During 2024, D’Andrea celebrates 100 years in the music industry, supplying an extensive range of premium guitar accessories constructed from high quality materials manufactured in the USA.
D’Andrea was actually set to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the company at NAMM in Anaheim, California in 2022, but unfortunately, due to the irregular NAMM schedule brought about by COVID, the celebration was postponed.
“The pandemic caused so much disruption in the music business,” explains Fred DiTomasso, Director of Sales & Marketing, D’Andrea, USA, “But as conditions improved and NAMM resumed its traditional schedule, D’Andrea celebrated the 100th Anniversary on January 26, 2024, with a party at The Anaheim House of Blues with many company distributors, dealers, OEM customers, family, and friends.
The party featured speeches by Tony D’Andrea and John DiMugno, President of Delmar Products, D’Andrea, USA, who thanked numerous long-time employees who have contributed to the success of the company.”
It was actually 102 years previously in 1922 when vacuum cleaner salesman, Luigi D’Andrea purchased sheets of tortoise shell coloured cellulose nitrate plastic, in downtown New York City.
With mallet dies, Luigi hand-punched out the first known guitar plectrums, and by 1928 he was a market leader, producing flat picks, thumb and fingerpicks.
Unlike various brands that sadly fell wayside almost as quick and as they were formed, for well over 10 decades D’Andrea have continued to innovate and maintain a high profile by offering a diverse range of popular products.
In the world of popular music, D’Andrea have followed and survived musical trends and fashions along the way, including the 1950’s when rock’n roll itself, wasn’t supposed to last, through the 60’s when folk and roots music started to percolate, the British Beat Boom, blues, rock, punk, metal and more.
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The company expanded and grew under the stewardship of three generations of the D’Andrea family until Tony D’Andrea decided to retire in 2012, selling the company to his trusted friend and long-time material supplier John DiMugno of Delmar Products Inc. located in Berlin, Connecticut, USA.
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For guitar and bass players who like to customise the aesthetics of their instruments, D’Andrea offer a vast selection of visually enticing, high quality 1-ply and 3-ply scratchplates with matching vibrato back-plates for T-style guitars and S Style guitars with SSS or HSS pickup permutations.
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Bass players can choose from a host of colours and designs for P and J style basses from the D’Andrea Pearl Pro Sparkle Pro Series, whilst acoustic players also have a choice of popular profiles and finishes.
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With soundhole-shaped pickguards in an array of superb finishes, beautiful brass bridge pins decorated with abalone or pearl inlays, acoustic guitar players can also upgrade their instrument’s aesthetics and for the adventurous player, the popular Spider Capo allows alternative tunings not possible with standard capos.
Today, D’Andrea stock one of the largest selections of plectrums constructed from the finest tone enhancing materials. All D’Andrea plectra combine durability and ‘memory’ with the right amount of flexibility and strength to perform with a delicate subtle approach, delivering killer riffs and power chords without extensive string breakage.
These include the vast range of D’Andrea Celluloid-Classic, Wild Celluloid, Shell Celluloid, Designer Pearl, Cool Plecs, Pro Plecs and Pro Grip Bites series which have been a favourite with musicians for decades and available in a choice of gauges and profiles, with dozens of eye-catching patterns and designs. |
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For a smooth firm, non-slip grip when the gig hots up, D’Andrea’s classic Delrex plectrums with their matte finish and manufactured from delrin/acetal material, are also designed for minimum wear with maximum ‘memory’, while their own sound characteristics highlight clarity within solo note runs and articulated chord structures.
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In the acoustic guitar world, D’Andrea is also widely acknowledged for their large selection of thumb, finger and flat plectrums in assorted colours, hand-built in plastic for players who prefer the tone of this material on their strings.
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For professional musicians on the live circuit, students or couch noodlers playing at home for fun, D’Andrea have a huge range of excellent cleaning products, including polishing clothes, polishes and string cleaning lubricants sold separately or in a variety of comprehensive handy cleaning and guitar maintenance kits.
Luigi D’Andrea could never have imagined the global impact he started with that mallet and die a hundred (and two) years ago, the continued growth and sheer size of a multi-national company with products sold worldwide and distributed exclusively in the UK and Ireland by JHS. |
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