But he may have not always felt that way however, as according to Steve Kubica "One thing Dan did like about being on 48th St. was that it was near Houston & Canal Streets. During this time period much of the manufacturing that was done in New York was closing down and leaving the city to relocate elsewhere - usually in the South. As a result of the closing and moving of these businesses, much of the machinery & tools were sold off locally - and much of it made its way to the various dealers on Huston & Canal Street. Dan enjoyed this because he could get various tools rather easily and inexpensively that he would use in his shop."

Steve added "Many of Dan's purchases were smaller things like machinist type straight edges, which were useful for doing fret work and such. But there was this one milling machine that Dan wanted pretty badly as he felt it could do a good job at various custom type work on bridges or tuners, or almost anything else that might need to be altered. He tried to get the dealer down on his price but the dealer wouldn't budge - and so it was a piece of equipment that Dan never got his hands on."

Even with all this help - work at the shop was getting backed up. Clearly more help was needed, and Dan soon hired a young man by the name of Kurt Munkacsi - who was attending audio engineering school at the time. Dan hired him on to be his salesman, though he also helped out in others areas as well. Kurt also remembers the big name clientele that would frequently enter Dan's shop. One notable customer to this day stands out in Kurt's memory, and that was Lou Reed. Kurt goes on to explain saying "many times Lou would stop in, and ask Dan to install another pickup in his guitar, as he felt the more pickups one had on their guitar, the more powerful the signal would be. Dan repeatedly informed him that it wasn't the number of pickups, but the type of pickup or pickups one has that makes the signal more, or less powerful. Dan had already installed many pickups in Lou's guitar, and there really wasn't room for anymore. Looking back I think it became their way of visiting, as they would be smiling while at the same time giving each other a hard time about it."

photo courtesy of Matt Umanov         taken by Carl Thompson

Kurt Munkacsi stands behind the counter at Dan Armstrong's Guitar Service located at 500 Laguardia Place in Greenwich Village. Here Kurt is seen watching 'the store cat'. When asked about the presence of the cat, Matt Umanov replies "when you have mice you need a store cat". The pet's name is unknown. Notice the books the cat is resting on. According to Kurt "The gray book was a store ledger with a list of all the instruments that were for sale. It contained their prices, who owned them if they were on consignment, who had them if they were out on approval etc. The other book is unknown but I think was an exercise book for guitar." Steve Kubica remembers that "Dan always had a soft spot for cats and would usually leave some inexpensive cat food when he would lock up and leave for the night."

Steve continues, adding "I remember opening the shop one morning and as I opened the door, a cat rapidly darted at me and shot out past me." Steve chuckles as he finished by saying "It got my nerves jump started for the day."

photo courtesy of Matt Umanov         taken by Carl Thompson

Also seen behind the counter is Paul Metzge who, according to Kurt, "is a very good jazz and classical guitar player. I don't recall him working at the shop but I think he was a friend of Eddie Diehl". Matt Umanov remembers that Paul "went on to play with Astrud Gilberto but got fired on the way to Brazil on his first gig with her after he removed his shoes on the plane; she was not pleased with the smell of his feet and sent him right back home after the plane landed". His whereabouts today remain unknown.

photo courtesy of Matt Umanov         taken by Carl Thompson

Dan Armstrong pauses for a photo while on the phone in his office at 500 Laguardia Place in Greenwich Village. According to Carl Thompson, "the phone was ringing off the hook all the time". Sharp observers may have noticed the memo's pinned onto the tack board behind him. This was the usual place where Dan kept track of playing schedules for studio work and more. Carl also mentioned that "there was so much studio work and sessions going on that musicians would often swap playing schedules and times. Dan would often act as the messenger service for them all as everyone visited his shop".

photo courtesy of Matt Umanov         taken by Carl Thompson

Seen here is New York's legendary jazz guitar player Eddie Diehl who worked for Dan doing guitar repair work. Eddie can be seen working on a customers Gibson® guitar in the basement of Dan's shop. According to Matt Umanov "the workshop was in the basement" as the upstairs was more for sales and offices. Notice the soldering iron in the foreground as well as a roll of solder, a can of oil and many other recognizable products that were, and still are, needed for repair type work. The 60's style water glass lying in front of a hammer and positioned about halfway from the soldering gun to Eddie is a testament to the time frame.