Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Dan Armstrong tries out one of his modified Danelectro basses in his shop in the village while one of his employees, Jimmy Ryan who was the store manager looks on and listens. More about this can be read in the Dan Armstrong section of this site.

It is rumored that Dan had at his disposal some 600 to 750 leftover Danelectro/Silvertone single cut-away bass bodies that he made both guitars and basses out of. However, in the April 1993 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine Dan states that he and Herring "got together and made 200 or so instruments that were labelled as Dan Armstrong modified Danelectro." Later on Dan talked about the modified basses and concluded with the statement "I guess production was at about 400 instruments total."

In the same article Dan spoke of the Danelectro guitar bodies stating "They were different; they were all single cutaway on the Danelectro shape which I always felt was a pretty good shape; sort of a Les Paul Jr. shape, but with a straight line cutaway that was really attractive."

One cannot help but wonder if Dan had actually gotten things in reverse, for as seen above, if any single cutaway instrument had a "straight line cutaway" it was the stock Danelectro model seen at the right. If you look closely you may see the Silvertone name across the headstock.

But as seen upper left & right, Dan was correct when he mentioned that they "were different" - for as seen at left the guitar bodies most definitely have a different shape than anything prior to it. These bodies had a cutaway shape that gave it more of a traditional 1950's type look to it. So, while Dan may have gotten things reversed, the point was well made - that these bodies were somewhat untraditional than the single cutaway models that made it to the large retail stores.

Back at left, and as mentioned on the first page, the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg acrylic guitars shared many of the appointments of the Danelectro models. But, since these modified Danelectro instruments were produced after the Ampeg instruments, the role is ironically somewhat reversed. For example: this modified Danelectro model features controls that are very much like the Dan Armstrong guitar, only arranged a bit differently. From top to bottom is a selector switch for a single pickup guitar (which should sound familiar) - followed by a volume and tone control and output jack. Last, but not least, the potted type pickups were another feature carried over from the clear guitars.

At right, the cover for the control cavity features a mirrored like finish with a white sticker labelled 'The Ampeg Co. Inc.' Further up, notice the neck 'tilt adjustment' screw hole. This is a feature that other guitar manufacturers would incorporate into their instruments in time. Fender is usually credited with the introduction of the neck tilt adjustment screw, however - Fender only introduced their 'Micro-Tilt' in 1971 when it switched the Stratocaster from four- to three-bolt neck plates. By that time, these models had already been around for a year or more.

At left, and seen from the front, and at right, seen from the back, these instruments were equipped with Kluson Deluxe tuners in the 3x3 fashion.

The headstock shape of the Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro instruments were rather untraditional when compared to stock Danelectro models, for while the overall shape was the same, these modified instruments were somewhat slimmer. It is unknown if they came into Dan's possession that way, or if he decided to tailor them down himself.

Dan had been modifying these guitars virtually from day one when he opened his shop back in 1965. Ironically just one of the changes Dan made to the Danelectro guitars back then was to remove the Danelectro decal from the headstock - as in one interview he mentioned that virtually every Danelectro that he ended up with he would remove the Danelectro name decal from the headstock; stating "the Danelectro name came off the headstock quite easily" - which begs the question - did these latest necks have name decals on the headstocks or not?

I suspect not. I suspect that he likely found them that way, for if you look at the original Danelectro Coca-Cola styled headstock on the left, and compare the actual size of the Danelectro decal to the Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro headstock on the right, it's fairly obvious that the Danelectro decal wouldn't even have fit between the tuners on the slimmer headstock. Something that just shouldn't be if Dan had trimmed the headstock down, for the trimming would have only taken place on the outsides of the headstock. Furthermore, had Dan just 'shaved' down the original headstock there should be less mass between the holes where the tuners are mounted and the edge of the headstock - yet as can be seen here - the amount of wood seems about the same.

It's a far reach, but about the only way that Dan could have modified the headstocks was if the necks were in the early stages of construction and the headstocks were still blanks - giving Dan full control as to their design. This seems rather implausible, but at right, if you look at the high 'E' string as it leaves the nut and heads toward the tuner you will notice that it turns inward towards the tuner, whereas on the original, at left, it is a straight shot to the tuner.

One of the things Dan did to all Danelectro's was to replace the 'in-line' or 'skate-key' tuners that were used. Oddly, there seems to be no left over indentions, no screw holes or anything in the wood that the former tuners would have certainly left behind - which would seem to suggest that Dan either patched and refinished the backs of the headstocks or, more likely, he got the necks before any tuners were installed on them.

When you take into consideration the lack of holes that 'skate-key' tuners would have left behind, then add the tapered headstock where an original Danelectro decal wouldn't even have fit, and then add the fact that the holes for the tuners are the same distance from the edge of both the original and the tapered headstocks, coupled with the fact that the high 'E' string travels to a different location on the headstock to meet up with its respective tuner, and it becomes apparent that the necks, or at least the headstocks, had not been finished when Dan got them.

In either case, once Dan got them, the headstocks were fitted with chrome Kluson deluxe tuners which can be seen on the bass model above. Unfortunately, and like the Dan Armstrong acrylic basses that would soon follow behind it, many bass players changed out these tuners as it was too inconvenient to change strings as wraps would have to be unwound in order for a bass string to be able to fit into the 'guitar' tuner post holes.

As seen above left, it is rumored that Dan introduced the brass nut to the world on these instruments. Notice though that there is no truss rod cover on the headstock as these instruments only had non-adjustable steel truss rods. The necks were made of Popular with Brazilian rosewood fingerboards and dot position markers.

At upper right and seen circled in yellow is the aforementioned micro tilt adjustment screw which allows the angle of the neck to be changed relative to the body without totally removing the neck. Above that, notice the long neck plate on this model. These are the ones that Eddie Diehl spoke of when he stated "we would run an additional screw into the neck. We would run the screw underneath the metal neck plate - if there was one - so that it was hidden when everything was put back together and then the neck wouldn't be moving all around like it did before."

Notice the white sticker type label on the plastic cover over the control cavity. Any of these instruments that were sold through Ampeg had this sticker on them which features the Ampeg name on it.

The bodies were made of a piece of 3/8" Masonite that was attached to a Popular or Pine frame body which were bound around the sides with Toylex, usually in white as seen above. Notice the chipping in the finish on this model.