John D’Angelico was born in 1905 in New York to an Italian-American family, and was in 1914 apprenticed to his great-uncle, Raphael Ciani, who made violins, mandolins, and flat top guitars. D’Angelico took over as supervisor of Ciani’s shop when he died. In 1932, he began working on his own designs in his own workshop in New York.

Some of D’Angelico’s employees went on to become craftsmen in their own right. Among them were Jimmy Di Serio, who worked for D’Angelico from 1932-1959, and Jimmy D’Aquisto, who worked for D’Angelico in the last few years of his life. In 1952, he hired D’Aquisto as an apprentice, who would eventually buy the business from the D’Angelico family. D’Angelico and D’Aquisto are generally regarded as the two greatest archtop guitar makers of the 20th century.