Unlike the guitar, the bass did not utilize interchangeable type pickups. Thus the largest difference is the noticeable lack of the sweeping pickup channel in the body. The routing for the ball end of the strings is placed further back due to the fact that the combination bridge/tailpiece is placed further back on the body for intonation purposes.

However, there was a significant change in the routing of the bass pickup control cavity, and it was here that Dan had once again delegated out a project. This time he turned to Kurt Munkacsi, who stated "I only got in on a small part of the plexiglas instruments. Dan gave me the project of finding a way to hook up the bass pickup to the volume and tone control wiring." Kurt designed it so that there was a small section of the control cavity that wasn't routed as deep as the rest. This gave him just enough room to secure both a good mechanical, and electrical connection from the pickup to the rest of the circuitry.

On the earliest basses the pickup was secured to the body using a chrome plate that screws down onto the body and laps over onto the pickup enough to hold it in place. Together, with the three screws (seen above) that are also secured into the acrylic body, this provided enough of an anchor for even the roughest of bass players. Another sign of a very early bass is the use of the straight headed screws used to anchor down the combination bridge/ tailpiece. These straight headed screws were used on both the guitar and the bass in 1969 and were switched over to the more familiar phillips head screws around 1970. A low serial number and the use of the smooth, glossy type scratchplate material vs. the non-glossy matte material used in later models are other signs of an early model, as is the lack of a pickup switch that later models employ. Notice the non stock washer placed under the input jack added by the owner.

Sometime after redesigning the guitar body with the sweeping channel for interchangeable pickups, Dan decided to secure his bass pickups in the very same fashion - using a thumbscrew on the backside of the body that screws into the bottom of the pickup, thereby discontinuing the use of the chrome pickup-plate on top. Dan liked this design better because "by losing the plate it cleaned up the look of the entire body. Plus there were some minor cost savings in making the bass a little more like the guitar model." Again, notice the straight head screws attaching the bridge and tailpiece combination to the body, and also note that the strap pin has been relocated to the lower cut-away horn by the owner. Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones has been photographed on their 1969 tour playing a clear Dan Armstrong bass with an exact modification such as this.

Another bass with the same modification as the one above. Though on this one, the strap pin has been relocated to it's original 'stock' position on the upper horn. A very late 69 or very early 70's 'transitional' bass that employs the smooth textured formica of the earliest models, as well as the straight slot headed screws that secures the combination bridge/tailpiece. But unlike the earliest of models it lacks the metal 'pickup-plate' on top and the pickup is now secured in place with a thumbscrew through the backside of the body in the same fashion as the guitar models.

The pickup being secured in place with a thumbscrew through the backside of the body was not the last way in which the bass would more emulate the guitar model however. As seen at left, later basses with a serial number of D2000A and above saw the addition of a 2-way selector switch that made the bass appear more like the guitar model, while allowing even greater flexibility and control over the sound eminating from the already versatile instrument.

The year was 1976 when the bass player of our garage band showed up with an original Dan Armstrong black bass that he said was "one of 8 ever made" and that he acquired it from Guitar Trader® in Red Bank, NJ Since most (if not all) of these black instruments were sold out of Dan's shop - it was no stretch of fate for it to surface in New Jersey - and only a short distance from where it was manufactured, Linden, NJ. From what I can remember the bass played really well, and although it had a really good low end I do not recall it having much treble or "zing" as Dan put it. Due to our low wattage light show the instrument did not have any tuning issues to speak of. Equally ironic is the use of the Ampeg SVT amplifier since Dan was instrumental in the design of it as well.