Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Eros is another badge name copy of the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar. Eros (which in Greek religion is the God of love) was a UK importer brand.

As seen at upper left, the instrument has features identical to many of the other badged names with the exception of a multi black/white/black scratchplate.

At upper right, and seen from the backside, a white color engulfs the back of the scratchplate. It is unknown for certain, but being it's a black/white/black scratchplate, with the black layer first and last - it's possible that it may be a form of shielding, but it's unknown for sure.

Above left, the Eros headstock. Though shaped like the original Dan Armstrong · Ampeg model that it's copied after, it's odd that it features such an unusual truss rod cover. Looking nothing like the original models 'mini headstock shape' that Matt Umanov speaks of in the Hardware section, nor does it copy the curved pyramid type shape found on many of the other badged Dan Armstrong copies. Instead, and as can be seen here, it's shaped just like those found on many of the Les Paul copy guitars.

At right, and seen from the backside, the Eros headstock is equipped with standard tuners seen on most copy models - as is the 3-piece laminated maple-mahogany-maple neck. Like most other badged copies it appears that the headstock once sported the usual tin metal plate that divulged the model and serial number - for the adhesive can still be seen where the neck meets the headstock. A little Naphtha would clean the mess up.

The seller of this instrument stated "There is more tonal variation from the twin humbuckers than one might expect, given that they are tight up next to one another and they're quite bright, this leads me to believe that they may well be nothing more than the standard early 70^'s Japanese single coil in a humbucker case type pickups."

As seen upper left & right, and mentioned above, while many of the badged copy guitars appear to be equipped with regular humbucking pickups - their looks can be somewhat deceiving. For as seen here, when the chrome plated covers are removed, they sometimes reveal just a single coil within. As seen above - while there are different internal variations on this theme, the reality is that they are still single coil units made to appear as a humbucker. Some of these pickups are reportedly made right at the Matsumoku factory, though most were probably out-sourced.

Looking for information on Eros I contacted Frank Meyers, webmaster of the site Drowning in Guitars as well as author of the book History of Japanese Electric Guitars. "According to Frank "the Eros name was used in the UK by the House of Music 138-140 Old Street, London EC1V9BL Tel:01-253-7294. I don’t think the Eros name is too common in the states."

After looking over the photographs seen above on this page Frank stated "The guitar in your picture looks like it was made at the old Kiso Suzuki factory". Kiso Suzuki was a violin company that eventually branched out into producing acoustic guitars and eventually electric. For whatever reasons they split up into two companies, allegedly in the 1960^'s to become Kiso Suzuki (soon to be called the 'old Kiso factory') and Suzuki Nagano. Frank closed his email stating" Most of the Dan Armstrong lucite guitars I’ve seen were made at the Fujigen factory or the Matsumoku factory".

Like Selmer, like Bell, or Rose Morris - Rosetti is one of the very well known British musical instrument distributors of the 20^th Century. Rosetti, sourced instruments from several manufacturers. Early models like this one were Japanese made, mostly Matsumoku builds but there are reports of some Eros models made by Fujigen as well. Later models are reported to have been made in Korea.

Rosetti also sold guitars made by UK manufacturers such as Fenton Weill. During the 1960^s Rosetti was the main UK distributor for a number of other imported brands, most notably Epiphone from around 1963, and Hagstrom circa 1969. As for the Eros Dan Armstrong copies, I feel it's safe to say that they were manufactured in Japan at the Matsumoku factory.