Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Unlike the 1969 price listing for the Dan Armstrong instruments the 1970 price list lacked any images. In fact, the Dan Armstrong instruments were now listed along with the rest of the Ampeg products. Oddly, the guitar and bass were listed as ARMG-2 and ARMB-2 respectively, whereas the 1969 catalogue listed the acrylic instruments as the ARMG-1 and ARMB-1 and one cannot help but wonder if this was a conscious decision or a typo that either wasn't detected, or, perhaps detected too late - and felt it wasn't worth the time &/or the expense to correct.

This price guide also lists the Dan Armstrong ARMUB-1 fretless bass. No doubt the 'U' in the model number meaning 'unfretted' version. Oddly enough, the stocking number for this instrument ends with the number '1' like the stocking numbers in the 1969 price guide. As would be expected, the price for these instruments had increased to $340.00 but in an unexpected move, the cases had dropped to $50.00. Courtesy of Bill Richardson.

A 1970 Ampeg sales catalogue featuring their complete product line including the Dan Armstrong clear guitar and bass. Notice at the bottom of the front cover where in small print it not only lists Ampeg's address but goes on to state that Ampeg is a division of Unimusic Inc. Courtesy of Bill Richardson.

An article on the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar from a magazine of unknown origin. Judging by the 'circa 1970' date at the top one can only speculate, but a reasonable guess would be a publication date of 1970. Filled with interesting details and viewpoints, I do take exception to the word 'virtually' when he described the quarter-sawn necks and fingerboards as Matt Umanov himself told me "When building the prototypes for Dan, I recommended the use of quarter-sawn maple. Dan didn't really have much knowledge about such things as wood grain and how it affects structure, strength, and tone. But he took my advice unquestioningly after I gave him a brief explanation and demonstration."

Still, this rare article was very interesting reading as well as very time consuming as the photocopy of it is such that the text, (especially noticeable on the right hand i.e. darker side) is far from legible, but after working on it for what seemed like an eternity, I've finally gotten it down and typed up.

An interesting oddity here is that the guitar photographed for the article has been modified with the installation of a Gibson tuno-matic style bridge. Courtesy of Bill Richardson.

The purchase of any Dan Armstrong · Ampeg clear guitar and bass included a straight forward, easy to understand owners manual.

Considered very basic by todays standards, at the time it was about as revolutionary as the instruments themselves. Courtesy of Bill Richardson.

The Dan Armstrong instruments also included a warranty card which not only included a one year warranty on the instrument itself, but also included the warranty on the pickups. Seen in enlarged view, this particular card was included with the purchase of an additional pickup, thus the letters ARM P/U - CT which can be seen in the 'model number' field on the card and which translates to Armstrong Pickup - Country Treble.

In late 1969 or early 1970 Ampeg released a guitar and bass pickup flyer that served as a brief description sheet that further described the different sounds and nuances of the various guitar pickups as well as how to adjust the tone control on the bass guitar for different sounds.

Every new Dan Armstrong · Ampeg instrument had this packet inside the case. Looking like little more than an average manilla envelope, it normally contained the owners manual along with other various Ampeg flyers and brochures.

A Dan Armstrong · Ampeg flyer/poster showing the various stars playing Dan's acrylic guitars and basses.