DAngelico Excel 59 Viola

DAngelico Excel 59 Viola review

The DAngelico Excel 59 Viola is a single-cutaway hollowbody guitar with a laminated spruce top, laminated maple back and sides, and two Seymour Duncan Great Dane P-90 pickups. Its specification points toward warm, rounded tones, while the two pickups and three-way selector give players useful options for shifting between neck, bridge, and combined sounds. It has been available since May 2021, and the listed price is $1,129.

Feedback from players highlights the guitar's smooth jazz character, light feel, and acoustic presence when amplified. Those are listening impressions, not a guarantee of how it will sound through every amplifier or in every room. Still, the combination of a hollow body and P-90 pickups gives the Excel 59 Viola a clear identity: a guitar built for resonance and a full, expressive pickup response.

Body, finish, and construction

The hollow body uses laminated maple for its back and sides, with laminated spruce on top. The Viola finish gives the instrument its brown appearance. A five-ply binding frames the body, and a five-ply tortoiseshell-pattern pickguard adds a contrasting detail. The design has a single cutaway, providing access to the upper frets while retaining the familiar outline of a hollowbody guitar.

The three-piece neck combines maple and walnut, arranged as maple, walnut, and maple. Its Slim C profile is intended to feel relatively streamlined in the hand. An ebony fingerboard carries 22 frets and split-block mother-of-pearl inlays. The scale length is 635 mm, or 25 inches, and the nut measures 43 mm wide. Together, those dimensions offer a useful reference for players comparing the feel with other guitars, though comfort remains personal and is best judged by trying the instrument.

One owner described the guitar as very light and praised the neck feel, as well as the quality of the workmanship. These are subjective reports, but they align with the instrument's emphasis on an accessible neck shape and traditional hollowbody construction. A fitted case is included; a separate gig bag is not listed.

Pickups and controls

Two Seymour Duncan Great Dane P-90 single-coil pickups are fitted with black covers. The controls are straightforward: one volume knob, one tone knob, and a three-way chickenhead selector switch. Players can select either pickup on its own or combine them, then use the two knobs to adjust output and tonal character.

The player feedback supplied for this review favors the P-90 sound, describing it as especially sweet and well suited to refined, mellow jazz tones. The same report also notes that the guitar can cover a broader range of music. That flexibility will depend on the player's touch, amplifier, and settings, but the pickup layout does provide three distinct selector positions rather than a single fixed voice.

Because the Excel 59 Viola has a hollow body, its unplugged resonance is also part of the playing experience. One owner specifically praised its acoustic sound while playing amplified. That observation is worth separating from the electrical pickup response: the instrument's body contributes to how it feels and resonates, while the pickups send the amplified signal. The combination is a central part of this model's appeal.

Hardware and setup details

The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic design, paired with a D'Angelico Stairstep tailpiece. Grover 150 Imperial tuning machines handle tuning, and the hardware is gold plated. There is no tremolo system. The fixed bridge arrangement keeps the hardware layout simple and suits players who prefer a stable setup without a vibrato arm.

The guitar's case is included in the listed package. Its item number is 516013, and the sales unit is one instrument. These details are useful when checking a listing, particularly since the model name and Viola finish should match the instrument being ordered.

Verdict

The DAngelico Excel 59 Viola brings together a laminated spruce top, maple hollow body, ebony fingerboard, Slim C neck, and a pair of Seymour Duncan P-90 pickups. Its controls are uncomplicated, and the hardware follows a traditional fixed-bridge layout. Player feedback points to a light instrument with an appealing neck and a warm, resonant sound, especially for jazz and other styles that suit a rounded P-90 voice.

At $1,129, it is worth considering for players seeking a hollowbody guitar with a distinctive finish and a focused, versatile pickup setup. The strongest reasons to try it are its reported neck feel, hollowbody response, and P-90 character. As with any guitar, a hands-on test is the best way to confirm that its body size, neck profile, and amplified tone suit your playing.