Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Above left, and like the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg models a matching LA Luminariste bass guitar is also produced. Notice once again the gap from the pickup to the scratchplate. At right, the 32" scale maple neck attaches to the acrylic body via four large screws and washers. Notice the clarity in the routing of the control cavity (better seen in the enlarged view) as you can see right through it.

At left, while the headstock is shaped like the Dan Armstrong model it features a high gloss veneer. Seen better in enlarged view the truss rod cover, while shaped like the Dan Armstrong original, is thicker and made of rosewood. At right, The maple neck and headstock is equipped with large sized tuners - much larger than what the original Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass employs. The brand name used is unknown,they are advertized as 'Original Rotomatic type' in their literature.

At left, the acrylic body of the Luminariste bass is advertized as being 33mm thinner than the Dan Armstrong bass. Like the Luminariste guitar model, it weighs in a little over 4kg. At right, notice the routed channel from the control cavity to the tailpiece for grounding purposes.

At left, and like the aforementioned truss rod cover, the Luminariste bass features a scratchplate that is much thicker than the Dan Armstrong models. Made of rosewood, it has the LA Luminariste name emblazoned into it with white letters in the Dan Armstrong fashion.

Also seen better in enlarged view, these bases are equipped with an EMG-HZ humbucking pickup. According to literature it's a "Passive Pickup for 4-string bass featuring a dual-coil design for low noise and plenty of output. Using EMG's "CS" design (Ceramic and Steel), this pickup has the punch and fullness of older passive designs along with added brightness for a better defined tone. EMG-HZ features solid bar poles (emphasis mine) that cover the entire width of the strings so any string layout can be used. This is to me interesting as the Dan Armstrong bass pickups have always employed solid bar pole pieces, as did their guitar pickups. Also, all HZ pickups have EMG's exclusive '5-wire Quik-Connect' output allowing any number of wiring combinations, and are fully shielded for a minimum of noise."

At right, the scratchplate also features master volume & master tone controls. Further back, a chrome plated combination bridge/tailpiece. The bridge features adjustable saddles that fortunately appear to have plenty of room for travel. In the enlarged view one can see a few of the mounting screws as they made their way into the acrylic to secure the tailpiece to the body. The tailpiece brand used in unknown.

At left, and like it's guitar brethren, the Luminariste bass features a rosewood fingerboard that sports 24 highly polished frets'. Notice the set-screw hole visible in the volume control knob. At right, the all maple neck can be seen. Back at the tailpiece one can see the bare wire that grounds the instrument.

At left, LA Luminariste also produces left hand instruments as well. It is unknown whether they are custom ordered that way or not, but it would seem likely given the limited number of instruments that are available. The name on the scratchplate, while reading correctly would take a little getting used to for me. At right, and equally different looking, is the left handed headstock.

At left, and like the guitar model, the Luminariste bass is also available in a glowing LED model. Looking like a regular model from the front, it can be easily illuminated. At right, the battery compartment is hidden from the front view of the instrument, hidden behind the scratchplate and features a flip-up cover for easy access. Seen better in the enlarged view, wires can be seen leaving the battery compartment making their way to the to the control cavity, and equally, and wires leaving the control cavity going to the neck.

By pulling upwards on the tone control the body LED gets energized, while pulling up on the volume control the neck LED gets lit. Above left, notice the body (only) as seen when illuminated, while at right, and with the body again only illuminated - notice how it also illuminates everything and everyone around it.

At left, and with the neck LED's also illuminated the instrument takes on an even more dramatic look. Notice the blue color eminating from the output jack. At right, notice the dramatic effect of the illuminated neck, especially emphasized at the 12^th and 24^th (double dot) octave markers.

The blue LED's in the neck, naturally..... are the dot position markers. But what I wanted to know is how they managed to illuminate the acrylic body. At left, This photo gave me a little hint at how they accomplished this feat. Seen here you can barely make out two blue colored LED's placed between the combination bridge/tailpiece and the scratchplate as well as a third LED positioned halfway between the aforementioned bridge/tailpiece and the instruments pickup.

At right however, three additional LED's can be seen placed on the bottom and backside of the scratchplate. In the enlarged view, notice how even the channels going to the battery compartment, the neck, and the grounding wire are strongly illuminated.

This Luminariste bass is both left handed and an LED model. In the enlarged view one can see that both the volume and tone controls have been pulled up. Notice that the scratchplate, like the original Dan Armstrong · Ampeg models, utilize seven screws to secure the scratchplate to the acrylic body.

At right, and maybe due to the angle of the neck in this photo, the illuminated neck somewhat takes on an eerie/alien look. Not only do the illuminated basses make a statement on stage, they, like their matching LED guitar models, can be quite practical in dimly lit, or even temporarily unlit stages.

LA Luminariste instruments are made by Next Tone Guitars a factory located in Itami City, in the Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Originally distributed by Leno Sound Co., Ltd. the company name was changed to Next Tone Guitar Tradings on May 18^th 2015. Instrument import, planning, wholesale/wholesaler - they apparently do their own distributing. Next Tone is also an authorized distributor of Martinez Guitars, Mayson Guitars and Rosso instruments, including the original Monogram Guitars.