Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Dan also produced 8 black guitars and basses as he experimented with plastic instead of acrylic. The plastic is known as Cellulose Butyrate, and according to Dan "we bought some extruded butyrate plastic sheets (black) to try it out as we understood that butyrate was workable" (i.e. it could be machined like acrylic) "but they sounded terrible and the overall process didn't work well. So we made 8 guitars and 8 basses but they sounded sort of dead, so we gave up the butyrate idea. Butyrate shrinks some 20^% in a mold, and would require more machining than starting with sheets."

Years later I had to know if I got my notes correct or not. What Dan meant to say here was that the butyrate sheets that got delivered to Ampeg turned out to be 20% smaller in size due to the fact that butyrate shrinks when the sheets are molded at the factory. With this 20^% shrinkage factor, it meant that much smaller sheets of butyrate were delivered and not nearly as many guitar bodies could be cut from it. This made for more waste - which drove the cost up when compared to using the full sized sheets of acrylic. More time consuming machining was required as butyrate was not as easily workable, nor as forgiving as acrylic. The smaller sheets that required extra careful machining, coupled with more waste and what Dan called a "dead" sound, as well as other issues quickly doomed the butyrate body project.

There has been many myths associated with the black butyrate Armstrong instruments, and according to Dan only one is true. Much of the confusion surrounding these instruments is the simple fact that all of them were prototypes. They never made it into any kind of production, and once dropped, they were sold locally, in the New York area, usually out of Dan's shop. The following photos are courtesy of Mr. Chad Coulter.

At the left, a black 1969 Dan Armstrong guitar owned by Chad Coulter. The last time this instrument appeared on this web site it was for sale at Mars Music. Seen here with a CB pickup, it also came with the more desirable ST humbucking pickup that Dan made in that year. Notice the phillips screws on the tailpiece & smooth formica scratchplate. All of these features together would suggest a transitional instrument made at a specific point in time where both the newer and older hardware was used.

At upper right, and contrary to popular belief the black Armstrongs did not have any different or any special type of serial numbers on them. According to Dan they were all fitted out with production line necks made at the time and using the conventional type serial numbers. The only difference with the black models is that due to the black color of the body, the serial number could not be seen through the body like on a clear model, and so its number was hand written in on the top of the neck in addition to the stamped in number which can be seen on the side if the neck is removed.

There were however, at least a few abnormalities involved when it came to producing the black instruments. Seen at left and circled in red, are two 'bumps' or 'rises' on the surface of the backside of Chad's Armstrong. When I forwarded this picture to Dan and asked what it was, and why or how these bumps got there, he was stumped himself and replied "I have no idea". Notice the trees and swing-set reflected on the body as well as the indented circular hole for the screw to secure the guitars pickup to the body.

At the right, in the pickup cavity is two thin strips of the same formica material that is otherwise used to make the scratchplate and headstock veneer. Here the strips are glued in to raise the pickup up in height a touch to where it can connect to the two banana plugs which in turn connect to the rest of the guitar circuitry. For whatever reason, the positioning of the pickup as well as the height of the pickup cavity seemed to be a common issue when it came to tooling the black butyrate instruments.

This is no doubt due to the fact that these guitars were prototypes and were machined by hand but so were the clear acrylic models. Perhaps this is an example of the "extra machining" issues that Dan was referring to earlier for when I inquired further about the existance of these strips of Formica Dan replied "basically we did whatever it took to make a prototype work". Notice the routing marks in the pickup cavity between the strips as well as the smooth style Formica scratchplate on the body, like a 69 model would have, and yet a rosewood bridge with a fret across it, like later models would have. Again, all indications of a transitional model.

As seen at left, Chad Coulter's guitar came with a letter that every guitar player loves. One that gives a brief history of the guitar. This letter reads as follows: This Black Armstrong Guitar was one of 10 (10 only) guitars made as a special run by the Ampeg Co. for the Dan Armstrong Music guitar store 500 La Guardia Place, Greenwich Village, New York City. I, David Rennie, while employed at the store purchased this guitar in 1969-70. David Rennie

There were a few errors in this letter, for example, there were only 8 of these guitars & basses made, not 10 as stated. Also, these instruments were not part of any 'special run' by Ampeg, they were prototypes that never made it into any kind of production 'run'. Also, these insruments were never made for the Dan Armstrong Music guitar store at all but for Ampeg. They just happened to be sold through Dan's shop once they were dropped. Of interest to me was the year he dated it at. Not 1969 or 1970, but "1969-70" which would seem to verify what is a transitional guitar that has both older & newer hardware on it as mentioned above. When asked, Dan remembered his past employee and verified the date.

Seen at the upper right is the backside of the guitars scratchplate, showing the potentiometers and wiring. The number stamped on the outer casing of the potentiometers is one way of dating a Dan Armstrong guitar. The number reads 1376920 and the two numbers following the 137 is the year of manufacture of the actual volume or tone potentiometer itself. The next two numbers represent the week of the year. On this particular guitar it appears the volume potentiometer was made in the 20th week of 1969 making this guitar a late 69 or early 1970 model, which again explains the use of older & newer hardware that is installed on it. However, even this dating scheme can be somewhat misleading at times as some potentiometers go bad after awhile and need to be replaced, usually with a newer one. When this happens, the apparent date of manufacture appears to be much later than it actually is.

A way to check if the potentiometer has been replaced is to observe the wiring that is soldered onto it. Original solder joints will have a red colored paint or die over the tops of the actual solder joints. Seen here, the soldering joints have the red coloring to them, suggesting an actual and original potentiometer.