Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Bob Balch of Fu Manchu at Troubadour in 2002 playing a modified Dan Armstrong guitar.

Fu Manchu - Live at Rockpalast Festival, Dusseldorf, Germany on March 31^st 2002

More photos of Balch and his Dan Armstrong at Rockpalast.

At left, a tunable bridge adorns his guitar. At right, a replacement pickup with a custom made pickup ring can be seen.

Matthew Bellamy of Muse played a Dan Armstrong guitar in the Supermassive Black Hole music video.

At left and right, Luke Bentham of The Dirty Nil often plays a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar, stating "It's quite bizarre compared to anything else I've ever played. It's definitely got its own sound, focused, but very resonant. Full two octaves which is cool too. It's got its own pickups which you can slide in and out anytime in the bridge position. Mine only has the 'country rock humbucker'. It sounds awesome."

Looking at the image on the right solved the mystery of the pickup type, as it's clear [pun intended] that his guitar is equipped with the ST or 'Sustained Treble' humbucking pickup.

When asked about the guitars he uses on stage Bentham mentioned a few others then stated "and the Dan Armstrong lucite guitar. This guitar is from 1971 and tough as nails. It’s space age design and flashy looks made it something I wanted for a while. Plus it’s association to Keith Richards and Greg Ginn, I needed it. I only play it for our open tuning songs".

David Bowie, AKA David Robert Jones had changed his name when he was 18 to avoid confusion with another British musician of the same name, Davy Jones, who later became the front man for The Monkees. This photo was used in conjunction with his performance on February 27, 1986 at the Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. Here he is seen posing with a Dan Armstrong London guitar with what some say is a bead of sweat running down his chin, though it looks to me to be a skin blemish or imperfection.

At right, another pose with the London instrument. Bowie played the London guitar extensively, though rumors persist of him also playing a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg clear acrylic guitar as well.

At left, an autographed photo of David Bowie with his Dan Armstrong instrument. Written in ink on the backside of this photo Bowie writes "I've had this Dan Armstrong guitar since the early 70's I wrote most of the songs on 'Station to Station' on it."

At right, a similar photo. Notice the odd way he is holding the instrument. At first I thought the image had gotten reversed, but upon further inspection, the Dan Armstrong London name is legible, and the larger strings are at the bottom in these photos - all consistent for an instrument that is just being held upside down. Notice too, how he is bending the lower strings. Everything is reversed, just opposite of what you would expect, and I can't help but wonder if it was intentional, for whatever reason(s).

At left, another pose of Bowie and his Dan Armstrong London guitar. Though the photo looks like the one at the upper right, he appears to have a very satisfied look on his face. At right, Bowie leans into his Dan Armstrong London guitar.

At left, the guitar in these photos was eventually signed in black "Bowie 91" and at right, in 1991 it appeared in auction along with a postcard reproduced from the signed photo above in the Christie's auction catalog on 29/08/1991 lot 209.

At left and right, Jack Bruce takes the stage with a Dan Armstrong London bass

At left, Jack is seen playing a 342 model, a short scale version of the Dan Armstrong London bass. At right, an 'older' Jack Bruce is seen playing an 'older' Dan Armstrong · Ampeg fretless bass.

At left and right, Jack Bruce in more photos of him playing the Dan Armstrong fretless bass.

On the left, Jack at another venue with his Dan Armstrong fretless bass. In the enlarged view, it looks like the bass has Schaller tuners. Photo courtesy of Bill Richardson. At right, a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg fretted bass that has been autographed by Bruce. Although a fretted model, it appears to be a late 1970 or 71 model as the bass features a selector switch on the scratchplate. Also the chrome plated combination bridge/tailpiece is sandblasted as well - which also suggests a later model. Oddly, and as seen better in the enlarged view, notice how the rosewood bridge does not quite look to be original to the instrument.

At one point during his time in Cream, Jack used a Danelectro Longhorn bass that he bought at Dan's shop. In an interview he stated "Dan Armstrong actually 'doctored' all of our guitars back then. He had a place just opposite of Manny’s on 42^nd Street in New York City (actually it was 48^th Street) and we would take our guitars to get them souped up. There was a Danelectro in his shop that he’ad been working on, and I bought it. It was useful for some things, but I didn’t use it much. I did use it on some tracks. It had a very interesting sound, more like a piano, and it was quite twangy."

When asked if there were any basses that he used between the EB-3 and his (then) current Warick instrument, he replied "Yeah, I tried a Music Man for awhile, and a Dan Armstrong plexiglas fretless he made for me. I still have that one, and I played it on the How’s Tricks album."

One cannot help but wonder if this is the bass that Dan spoke of in the bass section of this site, where he related a story to me stating "one year on my birthday I was surprised with the gift of a Dan Armstrong fretless bass that was specially made just for me. Someone found out that I loved fretless ebony fingerboards and that's what this bass had. I was in the process of moving so I left the bass with a friend. A few months after my move I checked back in with my friend only to find out that he pawned it, or sold it. The next time I saw that bass it was being played by none other than bassist Jack Bruce."

Geezer Butler. What can one say? As one of the finest bass players on the planet he has at times played a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass on stage. Although he acquired it as a result of someone vandalizing his Fender bass, he nevertheless went on to use his Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass for some time.

In an interview with Tony Bacon - when asked 'Have you used many different basses over the years?' Butler states "I didn't until about the third album, Master Of Reality [1971]. We were in America and my bass was on the plane at the time, and somebody, one of the baggage handlers, kindly opened the case and smashed my bass to pieces. That was on the Sunday in Canada. The Precision—that was the end of that. Got to the gig on Sunday, the case was undamaged, opened it at the gig, and there was this completely wrecked bass inside.

So the promoter had to phone around—all the shops were closed—and he knew this guy who owned a bass shop. So he went down and got this plexiglass Dan Armstrong, the only thing I could get. So that was my second bass, I adopted that bass. It was great, I really liked it. It was on the Master Of Reality tour after the Precision got smashed and then on the Vol. 4 album [1972]. Then that got stolen on the Vol.4 tour."

At left, Butler on stage, notice the Rolling Stones sticker on the body. On the right, as the bass player of Black Sabbath, Butler has been photographed extensively with his Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass. Rumor mill has it that he recorded the entire Vol. 4 LP with it. Given the dates mentioned in the above interview, this seems very credible. All photos are courtesy of my brother Dale Schnoor.

Pictured here with his Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass and Laney amplifier stacks - it had to have been a wall of sound.

Seen at left, in what is probably a studio shot, Geezer poses with his clear Dan Armstrong. As can be seen, this bass features a pickup selector switch which would make it a mid to late 1970 or a 1971 model. What I find the most ironic is that I had the exact type of guitar strap as the one seen in this photo. Better seen in the enlarged view, notice the Rolling Stones' iconic 'lips and tongue' logo sticker behind the instrument's tailpiece in this photo.

At right, and probably backstage before a concert, Geezer can be seen accessing his Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass alongside Black Sabbath's lead guitarist Toni Iommi. Photos courtesy of Dale Schnoor.

At left and right, what is reported as Geezer Butler's Dan Armstrong bass was up for auction. This bass, like the bass seen inside the Black Sabbath Vol.4 LP - has a selector switch and a non-sandblasted tailpiece with a rosewood-only (no fret) saddle. At right, notice the chipping and flaking away of the brown resin around the pickups' pole piece. An 'achilles heel' on these early pickups due to the brown resin being extremely thin in this area. Also notice the lack of a thumb rest on this bass. Perhaps it's a coincidence, but in an enlargement of the photo on the inside of the Vol.4 LP it too, shows the lack of a thumb rest where only its two mounting holes can be seen. The enlarged image can be seen here.

At left an original case showing what looks like an older handle not only has the band name on it, but was actually taped shut at one point. Perhaps for air freight shipping. At right, the owners registry card showing Pete 'Buddy' Tuscano's name under the final inspection. Interesting too, as Dan told me he looked all instruments over prior to shipping - perhaps done after everyone else, as he never mentioned that he stamped, or 'signed-off' on anything. Notice too an earlier serial number that was crossed out and a newer one written in over the top of it.

What is of interest is that even the newer D1198A serial number is still too low for the bass to come equipped with a pickup selector switch. My bass, which sports the serial number D1255A still lacks the switch. As such, it's logical to assume that it was done once Ampeg released their Product Bulletin #17 Procedures For Updating Armstrong Guitars and Basses was released to the public. Likely, the switch, as well as the wiring changes were done at a music store or by an independent guitar luthier.

If this is Butler's bass, it's hard to explain what the seller was thinking by putting it up for auction, claiming it was Geezer's bass that was stolen many years ago, for almost certainly Butler would want his property back. More likely it's not - and was advertized as such in the hopes of getting a better price for it. All photos are courtesy of Dale Schnoor.

Seen at left and right Steppenwolf's Larry Byrom, like John Kay, often times played a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar.

Seen above, Byrom, alongside singer John Kay is playing his plexi in the recording studio.

Seen at left and right, a film of Steppenwolf recoding their song Screaming Night Hog in 1970. Filmed at American Recording studio.

Seen at left, Byrom, alongside bassist George Biondo who, at 1:00 in can be seen picking the strings of his Ampeg AMB-1 bass with a coin, which looks to be a quarter. John Kay can be seen on harmonica. At right, it appears that Larry prefers the lower strap peg on his Dan Armstrong guitar.