Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

As seen above, a Dan Armstrong modified Danelectro bass. At upper left, and in addition to all the other hardware mentioned earlier these basses feature 24 fret fingerboards. Oddly, it does not feature the double dots on the 24^th fret the way a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass (and other basses that have 24 frets) do.

At upper right, notice the metal plate that houses the three screws that secure the neck to the body. Carl Thompson and Eddie Diehl both spoke of how they often lifted this plate & added an additional screw underneath to stabilize the neck to body joint on these instruments. Furthermore, notice the micro-tilt screw adjustment located just under the lower screw on the metal plate. Lastly, notice a white sticker on the control cavity cover.

As can be seen above left & right - the stickers are labelled The Ampeg Company Inc. Linden, N.J. U.S.A. followed by a serial number. Seen better in enlarged view it is labelled No. DDG 096. (the other label is torn but appears to be in the mid 30's). The DDG almost certainly stands for Dan Armstrong Modified Dan-Electro Gguitar while the number that follows is almost certainly the actual production number.

Many of these instruments were adorned with such a sticker which seems to have created a great deal of confusion on various web sites and publications. Yet the reason for the sticker actually seems fairly obvious. A closer look at these labels reveal that some of the Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro instruments were sold through the Ampeg Co. of Linden, NJ - which was, of course, the very same factory that was also producing Dan's clear acrylic instruments. As a result, many rumors have surfaced over the years.

One such rumor is that in 1969 Ampeg was having problems getting Dan's clear acrylic instruments out of the prototype stages and into full scale production. In order to bridge the gap at Ampeg Dan decided to purchase most, if not all of the remaining bodies and necks and continued manufacturing Dan Armstrong modified Danelectro's and selling them through Ampeg which would suffice until Dan's acrylic models became available.

Unfortunately, much of the available evidence does not support this scenario. While it is true that the Dan Armstrong instruments were in an extended prototype stage they began shipping in 1969 and according to Dan - he didn't even meet William Herring until 1970 by which time the acrylic instruments were well into production. Also, while it is true that many of the modified Danelectro instruments were sold through Ampeg they were also sold over the counter at Dan's shop as well as independent music stores throughout the land. Given a target date which does not line up and couple it with the fact that Ampeg did not have exclusive selling rights to these instruments, and this rumor loses much of its credibility.

Another scenario suggests that Unimusic - the music equipment conglomerate that bought Ampeg (among other companies) in 1967 had approved the finances for the purchase of the remainder of the Danelectro parts and commissioned Dan to build the instruments using his stabilizing techniques. The instruments were produced and sold through Ampeg, Dan's shop, and to independent dealers &/or music stores. But when the guitar boom of the mid 1960^'s began to soften Unimusic suddenly found itself without the funds that was promised to William Herring. As a result, Herring filed a lawsuit and apparently won, but by that time of course the instruments were already in players hands. The story ends there.

But this scenario suggests that William Herring granted Dan and Ampeg approval to take the remaining stock, produce and sell the instruments with little, or no money down - something that seems very unlikely in business. In one interview, Dan had said that he "gave him [Herring] the money with the company against the company." Which was basically Dan's way of saying, "until this loan is paid off - I own part of the company". In the same interview Dan also stated that Herring had major financial problems at the time which also makes it very unlikely that Herring would have granted Dan, or Ampeg anything unless he saw some funds up-front.

Furthermore, and as mentioned above, if Unimusic had funded this venture they almost certainly would have maintained selling rights to themselves - and the instruments would have only been available through Ampeg. Yet we know this was not the case. Lastly, and as the nail that seals the proverbial 'lid on this coffin' is the fact that Dan said this all took place in 1970 - in other words - at the exact point in time when Dan's acrylic instruments were reaching maximum production levels and sales at Ampeg. It would be another year or more before Unimusic would encounter financial problems to the point of not being able to pay their bills.

Maybe the answer lies somewhere in-between these scenarios for although Nat Daniel sold Danelectro to MCA in 1966 he remained with the company virtually until its demise in 1969. Apparently in or around this time he stopped in Dan's shop to look over the modified Danelectro guitars, just to see the changes Dan had made to his instruments. After looking around he was reported to have left without saying a word. It is well known that Nat Daniel was - by this point in time - out of the business altogether, and was eventually planning a move to Hawaii to focus on boat building. As a result, some have suggested that perhaps it was just natural for him to look around, see the alterations and then leave without saying a word.

Perhaps...... but far more likely there may have been some awkward emotions going on between Nat Daniel and Dan Armstrong - for although Nat was somewhat more a reserved person, Dan was anything but, and he always greeted visitors in his shop. It wasn't competition, for Danelectro was closed. Furthermore Dan took great strides to speak with guitar builders far larger than Danelectro. No, it had to be something more. I never knew what until I interviewed Hank in California (who was best man at Dan & Vic O'Casey's wedding) as well as Dan's life long friend Craig Buzzart who now lives in the Florida Keys, and lastly another friend of Dan's who also lives in Florida (though he wishes to remain anonymous on the Internet).

As far as I can tell neither of these men know one another, for as to my knowledge - they have never met, nor have they had any kind of correspondence with one another. Yet when I interviewed them they all suggested another, more interesting & likely possibility that coincided not only with one another, but with the time frame of events. The best evidence seems to suggest that the silence between Nat Daniels and Dan Armstrong was the result of a Dan Armstrong-Danelectro conflict that stemmed from the fact that when Dan invested his funds with "the company against the company" he was under the assumption that it was understood that he was also buying the Danelectro name as well. After all, he was holding shares of the now defunct company with his investment, and he was the only one left who was producing any of the instruments. By all rights he was the only one keeping the Danelectro name even alive. Given all that had transpired - with the exception of the man still producing these instruments - who would even want to keep the name? And why? According to Dan's friend Hank it all ended up in litigation as a result.

By the time the lawyers had closed their briefcases it had been decided that the Danelectro name was not part of the loan, as it was not an actual 'purchase' - but a loan. Furthermore, the trademark name had not yet expired. As a result of their differences everything fell apart and according to Dan "the remainder of the inventory was moved from the warehouse to a chicken pen in New Jersey". William Herring disappears from the story while Dan is left with whatever proceeds he can get from the sales of the instruments. In time Nat Daniel eventually granted Tennessee guitar builder Jerry Jones permission to build copies of his guitar designs.

But it would be Anthony Marc who would eventually acquire the Danelectro trademark along with a great deal of un-assembled Danelectro and Coral parts that he would eventually sell off. One big customer was Subway Guitars of Berkley California who basically did what Dan had done years ago - which was to assemble the guitars for sale at their music store - and like Dan Armstrong before them, many of these instruments were modified.

At left is an Anthony Marc advertizement from the May 1993 issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine.

According to the US Patent & Trademark Office website in the mid to late In the 1990^'s, Steve Ridinger purchased the rights to the Danelectro name and logo then established the Evets Corporation in San Clemente, CA and set about building replicas of the Danelectro line. The instruments are now being made in Asia and are slightly modified with tunable style bridges - though more recent models are rumored to be exactly like the originals. Today, the Evets Corp. plans to produce only one style of guitar and bass per year and offer it to the public. However, they also offer a variety of guitar related products, including a line of effects units and small guitar amplifiers. At one point Evets Corp. filed a lawsuit against Jerry Jones who was still building Danelectro copies but the suit was dismissed since Evets did not have any rights from the Daniels Estate - yet Evets Corp. holds the trademark, so it's all pretty confusing, even to this day.

Such confusion was no doubt felt by Dan Armstrong many years ago, and who even as late as 1993 stated in an interview that he "loaned William Herring the money with the company against the company. He left with the money - and that's how I came to own the company." However, by the date of that interview, the Danelectro name had already changed hands several times and was soon to be purchased by Evets. Understandably Dan was more than just a little miffed about everything, and apparently had spoken to friends about it over the years as he felt his investment, both in funds, and his time had been wasted. Unfortunately for Dan, it would not be the last time he would feel this way.

Of all the topics Dan and I discussed - the Dan Armstrong Modified Danelectro guitars were only briefly touched on and I wish that time had allowed me to follow up more on this part of his story. But thanks to these interviews and articles that have surfaced, enough light has been shed to where one can sort of 'pin down' the story. In the end, it wasn't special, nor was it magic. It was another day in the life of Dan Armstrong where he chewed away a living doing what he did best - making the best products possible for the working musician.