Triggs New Yorker (D'Angelico-style) Blonde, Robert Yelin Collection. UNRESERVED. Serial#: 3970170. Jim Triggs has earned his reputation for building beautiful handmade instruments since he began building guitars in the early 1980s, influenced by such luthiers as John D'Angelico, Elmer Stromberg, and Lloyd Loar, and went to work for Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1986 as one of the master luthiers in Gibson's Custom Shop. He now builds with his son in his own shop in Kansas, and is known mainly for archtop guitars and mandolins. Some of his creations are featured in the Smithsonian and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

A nod to D'Angelico's famed New Yorker guitar, the Triggs New Yorker is a 17" Blonde beauty built to emulate the original, complete with Art Deco-inspired stairstep tailpiece and Chrysler Building inlay on the headstock. (Triggs' name is etched in the tailpiece as well as inlaid on the peghead, also a nod to D'Angelico.) The back and sides are made of magnificent quilted Maple, while the top is of hand-carved Spruce. Featuring a floating Johnny Smith type pickup hand-made by Kent Armstrong, this guitar also comes with gold Grover tuners which tie in all the other gold-tone appointments.

VG+; some slight wear on the pickup cover