Jacky Walraet is a Belgian guitar maker, based in Ghent. He was inspired to build and archtop guitar, having seen Jim Hall's D'Aquisto on an album cover and in 1987 he enrolled in the CMB in Puurs to learn how to make instruments. The first guitar he made was a D'Aqusito style archtop and was tested by Jim Hall himself - who gave his approval. Since then he has specialized in arch tops initially influenced by Jimmy D'Aquisto but also by John Monteleone. Through several visits to his Long Island (NY) workshop, Monteleone became a mentor to Walraet. Over the years he has developed and refined his own original guitars designs - including the beetle arch top and flat top models.

Source: Jacky Walraet website (14 January 2022)