Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

Univox also released their copy of the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg bass guitar. More commonly known as the Lucy bass - it carries the model number UHS-1B - with an overall length of 41^1/2" and is virtually identical to all other copies, badge name not withstanding.

Seen above left, the Lucy sports two humbucking type pickups with chrome plated covers mounted in black rings. Strangely, it blends fairly well with the colors of the faux-wood scratchplate. At right, and like the guitar model, four chrome plated carriage type bolts secure the neck to the acrylic body.

At upper left, and unlike the guitar model, the Lucy bass features a two point adjustable bridge/tailpiece combination seen on most, if not all badged copy basses. When you think about it, it is somewhat ironic, given all the badged bass copies, that not one features a tailpiece with a rosewood saddle like the original Dan Armstrong model. At right, the Lucy bass seen in its factory case.

Above left, the high gloss covering over the faux-wood veneer on the headstock is easily seen while at right, and seen from the back of the headstock, the 3-piece laminated maple neck can be seen. Notice how the maple laminates have darker wooden strips between them. This is a fairly common thread among many of the badged copies - guitars and basses alike.

At left, and in a custom grey lined hardshell case, the end of the 20 fret rosewood fingerboard can be seen. At right, the volume and tone control knobs can be seen. Unlike the Dan Armstrong models, the knobs on these instruments feature circular wooden inserts on the top which can be better seen in the enlarged. The 3-way selector switch operates in the usual Gibson fashion. Ironically, there is no breakage in and around the output jack.

At left the glossy covering over the faux-wood veneer appears to be missing from this headstock, but is actually just the photo. Notice that the stock tuners are the split type and have black plastic coverings on them. At right, the same headstock is seen from a different angle, and the glossy coating can be seen.

At left, another Lucy bass in good clean condition, though it has some wear which can be seen on the pickup rings. In the enlarged view the ground wire from the tailpiece to the control cavity can be easily be seen as the scratchplate curls around the tailpiece. It could have been more easily hidden had the tailpiece ran straight back to the tailpiece like Dan's bass does.

At right and from the back, a rather large shim can be seen in the neck pocket. Below that, the saddle pickup has some sort of white material between the pickup and the acrylic body. Oddly, it's not present under the front pickup.

At left, some of the bevelling of the acrylic body can be seen. At right, and like many of these copy instruments, the necks have a shorter neck tongue which in turn allows for more space in the body to accommodate an additional pickup. I've always felt that this makes for a much weaker neck set. The two bolt tailpiece is also an achilles heel on these basses, as can be seen earlier in this section on a Conrad bass.

At left and right, a front and back view of the headstock on this model.

Univox Lucy instruments were manufactured at the Matsumoku factory and sold by Unicord Inc. which was formed in 1966 when Gulf+Western Industries Inc. purchased Unicord's amplifier division (Univox Amplifiers), and combined it with the Merson Musical Products Corp. which lasted until 1975 when Merson separated from Unicord/Gulf+Western. Unicord continued to sell instruments until around 1978 but was purchased by Korg in 1985 and shortly afterwards the Univox brand would fade into history.