Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

The last of the changes to the Dan Armstrong bass began in late 1970 and continued to the final model produced in 1971. At left, and probably the most noticeable change was the addition of a pickup selector switch mounted on the scratchplate. Along with an entirely new wiring design, these are, for the most part, usually attributed only to the 71 models. But the truth is, the selector switch was added some time earlier - as basses left the factory with these changes, and came into players hands by mid to late 1970. At right, and from the backside, nothing new is seen over the 1970 model basses.

At upper left & right, one thing all bass models had in common with one another is the chipping and flaking away of the brown resin of the pickups in and around the bar pole piece. Back at left, also notice another change, that's again usually attributed to the 71 models but is actually seen on late 70 models is that a portion of the tailpiece was sandblasted. At right, and better seen in the enlarged view, the top portion of the upper pickup bobbin is easily seen, almost in its entirety. Notice too the frets, as they seem somewhat uncharacteristic of the type normally seen on the Dan Armstrong instruments, and I can't tell if they've been replaced, or if they've just been highly polished.

At left, and one thing that apparently crept into a few later made models is a neck with rosewood fingerboards that display both darker and lighter colored grains throughout. Seen here, a darker section of the fingerboard resides under the 'E' and 'A' strings - while rosewood of a lighter tone lies under the remaining strings. Better seen in the enlarged view, notice too (for whatever reason) a replacement strap peg.

At right, another difference seen on these later basses is a pickup that has a raised middle section that follows the curvature of the bar pole piece. Earlier bass pickups tend to have resin chip and flake away rather readily as the brown colored resin is extremely thin in and around the pole piece. To compensate, more resin was added.

At left, a closer view of the pickup selector switch and the sandblasted portion of the tailpiece, seen just behind the rosewood saddlepiece. More about the switch can be read in the acrylic bass pickup section of this site, while the sandblasted portion of the tailpiece is covered in the hardware section.

At right, one thing that began to be seen in the 71 models was the reappearance of Schaller tuners. Basses were still being produced sporting Grover tuners, but for whatever reasons, Schaller was beginning to make a comeback, not only on the bass guitars, but on the guitar models as well.

At left and right, another 1971 bass neck sporting distintive color tones within the rosewood fingerboard.

As seen above, another view of this neck shows the dramatic change in color shades in the fingerboard.

The maple neck has a medium "D" profile with a 1^5/8" width at the nut with a thickness of .855" at the 1^st fret moving up to .915" at the 12^th fret. Its rosewood fingerboard features a 9.5" radius. This headstock sports Schaller tuners.

At left, some interesting features on this bass. If you look up to the first photos of this instrument you will notice that I had stated "another 1971 bass neck." I chose my words carefully, for as seen above - and even better seen in the enlarged view, you will notice that the pickup cavity on the acrylic body has been routed out more than the physical size of the pickup. You may also have noticed the straight slotted screws used to anchor the tailpiece to the body, as well as a fully chrome (non-sandblasted) tailpiece. There is also the lack of the selector switch on the scratchplate. Sharp observers may also have notice a minor reflection of one of the control knobs - seen between the volume and tone control - suggesting a smooth, glossy finish to the scratchplate.

At right, notice how the thumb rest is positioned farther back, more towards the pickup. Notice too, a hole for a strap peg was drilled and tapped in the acrylic on the lower cutaway horn - the peg has since been removed.

At left, the neck on this bass carries the serial number od D2148A which places it much later in the production run at Ampeg, likely early in 71 and stands in sharp contrast when compared to the earlier type features listed on the body.

At right, the faux-wood veneer on the headstock lacks the smooth, glossy finish like that of the scratchplate, and while Schaller tuners were also used in 69, the serial number of the neck is way beyond the early numbers of that year. Coupled with the other features listed above, their presence on this headstock pretty much guarentees it as a 71 neck.

So whats the story on this bass? It seems to have an older case, and body. In fact, the body - with the aforementioned features, but also sporting a pickup set-screw suggests that it's what I called a 'transitional' bass a few pages back, where the pickup cavity was still overlarged in size, but with a body lacking the holes, or any other signs of the 'pickup plate' seen on the earliest models. As mentioned above, the neck on the other hand has all the features of a later model. So it's all pretty confusing.

In the end, it's hard not to be impressed with the logic and conclusions of the webmaster at the Dan Armstrong Registry web site, who stated " A first-generation OEM case also points to 1969, so one possibility is that someone bought a 1969 bass, damaged the neck, and sent off for a replacement from Ampeg. The figuring on the rosewood fingerboard is unusual and might not be to everyone's taste, so perhaps Ampeg was holding on to this neck as a warranty spare. It's equally likely that the bass is completely original and Ampeg was simply using up extra parts when it was trying to get the last inventory out the door in 1971. Either way it's a cool bass and seems to be in very nice condition, with the only blemish being an extra strap button hole on the opposite horn".