Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Replacement scratchplate screws are another item that's up there on everyone's list. After many years of playing on a Dan Armstrong instrument such screws can either get rusted or lost altogether.

As such, I've been using Gibson style scratchplate screws part #4387 from Stew-Mac which is the screw seen at the far left. The screw at the far right is the original Dan Armstrong · Ampeg scratchplate screw.

The screw in the middle is the Stewart McDonald part #4387 Gibson style screw that has been altered. Notice again the Gibson style screw at the left and how it comes to a point - for turning into a wooden body. Now notice the original scratchplate screw that I removed from my 1970 Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass guitar at the right. Notice how it has a flattened end on it - for turning into the pre-threaded holes in the acrylic body. Seen better in enlarged view, the screws have the same type of threads, so I took a pair of pliers (I used Lineman type pliers) to grip the head of the screw as I ground the pointed end of the screw flat using a bench grinder. Care must be taken to get the screw ground down the proper length, and one must proceed slowly when inserting the screw into the holes on the acrylic body but if you've done it correctly, the screws will easily turn in without disturbing the original tapped threads in the acrylic body.

At upper left, a photo of my Dan Armstrong bass with the original screw securing the scratchplate to the body. At upper right, the same thing only with the aforementioned (and slightly modified) Stewart McDonald scratchplate screw resides in place of the original screw. Notice the extra shine to it, mostly because it is new, but also because I made the mistake of ordering mine in chrome. I believe they are now only available in nickel which is more like the original screws anyway.

The actual screw head of the Stewart McDonald Gibson style screw is a bit larger than the original Ampeg screw head, but ironically that's a good thing, for as can be seen here, when comparing the two side by side, the replacement screw actually fits and fills the flared screw hole of the scratchplate better than the original screw does.