Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Here's another one that I plead with you not to do with your Dan Armstrong guitar &/or bass. The neck from a Dan Armstrong bass had the headstock cut off. Then a headstock that was cut off a Dan Armstrong guitar has been glued on the bass neck. At upper left, it appears that the fingerboard now sports a 'zero' fret for whatever reason, while directly in front of it the glue job can be seen. At upper right, it would appear that various types of tuners have adorned this headstock at one time or another while further back, and looking like an appendenge on the Frankenstein monster, the glue joint where the bass neck meets the guitar headstock can easily be seen.

When cutting the headstocks off the original necks, I can't help but wonder how they got around the metal truss rod, and I wondered what kind of condition the rod is in. However, judging by the looks of it as seen at upper left - I think I can safely assume that the truss rods have seen better days. With original Dan Armstrong bass & guitar necks still popping up on various online auctions, as well as a few select guitar shops, it seems a crime to destroy two collectible instruments in this manner. It just wasn't necessary.

Even the copies get altered. Above left, A Univox Lucy guitar body now sports a chrome scratchplate that only equips a single humbucking pickup and has matching chrome knobs. A Gibson styled TunoMatic bridge has also been added, and the instrument has been modified to feature the 'string-thru' body design.

At upper right, even the Lucy's headstock has been modified. Grover Rotomatics have since replaced the original tuners while the wood grained veneer on the headstock has been removed, thus revealing the 3-piece maple neck. A black plastic truss rod cover replacing the original wood grained type cover completes this mod.

Another copy - this one a Ventura copy guitar that's been modified and equipped with a Floyd Rose style tremolo system. As seen upper left, the slide-in pickup channel has been covered over with a larger aluminum?? scratchplate. The original Dan Armstrong copy pickup has been replaced with a humbucking pickup from Schecter. Also mounted on the scratchplate are a pair of clear speed knobs and a 2-way mini switch to split the pickup from a humbucker to a single coil, as well as the usual output jack. At upper right, and seen from the back, the routing, claw, springs and lower portion of the Floyd Rose unit can be seen. Notice the ground wire going from the control cavity, into the slide-in pickup cavity, and eventually soldered to the spring claw of the Floyd Rose type unit.

Above, a closer look at the guitar body. At left, and looking closer at the scratchplate - just to the left of the pickup, notice what appears to be two factory-made holes. It seems most likely that this scratchplate was designed for a pickup that uses two height adjustment screws on one side and a single adjustment screw on the other. Notice the height adjustment screws that are in use and how they have some sort of rubber, or cork type washers employed. I can only speculate that this is for isolation purposes.

At right, a closer look at the routing of the acrylic as well as the Floyd Rose unit and springs. Given only two springs would seem to suggest lighter gauge strings are in use, and being only two such springs, they appear to be attached to what many luthiers consider the 'wrong' hooks of the claw.

At left, the Ventura headstock is now adored with Schaller tuners. Notice the cloudy grey coloring around most of the tuning pegs in the faux-wood veneer. This is most likely the lifting of the clear coating over the veneer that gives the headstock its glossy finish. Most likely this was due to the enlargement of the tuner peg holes in the headstock as the Schaller tuners would require larger size holes. If the wrong tool was used (eg. a drill vs. a reamer & rait-tail file) then this lifting of material could occur.

Better seen in enlarged view, notice the addition of a brass nut, and lastly the locking nut of the Floyd Rose system. Notice the sharp angle of the outer strings as they make their way to their respective tuners, due to the fact that the nut was probably placed too far forward in order to keep clear of a replacement truss rod cover.

At right, and from the back - the Schaller tuners can be seen. Notice the screw holes from the original tuners. Also notice the dark strip of wood, not only in the center making up the laminated neck, but even more so, off on the far left - making up the 'treble' side of the headstock. A music store advertizement sticker can be seen at the top.

At left, an Ibanez 2364 model Dan Armstrong copy with a few mods, the most obvious being a replacement black scratchplate. No doubt the original had suffered damage in the usual way. In addition, a replacement switch and pair of pickups complete this mod. At right, the wiring to the replacement switch can easily be seen as can the rest of the wiring.

At left, the headstock on this model shows the Ibanez name in raised letters. This is very much unlike other models that feature the name flush with the faux-wood. Also, the badged name is usually in pearloid or colored letters. One cannot help but wonder if there wasn't another Ibanez product that sported this name tag as there is a considerable amount of glue or other material around this badged name - possibly suggesting it's been added over the top of an existing badge. At right, the tuners look stock as does everything else on the back side.

At left, an early Dan Armstrong model that's been modified by the installation of a Kahler whammy bar and locking nut. An EMG Select passive pickup and matching pickup ring has rendered the interchangable pickup design moot. Equally obvious is the understandable addition of a rather large chrome plated washer to not only cover up breakage around the output jack, but to strengthen the area as well. Close observers may have notice the installation of Schaller strap pegs, though an original peg remains at the bottom right.

At right, and... judging by the straight slotted screws that anchor the tailpiece to the body, what appears to be an early Dan Armstrong bass that's intact, with the exception of the scratchplate, which one can only assume was destroyed, likely by the owner stepping on his guitar cord. Whatever the case, the instrument now sports a clear, and much smaller, piece of plexiglas that the controls (notice the Fender style knobs) are mounted on.

Notice too, that this is a transitional bass - a bass made when the chrome plate on the body used to help secure the pickup in place gave way to the bass pickup being secured to the body like the guitar model, with a thumbscrew turned in from the backside. During this time certain bass bodies still had the pickup cavity routed a bit larger for the pickup plate - even though though it was no longer in use. As such, there were a few models produced that show a narrow gap in the body seen just left of the pickup - thus making it a 'transitional' bass. Another tell-tale sign of an early bass is the thumb-rest placement relative to the scratchplate. On very early models the rest was placed a bit further back - closer to the pickup. Though the scratchplate is missing, in the enlarged view one can easily make out the placement of the thumb-rest and how it's farther back.

Oddly, a small strip of the original scratchplate still exists and is mounted atop a portion of the replacement plate. Although the white material that was embedded into the indented letters has since disappeared, one can still make out the 'Dan Armstrong · Ampeg' name in the enlarged view. One can only assume that this portion of the original scratchplate was saved, and attached, for identification purposes.

Above is yet another modded Dan Armstrong bass. At left, a clear, two piece unconventionally shaped scratchplate has replaced the original. It's not a huge leap of logic to imagine what happened to the original plate. At right, notice the extra routing that was necessary for the Badass bridge.

At left, notice how the scratchplate consists of two pieces - one over the neck tongue and the other over the control cavity that extends up into the lower cutaway horn. The original pickup has since been replaced by an early (no chrome) Gibson EB-3 bass humbucking pickup. Oddly enough, there are no screws mounting the pickup to the body.

Notice the Badass bridge and how the low E string is slanted over towards the A string in order to get the string onto the fingerboard. At both left and right, notice how far back the factory holes are drilled and tapped for the thumb rest screws. Basses with the thumb rest further back like this leave no doubt that this is, or was, a fairly early 1969 model bass. Later basses would have the thumb rest's further forward. At right, notice how a small channel was routed into the acrylic body from the Badass bridge to the control cavity for the ground wire.

At left, the bass in its carrying case with a better view of at the two-piece scratchplate, better seen in the enlarged view. At right, a closer look at the internal wiring and components, again seen better in the enlarged view. Of particular interest, to me are the two nine volt batteries in the control pocket which is a bit curious as the old Gibson EB-3 pickup was never wired with electronics utilizing 9v batteries.

Notice the two small cylindrical replacement knobs along with what looks like two small potentiometers underneath. It is unknown what type they are but might be part of what the batteries are all about. Notice a small toggle switch as well. One can only wonder what its function is in this circuit. Perhaps for coil tapping. Lastly, notice the Badass bridge and how the low E string is directed toward the A string in its saddle piece just to get the string onto the neck and fingerboard.

As seen above left & right, modifications to this instrument do not end at the body. Seen above the headstock now adorns Schaller M4 tuners.

At left, it's unsure what happened here, or more poignantly, why. A newer re-issue style rosewood bridge with brass saddles sets atop the tailpiece of an original first generation Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar. While this is not totally unusual, the four mounting screws that secure the tailpiece to the acrylic body are not only unoriginal, but very oversized. Notice too, the unusual and unnecessary routing of the grounding wire. One cannot help but wonder why the wire wasn't run in the usual, stock way.

At right, a more understandable modification to this instrument. A black plastic handled SPDT switch has replaced the original. Notice that the very last scratchplate screw looks original, but is likely a replacement. In the enlarged view, notice the usual achilles heel of the scratchplate around the output jack.

At left, an interesting mod. While the instrument appears unmolested, the bridge is rather interesting in that it's not the usual rosewood saddle, but rather the bridge portion off of a wraparound bridge that's normally found on instruments like the Gibson Les Paul Junior. I'm not sure how well the intonation is as it appears to have minimal adjustment, or travel capabilities. The nice part of this is that it appears to be reversible, in that, in order to put it back to stock one just loosens the strings, takes out the wraparound bridge and insert a rosewood saddle.

At left, a 1970 Dan Armstrong bass with a missing thumb rest. At right is where things get interesting. As can be seen, the original neck has been replaced by another one of fairly decent quality. It is unknown what happened to the original.

At left, looking at the neck from a distance one would seldom know that it's a replacement. At right, the original one piece maple neck has been replaced with one that sports a laminated neck with what looks like mahogany or walnut strips running parallel with the neck to help resist warping or twisting.

At left, a headstock shaped fairly close to the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg design but lacking the strong wood grain type pattern of the faux-wood veneer. It appears that there is no veneer, but rather the wood was just stained. Oddly, given how close the headstock shape was to the original it's surprising that a black Gibson 'bell shaped' truss cover was chosen over one closer to the original. Over on the right, Gibson labelled tuners adorn the headstock.

At left, a 1971 fretless bass that's been slightly altered. Notice the lack of a thumbrest. At right, notice the brown resin missing around the pole piece of the pickup as the white-ish color of the top wire bobbin can be seen.

At left and right is where things went awry. For whatever reason, this fretless bass features an all-chrome tailpiece, whereas most tailpieces by this time has had a portion of the tailpiece sandblasted. Even more odd is the four screws that anchor the tailpiece to the acrylic body. Notice how they are sticking out and angled in all different directions.

In the enlarged view you will have the answer. The tailpiece is actually upside down. Why? Because the last owner of this bass is left handed and the only way to acquire a left handed Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass is to turn the tailpiece upside down and flip it, so that the low 'E' string now resides where the 'G' normally would. Thus the 'G' string is now where the low 'E' string normally resides. The flipping of the tailpiece was necessary for the ball-end of the strings, as the string slot is machined much wider for the larger, low 'E' string. This is why the screw headss are dangling in every direction, for there are no flared machined holes for the screws to sit in flush with the tailpiece.

At left, and not surprisingly, a strap button adorns the lower cutaway horn which is not surprising given a left handed player. In the enlarged view, at the center of the fingerboard - dot position markers can be seen. At right, I cannot explain the reason for a hole drilled from the front of the 'usual' upper horn (which is now the lower horn) to the rear of it. I can't image what was attached or anchored at this position.

Above, the D and G string slots had to have been enlarged in the Ivory nut on this Dan Armstrong bass. I can only assume the other two slots are untouched. At right, I don't know, it looks like that low E string tuning peg could stand to have a few more wraps around its post. :)