Like D’Angelico, D’Aquisto made many custom models, and one of his most popular – a New Yorker with a 17-inch body rather than the standard 18-inch width – became a standard model called the New Yorker Special.

The S-shaped soundholes replaced traditional f-holes. A sleek, narrow pickguard, made of ebony, replaced the tortoiseshell celluloid style with the stairstep design. A large ebony tailpiece replaced the metal stairstep design.

The peghead cutout of the D’Aquisto’s 1970s guitars was the only conceptual feature that linked him to tradition, and the ebony tailpiece and pickguard were a signal of more radical departures ahead.