Seen more towards the end days of production, Dan had said that "approximately 150 or more fretless basses were produced." This would be typical, not only of Dan, but also of Ampeg - who produced many fretless versions of various basses over the years prior to the Dan Armstrong line. It must have been one of the rare occassions where Dan Armstrong & Ampeg actually saw 'eye to eye' on things. "Dan absolutely loved playing fretless basses and it was no big surprise to me when I learned that Ampeg started producing them." say's Dan's former employee Steve Kubica. In my first interview with Dan, back in 1999 I recall that Dan was almost chuckling as he told me the story about one of his clear acrylic basses saying "one year on my birthday I was surprised with the gift of a Dan Armstrong fretless bass that was specially made just for me. Someone found out that I loved fretless ebony fingerboards and that's what this bass had. I was in the process of moving so I left the bass with a friend. A few months after my move I checked back in with my friend only to find out that he pawned it, or sold it. The next time I saw that bass it was being played by none other than bassist Jack Bruce."

Specially made basses not withstanding, these frettless basses were otherwise identical to the stock Dan Armstrong basses of the time. However, there were a couple of different variations available to players when it came to the appearance of the fretless basses. Specifically, the position markers on the fingerboard itself. As seen above, one option was just to have a blank rosewood fingerboard. Another option would be to have inlays put in the entire width of the fingerboard where the frets would be, and the last version would be to have the inlays only partially across the fingerboard, and seen mostly from the top, or the low 'E' string side.

photo courtesy of Jim Edwards

As seen at left, an oddity of sorts. This particular bass has a very low serial number (D150A) and yet it is a fretless version that has had inlays put across the entire width of the fingerboard. While there were versions available in this manner, most fretless basses were later models and one can only speculate as to whether this was a custom order, or whether it simply left the production line in this manner. Given it's low serial number however, it seems equally likely that the customer had the instrument modified by removing the frets from the fingerboard and filling in the open fret slots with some form of inlay material.

This Dan Armstrong fretless bass has inlays only partially seen on the low 'E' side of the fingerboard, allowing the player to see just enough which was crucial to any player not accustomed to playing a fretless bass instrument. Later in his career Dan would expand on the design, choosing to utilize position markers in approximately this same location on the fingerboards of all his 'London' series guitar and basses. This particular bass has all the signs of an older bass in that it lacks the pickup selector switch, yet it is also equipped with a newer combination bridge/tailpiece that is sandblasted, as well as a later style bridge with a fret lying across it. As such it is hard to speculate as to whether it is a newer model with an older scratchplate, or an older model with newer hardware. Serial numbers and potentiometer codes would be the only way to date such an instrument, and even they can be misleading since all parts are interchangeable, and were available through Ampeg for awhile, even after it's years of production.

photo courtesy of Bill Richardson

photo courtesy of Bill Richardson

At upper left, a fretless bass with an ebony fingerboard, and matching scratchplate. Oddly, the thumb rest appears to be rosewood rather than ebony. More unusual is the white colored pickup, which appears to be an original Dan Armstrong pickup in that the magnet can be seen lying on the bottom side - like what can be seen in the bass pickup section. However, it is unknown for certain if the pickup had been rewound and re-cast in a clear type resin, or if it is an entirely different pickup. The volume and tone knobs look different as well, but one cannot say for certain as they are too much out of focus.

At upper right, the fretless ebony fingerboard can be seen in better detail with fret type position markers visible only on the bass, or low 'E' side of the fingerboard. At the top, notice the matching ebony headstock veneer and matching ebony truss rod cover.

As seen above left, a later model fretless bass that although seems to have all the period correct hardware, is still a rare and unusual model in that it has an ebony fingerboard & thumb-rest, plus ebony type formica for the scratchplate and headstock.Again, notice the inlay work on the neck only partially filled in, not extending the full width of the ebony fingerboard.

The upper right, shows the inlay work from the side, or stated another way, as seen from a players perspective. Notice the fairly low action on this bass. Virtually all Dan Armstrong basses are capable of string action that is even lower than what is shown here. On such an instrument, with no frets, one could, if so inclined, lower the action to the point that would rival even the best of six string guitars, let alone a bass.



To complete the look, an ebony looking type of formica was used on the headstock as well as for the truss rod cover and the scratchplate. As seen in the photos above, even the pickup was done in a black type material. Given all these factors have come together in one guitar, it seems very likely that this was a special order instrument.