Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

As seen at left, Jeff Labar, guitarist of Cinderella is seen sporting a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar. At right, he's seen with lead singer and guitarist Tom Keifer as Cinderella performs at the First Bank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Labar had replaced original guitarist Michael Schermick.

As seen at left and right, Richard Quentin Laird is an Irish bassist who is best known for his work in the American jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra from June 1971 to December 1973.

As one writer put it "Among Rick’s voltage enhanced weapons of choice was the Fender Jazz, S.D. Curlee, and Dan Armstrong." Seen here he often played his Dan Armstrong clear bass.

Above left and right, Greg Lindstrom of the heavy metal band Cirith Ungol played a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass. Photos courtesy of Jim Edwards.

Tony Lombardo was the original bassist in the Descendents from 1979 to 1985. During this time, and even years later a Dan Armstrong · Ampeg plexi was his goto bass.

As seen upper left & right, notice how Lombardo used duct tape on the upper cutaway horn, likely to help secure the guitar strap to the peg. Notice too, a replacement pickup.

At left, a photo from further out in the crowd. Notice in this, and the second photo a few up from this, a white Fender bass in the background. On the right, and perhaps playing at an outdoor venue, notice the original knobs have been changed out. In their place is a pair of Gibson style top hat bell reflector type knobs as well as either an added (or if a latter made DA bass) changed out switch - no doubt to accommodate the black replacement pickup.

In 1985, Tony had left the group, stating "When Bill came to me and said he had lined up a U.S. tour, I had just bought a house, I had been working at the post office for three years and I was engaged to a woman who I never did marry. Not doing that tour was the biggest mistake of my life because I think Wow, I could have exhausted my creative potential into the band. I'd like to think we would have moved into a punk/jazz direction, like "Tonyage". I guess most people say they have no regrets in life. Yes, I still do regret that. I will always regret that. It was my insecurities. To go on the road, to leave this woman, my house, my job...I wasn't a 17 year-old kid who could say "Bye, mom, I'm off. It's goodbye to this woman I'm engaged to, goodbye to this house I put $40,000 on, goodbye to this job I've had for three years."

Above left, decades later, original members Frank Navetta, Bill Stevenson and Tony Lombardo - who founded the Descendants back in 1979 got together again in 2012. On the right, Tony laying down the bass lines on his Dan Armstrong.

At left, Lombardo joins the Descendents at RiotFest an an outdoor venue in 2014. On the right, fans go crazy when Tony is introduced and he waves at his cheering fans. The video can be seen here. Notice what is likely a store or guitar dealer sticker on the back side of the headstock in the enlarged view.

At left and right, the Descendents get underway.

As seen left and right, Phil Lynott also utilized an Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass guitar for his work in Thin Lizzy.

At left, it appears that his bass has had the original tuners replaced. At right, it appears some ornament has been placed on the headstock, as well as a sticker on the scratchplate.

In an interview with Tony Bacon Lynott states "I had a perspex Dan Armstrong. It was very flashy, but if you hit too hard [laughs], the strings got bent out of tune. So then I found that this bass was playing me. I thought I was playing much faster than I was, but when I got on a big-neck bass guitar, I couldn't play, because that Dan Armstrong had two octaves or something."

At left, Lynott and his Dan Armstrong bass with Thin Lizzy, on stage and off.

Above left, Lynott in what looks like a studio photo. At right, and seen best in the enlarged view, Lynott appears to be working the volume control knob on his Dan Armstrong bass. Notice the selector switch is 'kicked' to the back position. Lastly the aforementioned sticker/decal can be seen on the scratchplate, though it's still unlegible. In 1979 Lynott sold his Dan Armstrong to bassist Glenn Hughes of Black Sabbath/Deep Purple which can be seen in the 'H' section from the sub-menu.