Let's Talk "New York Pro" Guitars

[toomanycats]

Yesterday I bought a guitar at a pawn shop with "New New Pro Elite" on the headstock. I was intrigued from the moment I saw it. First, because I have never heard of this brand. Second, because even though it was a little beat up, there was something appealing about the look of it. It had sort of a PRS meets ESP Horizon body shape going on, with a longer lower horn that referenced Mosrite. The slightly asymmetrical and elongated Gumby headstock was a little bit Ibanez Iceman. Just a lot of different vibes going on here visually. It had a bone nut, set neck, good quality hardware, what appeared to be a maple cap doubling as binding à la the Gibson Les Paul Tributes, and looked like it might be older, perhaps 90s, or even 80s. Best of all it was priced at $40. The store was about to close for its one hour midday cleaning so I hastily peeled off two twenty dollar bills and shot out the door with my prize.

When I got home I hastily did some research on "New York Pro" and discovered that they were distributed wholesale by a guy named Lou Capece out of Long Island, New York. Lou Capece Music Distributors has been in business since 1964 and in addition to the "New York Pro" also sells guitars branded as "Oxford", "DiPalo", and "Danville." Maybe something like a Kurt type figure, a competitor of Rondo? The mystery deepened.

I then came across forum discussions that likened "New York Pro" to Rondo's SX brand and the Brownsville guitars sold at Sam Ash. Opinions on "New York Pro" ran the gamut from them being complete garbage to being amazing guitars that pros use as their primary instrument. I actually had one in my hands, and granted, though it was used and beat up, it definitely wasn't complete garbage. On the contrary, there was something charming about it. After I cleaned it up, changed the strings, and set it up it is incredibly resonant acoustically and played like a dream. The neck is a wonderful full D shape, not unlike the 2020 Gibson LP Standard '50s I recently acquired.

There is is short somewhere in the electrical harness that I'm dealing with so I haven't been able to plug it in yet. I'm not expecting much from the import EMGs, though I can tell from the natural sustain, tightness, and expressive voice that this guitar will sound good with quality pickups in it. It's just got that elusive thing that not all guitars have.

I've found only one example of this same model "New York Pro Elite" guitar online, although with a different finish:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... -488899657

I suspect from the considerable aging as well as the make of some of the components that the guitar is MIK. It's been quite a while now since cheap imports were made in Korea, so if it is MIK I'm guessing this guitar could be from the 90s, if not older.

Any info or experience you guys can share about the "New York Pro" brand would be appreciated. Anyone own one or ever play one? Do you ever see them in shops?

[toomanycats]

[toomanycats]

[fatjack]

Looks interesting, especially for 40. Around here the pawn shops have 3 types of guitars .1 Absolute garbage,2 absolute crap,3 worse than 1 or 2.

[mozz]

That doesn't look bad but the one i saw here was a unimpressive strat style and the guy was asking $150. I looked them up on the phone and all i saw was "junk", and reinforced my opinion. Now for $40 i would have bought that TOM no doubt, even if they are fake emg's.

[mickey]

Looks interesting, especially for 40. Around here the pawn shops have 3 types of guitars .1 Absolute garbage,2 absolute crap,3 worse than 1 or 2.

A pawn shop near here recently had an Agile AL (with rosewood fretboard) for about $1200.

[glasshand]

Looks interesting, especially for 40. Around here the pawn shops have 3 types of guitars .1 Absolute garbage,2 absolute crap,3 worse than 1 or 2.

If you can even find a pawn shop around here that deals in guitars (most of them are basically just gold traders now), they have two types of guitars: 1. wildly overpriced crap, and 2. wildly overpriced actually decent stuff.

That said, a while back I did go into one of the few around here that carries some guitars and asked about a very reasonably priced Gibson LP (studio? can't remember now) they had hanging on the wall, and the guy immediately said, "First, I have to let you know that's a knockoff", which I thought was very decent of him; plenty of people would have just tried to make a fast buck on it.

[uwmcscott]

Any guitar that can be made playable for less than 50 bucks is a win in my book.

We are actually down to 1 pawn shop left here in my area, which is kind of surprising for a metro area of about 60,000. We had a large Pawn America which closed about 3 months ago, and another mom/pop shop that also shut down. Neither of them every had anything worth buying anyway but it was fun to occasionally stop and hope to maybe find a TMC deal

[solteroblues]

around here that guitar would have been $400, not $40. I don't even go in them anymore. Most only carry 2-3 guitars and they are NEVER a brand you've heard of, nor are they worth the value of the sticker the price is written on.

BUT... that does look like quite the steal for $40!

[BatUtilityBelt]

Interesting. That thing looks very horny. Never heard of the brand, but interested in hearing how it turns out. I stopped going to pawn shops after I had to buy back my own guitar from a pawn shop after it had been stolen. Pawn Laws can be weird.

[bc rich]

Sadly long gone now , my New York Pro jazz box . Bought used on ebay about 07.
Was astonished when it safely arrived in a brown paper bag with neck sticking out . It must have received the mercy treatment.
Changed the bridge pick up to a dream 180 , was well made with an amazing top , sold during the troubles.

https://images.craigslist.org/00V0V_kbG ... 00x450.jpg

[toomanycats]

Sadly long gone now , my New York Pro jazz box . Bought used on ebay about 07.
Was astonished when it safely arrived in a brown paper bag with neck sticking out . It must have received the mercy treatment.
Changed the bridge pick up to a dream 180 , was well made with an amazing top , sold during the troubles.

https://images.craigslist.org/00V0V_kbG ... 00x450.jpg

Nice! Did it specify anywhere on the guitar where and what year it was made?

[bc rich]

Sadly long gone now , my New York Pro jazz box . Bought used on ebay about 07.
Was astonished when it safely arrived in a brown paper bag with neck sticking out . It must have received the mercy treatment.
Changed the bridge pick up to a dream 180 , was well made with an amazing top , sold during the troubles.

https://images.craigslist.org/00V0V_kbG ... 00x450.jpg

Nice! Did it specify anywhere on the guitar where and what year it was made?

99% certain it was made in china , old style before guitars made in china became a thing , very thick poly with cheap hardware, but solid .
The ebay seller claimed to be a new york music school that was closing for what that is worth . It could have been there for a while .
Only have that one photo left.