"Pete Townshend used a D’Angelico New Yorker archtop guitar on Rough Mix in 1976/77 and Who Are You tracks Music Must Change and Who Are You (middle break only) in 1978. The guitar also appears in the 1982 Chinese Eyes photo sessions. In 1989, he sold this guitar (along with the 1958 Gibson Flying V, among others) to buy a boat."

Brian Setzer is confirmed to have used the D'Angelico New Yorker, as evidenced by a listing on Reverb.com that details the guitar's wear and tear, including general checking, dings, and tarnished hardware. The listing notes that the guitar exhibits signs of age, such as slight tarnishing on the upper frets and an eye hook screwed into the side of the neck, with additional holes indicating previous modifications.

A singlecut New Yorker with a neck pickup is visible in this photo of Benson and in this other ca. 2008 photo of Benson. The latter photo was taken by Vincent J. Ricardel for Rudy Pensa's Archtop Guitars: The Journey from Cremona to New York and is included on this web page from the MET Museum's 2011 "Guitar Heroes: Legendary Craftsmen from Italy to New York" exhibit. The web page notes that the guitar was used on Benson's cover of "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams".

Related Audio

“Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams,” by Johnny Mandel, Alan Bergman, and Marilyn Bergman

Performed on a John D’Angelico New Yorker model guitar (serial number 2049) by George Benson (1974).

Song Credits

George Benson, “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams,” by Johnny Mandel, Alan Bergman, and Marilyn Bergman (1973), from the movie Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams. George Benson, CTI 1974. Recording provided courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment.

As documented in this July 4, 2010 Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue forum post by Telarkaster, Benson's New Yorker was exhibited at the 2010 Montreal Guitar Show. Telarkaster shared that the guitar was dated to 1958 and no longer under Benson's ownership:

Me and an old band mate checked out the Montreal Guitar Show yesterday. Of interest that I thought I'd share was a 1958 D'Angelico New Yorker that was on display but not for sale. One of the builders had brought it as show piece and performed with it during one of the mini-concerts. It was apparently once owned by George Benson, who is also in town for the Jazz fest. I've only ever seen these in photos in a book so it was really cool to be in the presence of one.

In this photo, Stills is visible playing cherry red D'Angelico New Yorker.

An Interview for "Vintage Guitars"

"The Gibson Super 400 has been your trademark guitar for many years. When did you first begin playing one, and what attracted you?" It was probably in the late 1960s. I’d been using a D’Angelico New Yorker, which was the same size as a Super 400 (18? body).

In the attached video, Jordan mentions at 15:04 that the guitar he's using is the D'Angelico New Yorker (with a matte finish). He holds the guitar up a few seconds later in the video.

D’Angelico New Yorker A new imported reissue that Duke likes. “I use this for some of the jazz gigs I’m doing, softly amplified. And I use it for recording with a Dearmond pickup.”

The Johnny Smith model was based largely on Smith’s D’Angelico New Yorker...

In this video lesson Frank can be seen playing his vintage D'Angelico New Yorker.

When discussing his journey to the Thorell guitar he currently plays, Frank mentions this gutiar as well: “I have been playing guitar for close to forty years now. The first 20 years, I was playing on a 58 D’Angelico New Yorker. The next 20 years on Benedetto’s. From now on I play the new FV model built by Ryan Thorell. It produces the tone I want and the feel and look are so artful.” (http://thorellguitars.com/guitars/arch-tops/fv-studio/)