendrix and that Jimi played on occasion; and the other draw is a mint condition dark wood grain Les Paul that Les himself contributed to the museum bearing the inscription “To Chris, from Les ‘Keep On Pickin’.”
In addition to the signature Les Paul model, there are a number of prized Gibsons on display. Some of the most valuable Gibsons belonged to one of New York City’s greatest musicians, Jack Hotop. Jack starred in the opening of Broadway hits like “Oklahoma” and “Annie.” He fell in love with the sound of the first 1957 ES-175 with a PAF pickup (better known as a humbucker pickup). This guitar was used as a demo model by Gibson and Jack begged Gibson for that particular instrument. He was forced to wait until it was shown across the country before Gibson would let him. Jack later used this ES-175 when he played for the opening of “West Side Story”.
Two of the newer items at The American Guitar Museum are a pickup winding machine made by jazz innovator Attila Zoller and the mixer used in the classic Woody Allen film “Radio Days.”
What this museum boasts of is its wonderful collection of rare and beautiful instruments, what Chris calls “the crème de la crème”. Ambadjes has a particular love for the D’Angelico archtop guitar and who can blame him. John D’Angelico is considered by many to be the “Stradivari of guitars”. Appraisals put these guitars between $25,000 and $75,000 on average, with some even higher. Quite an investment when you consider its original price of around $695.00!
How fitting that D’Angelico began making his custom guitars the same year as “The Big Broadcast of 1932”. 1,164 beautiful custom guitars and mandolins were built in his name at the time of his death in 1964.
At the museum there are approximately 10 D’Angelicos on display, two of which are “one of a kind”. Although it is correct to say that all D’Angelicos are unique, they are all guitars or mandolins; everything that is, except these two. Sitting properly in a baby’s crib is the first of these unique acquisitions. It is an 18″ tall baby jazz uke. Benny Mortell begged John D’ Angelico to build this to use as a wedding proposal for his wife. The fingerboard contains the inscription “To My Dearest Rose From Ben”. the museum is called a Cellar (pronounced ché lâr). This is John D’s greatest masterpiece and is the only other instrument that doesn’t fall into the category of guitar or mandolin. Alongside these two priceless pieces, you’ll find the 1942 Excel, which was played by its owner Benny Mortell, in the movie “The Godfather” in both the wedding scene and the soundtrack.Next to this is a 1946 New Yorker.There’s a D’Angelico for left-handed that has been used by Wayne Wright (rhythm guitarist for Les Paul, George Barnes, Judy Garland, Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee).
“Nothing in this life is free” is no longer true, because a tour of the American Guitar Museum is that FREE! Guitar aficionados, touring class, and families alike have had mini-lessons on guitar construction, how guitar pickups work, how inlays are inserted into the fingerboard, and a general history of America’s most popular instrument. Joined. Also note that Chris Ambadjes repairs fretted instruments of all kinds on the premises and there are also a number of excellent music teachers present.
So pay a visit to this little treasure where the love of its owners is evident at all times. This is truly a gift to the world. It just so happens to have been gift-wrapped in Long Island, New York.
