Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Pickups for the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg guitar remains high on the list, coming in at second place. Many readers wish to know where one can obtain original vintage pickups.

Unfortunately the only way to acquire them today is through the online auctions on the Internet as they seem to pop up from time to time.

As seen above, one alternative to online auctions is to contact Kent Armstrong who has all the specs and schematics for the original pickups made back in the day and can build one that sounds exactly like those originals. In addition he can custom wind almost any kind of pickup you want that will slide into the Dan Armstrong guitar. Seen here his new rock treble, or RT pickup which is inserted into the body of my 1969 Dan Armstrong guitar. An original RT pickup is lying nearby for reference.

As seen above left and right, some prefer different types of pickups and have come up with some innovative and interesting designs all their own. Some, like the above.... I rather like, simply because the design does not alter the instrument, for as seen here - what looks like a DiMarzio 'super distortion humbucking pickup' has been somehow mounted onto what looks like a brass plate with a 90º angle on one end where two female banana plugs are affixed. The output wires of the pickup are soldered to these plugs and complete the connection to the instruments control cavity when the pickup is slid onto the male plugs of the instrument.

One thing not like Dan's pickups can be seen on the opposite side of the banana plugs. From what I can make out, it appears to be a 'tab' of some sort, which has been attached to the brass plate. I can only speculate that with the exposed coils of the DiMarzio, pressing on them hard enough to insert &/or remove the pickup was likely to dislodge the coils from the brass plate, or at the vesy least rip the pickups' lead wires from their respective banana plug. Whatever the case, it seems likely that this is why the tab is there - being the pickup is not encased in resin.

At left and right, a unique way of getting industry standard pickups to fit in the Dan Armstrong guitar without any modifications to the instrument or the pickups. A kit can be purchased on Reverb where you assemble a few parts to get most any humbucker to fit onto the banana plugs of the Dan Armstrong. As seen on the left, #1 - take the threaded (and hollowed) tubes and slide them into the box. Then slide the metal rings #2 over the threaded tubes, then thread the nuts #3 over the rings and tighten. Then solder the two pickup wires to the rings. Lay the bottom of the pickup onto the plate and run pickup height adjustment screws into the holes on the bottom plate #4. Finally, use the screws #5 to attach the metal bottom to the enclosure. Over at the right, the pickup in its enclosure.

At left and right, the pickup, slid in and at rest in an AMG100 guitar that has connections just like the clear acrylic Dan Armstrong guitar.

At left, a Seymour Duncan pickup residing in the channel of a re-issue Dan Armstrong guitar. This is a great way to try different pickups without altering the instrument. To acquire one contact the seller kripnum_obyd5p on Ebay or KENNYs Gear Locker on Reverb.

As the bass pickup on my 1970 Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass went out, I placed a call to Kent Armstrong who built me a replacement pickup built just like the original. In addition, he also built me a humbucking bass pickup which can be seen here at upper left in my bass. At upper right, notice how well the pickup fits, and in particular, notice how the 3 rings match up to the threaded holes in the acrylic body. These holes are the original holes tapped for the screws that make the connection to the rest of the guitar's circuitry. All of which can be better seen in the enlarged view.