Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

In May of 1969 Dan Armstrong joined the Ampeg exhibit at the American Music Dealer Industry Exhibit (AMDIE) in Las Vegas where his clear plexiglas guitar and bass were revealed to music dealers.

At left, something interesting, for if you read the text below the photo it states Dan Armstrong is at the left, looking at the cameraman while Dick Bredici studies the 'two musicians'. Anyone who has looked at the photos of Dan on this site can clearly see that Dan Armstrong was playing the bass version of his creation. It is unknown who was playing the guitar version as he had his back to the camera.

At right, and better read in the enlarged view, the article reads that many "firsts" were unveiled, starting with the Dan Armstrong guitar and bass instruments that featured a plexiglass 'boyd' - which I presume meant 'body'.

Opinions varied depending on who was interviewed as to the success of the exhibit afterwards but virtually everyone who attended all seem to agree that the big drawing card was the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg instruments.

A month later, at the 1969 NAMM show in Chicago which ran from June 22^nd to the 26^th Dan Armstrong and Ampeg revealed the clear acrylic guitars and basses to the public. Ironically, at this very same show a Japanese manufacturer showcased one of their brand new instruments which was, a copy of Dan's new clear guitar!

"Ampeg had released a brochure of the six string instrument earlier - actually when the guitar was still in the prototype stage, so word of it was already out there, and it had spread. But I really didn't think anyone could make a copy quite that fast." said Dan in my second interview with him in 2000.

According to Dan another 'outfit' (he couldn't remember which) approached the Ampeg booth all dressed in suits. As they began taking photos of the instrument Dan soon noticed that one of them was always holding the clear guitar while the other was always taking the photographs. "They never switched." Dan later said, with exasperation that began to rise up in his voice.

Dan then noticed that the one that was constantly having his photograph taken with the guitar was wearing an unusual suit that had a pattern of squares all over it. Although it was the late 1960^'s this stuck out like the proverbial 'sore thumb' to Dan who proceeded to walk up to him with a ruler, then pressed it up against the suit to prove what he had already figured out, for the 'squares' on this suit measured 1" by 1" exactly. By now Dan had lost his composure and said "I know what you're doing." Years later Dan said to me "those pirates were even too cheap to buy a guitar to start making their copies from."

But as Dan would soon come to learn this was merely the tip of the iceberg - for within the next couple of years most, if not all Japanese guitar manufacturers were busy copying many American guitar designs. Known as the 'MIJ Golden Age' of guitar manufacturing, It would continue until copyright lawsuits would bring the practice to a close.

During those years Japanese guitar factories were producing so many copy type instruments in order to quickly cash in on the guitar craze during that time in America that it's difficult, and sometimes virtually impossible, to determine which factory actually produced a particular instrument. It could have been started in one factory, and been completed at another.

Fast forward to over 4 decades and things have changed. What was of little consequence to most people back then is now days a major issue among collectors of Japanese guitars made during this 'Golden Age' time frame.

While I've tried to research the origin of the various Dan Armstrong copies at length, when it comes to the actual makers, I have elected to yield this information on to one who has dedicated as much time researching the origin of Japanese made instruments as I have on Dan Armstrong.

One of the best sources of information that I know of, and have been blessed to correspond with, is Mr. Frank Meyers, host and webmaster of the site Drowning in Guitars as well as author of the book seen above History of Japanese Electric Guitars. As documented in his book he has visited, interviewed, photographed, and become friends with most of the Japanese guitar manufacturing facilities and has contacts at the Fujigen factory and even those that had worked at the Matsumoku factory. As such, he has been a Godsend as well as a regular Sherlock Holmes at tracking down the origins of many of the Japanese badged guitars. With such incredible in-depth research, I have elected to use this vast knowledge of material from his book as one of my sources for this section.

The following pages list the majority of the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg copies from the MIJ Golden-Era - but also a few from the more recent copy makers. There are several other copy makers out there all producing copies of the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg acrylic instruments, and while they may be just as good as the copies listed in this section, I have chosen to omit them for what I consider a very good reason - at least to me - and that reason is 'the name'.

If one wants to copy Dan's acrylic guitar and bass designs, that's one thing. But makers who not only copy the design but also etch the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg logo into the scratchplate of their instruments in their attempt to deceive others for sales is quite another matter, and will not be given space here. At least makers back then had the decency to put their own badge names on their instruments. On a more positive note, there are a few of the newer makers like LA Luminariste that have a conscious and the decency to put their own name on their copy instruments.

A really good article/review of a recent Chinese made Dan Armstrong bass comes from an honest man who bought one of their basses, had written an article about his overall experiences from start to finish. After getting somewhat 'grilled' by one reader, (as is so often the case) he later replied "I've freely documented my personal experiences with this bass in an informative but purposefully dispassionate manner. I've provided detailed photographs to quantify my findings, because I've never seen anybody else do this with a Chinese counterfeit instrument."

Like so many of the recent Dan Armstrong copies, this one too, had the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg name on the scratchplate (though smeared a bit). A man with a conscious, he removed that bogus scratchplate from the bass. He proceeds, with more pictures to chronicle everything from the purchase, to the shipping, to the shipping 'container' it came in. Furthermore, he discusses - still with photos - the issues, and the quality of the instrument. It's a fascinating read on the web which can be found at the TalkBass site here.

In a strange twist of fate the 1970^'s Japanese manufactured Dan Armstrong copies have become more rare than the instruments that they were copied after. While finding them is rare, finding them in original factory condition is extremely rare. Once found, they tend to command fairly high prices, often to the point that one has to question whether or not it's better to spend a bit more for the original Dan Armstrong · Ampeg model.