Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Shaftesbury was another badge named copy of the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg clear guitar. Seen here in an outdoor setting this model is sporting a set of replacement knobs for the volume and tone controls.

Known as model 3402 in a Rose Morris catalogue dated 1971, it's somewhat ironic that the smaller guitar pictured within the ad is somewhat different than the final product, for the Shaftesbury instrument seen at upper left and right - as well as on the rest of the guitars on this page - show that a tunable type bridge is employed, whereas the smaller guitar in the literature shows the instrument sporting a combination bridge/tailpiece that employs a rosewood saddle like the guitar it's copied after.

At left and right, like many other copy brands, the Shaftesbury features two single coil pickups in the Dan Armstrong fashion - in that they sport a full length bar pole piece. However, unlike the Dan Armstrong pickups these pickups feature chrome plated metal covers.

At left, the Shaftesbury from the backside. Notice the 3-piece laminated maple neck and how darker strips of wood run down alongside of the center laminate. Like the Raven copy, these darker strips terminate near the heel of the neck, and notice how the central laminate alone appears to make up both the heel and tongue of the neck.

At right, and also like the Raven, the Shaftesbury's headstock is closely styled after the Gibson guitar line, with the 'open-book' or 'mustache' top, 3x3 tuner placement and badge name across the top - but like the Dan Armstrong models, it features a faux-wood veneer. The truss rod cover - though styled like other copies - closely matches the headstock veneer.

At left, a Shaftesbury copy that has a set of replacement tuners as well as volume and tone control knobs and strap pegs, while at right, and seen from the back, the full length of the maple neck can be seen.

At left, a closer view of the Shaftesbury which utilizes a tune-o-matic type bridge as well as a stop type tailpiece. Better seen in enlarged view, notice that the tailpiece extends over the scratchplate a bit. Also notice the pickup height adjustment screws on the left (bass) side of the pickups. Like the Raven model, an additional height adjustment screw was added between the two original height adjustment screws. Notice how these added screws appear to have larger screw heads to them, leaving no doubt that at one time different, and more conventional humbucking pickups were utilized. Lastly, notice the larger dot position markers on the fingerboard.

At right, and from the backside, the routed pickup and control cavities can be seen. In the enlarged view, when looking at the control cavity the pickup height adjustment screws can be seen. Also notice the small channel routed from the cavity near the selector switch to the stop tailpiece stud - no doubt for the grounding wire.

At left, the headstock shows off its new tuners and what appears to be a replacement truss rod cover as the stock cover more closely matches the headstock veneer. Notice that the screws on the cover, like most, if not all the replacement parts, are gold plated.

At right, I cannot tell what brand tuners these are as they look like many different brands, but there appears to be no lettering stamped into them. While not the clearest photo, one can see where the holes for the original tuners have been filled in. I can't help but wonder why gold plated hardware was chosen over chrome, as the latter is not only cheaper, but it would match the rest of the hardware on the instrument.

At left and right, a Shaftesbury guitar with a minor modification. The factory bridge has been replaced with another tunable type bridge, but instead of the usual adjustable saddle pieces this unit features roller styled adjustable saddles. Other than personal playing preferences, it's difficult to understand why one would make such a change.

Seen upper left, Shaftesbury guitars were a product of the Rose Morris Co. Founded in March of 1919 by Stanley and Charles Rose who formed a partnership which they then called Rose Brothers. They were joined later that same year by their brother Leslie Rose and a small import/distribution establishment was set up in small premises at No 16 Rosoman Street in London's Clerkenwell district (seen upper left).

At upper right, In October, 1920, A. V. Morris joined the Rose brothers and the name of the company was changed to Rose, Morris & Co., Ltd. This, then, was the foundation of the company and the name which it now bears. Musical instruments were initially imported from Italy (Eko guitars) and eventually from Japan (Matsumoku Industrial).

At left, in addition to importing musical products, here at 32-34 Gordon House Road NW5 London - Rose-Morris eventually expanded to producing instruments of their own. At right, a flyer of Rose-Morris 'Sponsored Instruments' from around the same time the Shaftesbury Dan Armstrong guitar copy was imported. Note the same address.

At left, another Rose-Morris 'Shaftesbury' advertizement, this time depicting their line of acoustic guitars. In the enlarged view, notice once again the aforementioned address of 32-34 Gordon House Road in London.

In addition to being an importer, retailor, and eventual manufacturer of musical products, Rose-Morris decided that they needed a store to showcase all of their musical products. At right, and residing at 81-83 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.1. in London - "midway between Piccadilly Circus and Cambridge Circus, in the heart of London's theatreland, the new showrooms cover two large floors with storage beneath, and the double display windows are, for Rose-Morris, truly a window on the world."

Over the years its been rumored that the Shaftesbury instruments were named after the distributors business location which, as mentioned above, is on Shaftesbury Avenue. So I decided to see if I could end the rumor and get an answer. I sent an e-mail to Rose-Morris and asked if they could tell me anything more about the Shaftesbury Dan Armstrong copy, and if they could verify or deny the Shaftesbury guitar/avenue rumor.

A day or two later I recieved an email from Alex in the guitar department at Rose-Morris. As to my request regarding information on the Shaftesbury Dan Armstrong copy, he wrote back, stating "I can direct you to a link regarding the Dan Armstrong Shaftesbury which will shed some light on the background of this make". Then he inserted the link: 'www.danarmstrong.org/copies2a.html' which, ironically, is the link to my Dan Armstrong pages. So that turned out to be 'a bust'.

However, on a more positive note, his response to the Shaftesbury name rumor was very helpful as he replied, stating "And yes the Shaftesbury was named after the street it was first located in". So now we can say we know for certain!

While Rose-Morris imported many instruments from Italy, it is well known that many later models were imported from Japan as well. The Shaftesbury Dan Armstrong copies, according to most reports, were produced at the Matsumoku factory. One person went so far as to post several pictures of his Shaftesbury guitar with a bolt on neck. Two of his photos, taken of the headstock, can be seen here. At left, the front of the headstock clearly revealing the Shaftesbury name while at right, the backside of the headstock reveals a factory sticker on the lower part of the headstock bearing 'Rose-Morris sponsored instrument' followed by the stock number and serial number of the instrument, and last, but not least, 'Made In Japan' - which may be the best provenance of all.