Saw this picture of Ralph Grasso playing what appears to be a D'Angelico with Fender on the peghead. I know that Jimmy D'Acquisto designed some guitars for Fender and that they had a Montego (?) back in the early 70s that I think that Roger Rossmeil designed but I have never seen one like this. Anyone know anything about it?

maybe a custom build for him ???

Love the headstock !!

WOW, never seen anything like that...but she is a beautiful lady....

i've seen some Peerless stuff that looks akin to this, and by all accounts they make for Gibson and Gretsch, so maybe it's some Japan only Fender model,...(built in Korea)?

In the sixties d aquisto lent his name to fender for a line of archtops. they did not go over well but they are legit. I always lusted over them in the old catalogs as a kid.

have you ever seen a peavey rockingham like this one ?

I don't think I have ever seen a Fender branded New Yorker before. That would lead me to believe it is probably from their custom shop which started making these types of guitars in the 90's .

That's a Peavey!!!???

In the sixties d aquisto lent his name to fender for a line of archtops. they did not go over well but they are legit. I always lusted over them in the old catalogs as a kid.

Relying on memory, the D'Aquisto Fenders were from the 80s and were originally made in Japan and in the 90s some were made in the custom shop. This may be one from that era. I think the ones that D'Aquisto designed in the 60s-70s were for Hagstrom. All nice guitars, some obviously better than others.

That's a Peavey!!!???

Maybe Darrel will retell this story.

That's a Peavey!!!???

That's a Peavey Rockingham/Gretsch G3131/Carlo Robelli CRB1955. All are the same guitar, all made by Peerless. That one has had the pickups and Bigsby handle changed.

FWIW, I own the Gretsch version, Tartan Phantom and Proteus have the Robelli version.

Link...

They're all just slabs or shells, with different decals stuck on them. Seriously, at this point, what does it matter who made a buck by a) allowing their name to be used, and/or b) looking the other way & holding their nose while guitars 'of their design' are manufactured in manufactories. The whole point is that the original items were made by hand, & of course 'by hand' implies that there are very few, highly skilled individuals involved, and that wood being what it is, each instrument MUST be different from the others, in order to achieve its highest potential, which of course is not a possibility under factory conditions. So start by asking yourself the only (irrational) question that matters - "What am I willing to pay for the name on the headstock?" Or you could go all outside the box & ask yourself the only (rational) question that matters - "How does it sound?"

Yep. And another question you can ask yourself is "If I really want a great build, great sound guitar, why don't I get one luthier-made, and just forego the name on the headstock?". Where hand built is your concern, that's the way to get that level of quality.

the D'Aquisto Fenders were from the 80s and were originally made in Japan and in the 90s

From my memory also, that's correct..

But I do think that a run- of the- mill 'badged' guitar is something different to this beautiful example.

The D'Aquisto can be compared to the Terada Gretsches.. in that they were/are both commissioned , spec'd, built (to a price) and quality checked by their respective brand owners..

A one-off instrument is a very different beast, and generally much more expensive than the economy of scale allows in a 'thousands off' model of guitar, obviously.. But we, the guitar buying public benefit, because we get a much better and a much cheaper guitar than we would otherwise be able to afford..

When I was young (a lot of years ago), a US strat was 189 pounds in the UK.. (average wage and household income was about 12/16 pounds per week then.
That 190 pound 64 strat cost probably translates to $3K or $4K USD now, and a huge outlay for most people.

Now I can buy a badged strat with fairly similar pickups and neck etc. at trade price, for 35 or 40 dollars..(in quantity of course) It will sell for $100 or so and will sound fairly OK..and set up well, it will also play OK..

Who benefits? the first time buyer, who won't have to save every penny that they can, for four or five years, just to buy his/her first OK guitar.

i am loving that Peavey , and where do i get that bigsby arm , that i really love !!!!!

Anne, that's the Bigsby fixed arm. You can get them here:

Link...

I remember seeing these in the 1980s. Always thought they were cool.

Back to the original topic, I found a picture of him playing this guitar (or one like it) on an episode of Three's Company from 1982. Maybe it was a prototype for the D'Acquisto Fenders made in Japan but they looked nothing like this from what I remember.

EDIT: I found a couple more references. One indicated that it was a custom made Fender. This is from a guy who saw him performing at an RV park in downtown Benson, Arizona.

Another was from a guitar dealer that bought a D'Angelico from Ralph and indicated that was what he was playing on the Three's Company episode so my guess would be that the Fender is a copy of his earlier D'Angelico probably made by those that apprenticed when Bob Bennedetto was affiliated with Guild.

I think the guitar in the 3's company episode was Ralph's 1961 D'Angelico. He sold it to Norman Harris when he needed money to send his daughter to college. I bet the Fender guitar is a Fender Custom Shop reproduction of his original D'Angelico.

Edit: note there is a difference in the tailpieces.