Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

At upper left, The Signature 1 features an unbound rosewood fingerboard that sports larger dot inays and 23 medium jumbo frets. At right, the satin maple neck is a bolt-on design that sports a matching black bolt plate & screws and is adorned with matching black Gotoh's Schaller styled tuners with Dan's newer 3x3 headstock design.

Seen above left, the high gloss finish of the body stands in sharp contrast to the matte black finish of the scratchplate, and just plain looks smart, especially with the Dan Armstrong white lettering topping it all off. At right, the graceful countours of the guitar body can be seen, which allows for playing comfort.

I do not know for certain what type of knobs were used on these instruments but the 1990 Westone 'A sign of the times' brochure - which includes photos of the Dan Armstrong Signature I and Signature III guitars reveals that these models were equipped with glossy black metal knobs with with knurled sides held in place by a set-screw.

At left, a closer look at the licensed Floyd Rose locking nut set against the headstock of the Signature I model. Notice that, like on the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg model instruments, the Signature I headstock has its tuners positioned so that there is nearly directly string pull leaving the nut and going to the tuner. While not as crucial on a locking nut, it nevertheless shows the careful attention to detail that many of us came to expect from Dan. At right, notice the grain in the one piece maple neck and headstock, seen best in the enlarged view.

Above left & right, a Dan Armstrong Signature I in white owned by Walt Dills. Due to the white finish the routing in the body for the Floyd Rose system is more easily seen when compared to the black models which tend to hide things better. Immediately recognizable is the lack of the tremolo bar on the Floyd Rose unit. Photos are courtesy of Mr. Walt Dills.

At left, here the Signature I now sports the actual 'whammy' or tremolo bar on the Floyd Rose unit. I'm guessing it was removed merely for storing the instrument in its case - seen here with a purple lining. At right, the backside of this white Signature I model - which reveals black hardware trimmings as well as the satin finished maple neck - which I found interesting as I pretty much expected to find a laminated maple neck.

At left, and as stated earlier, this white model is better at depicting the large amount of upper body contouring that exists on these models than the black models. In the enlarged view the serial number of the instrument can easily be seen. At right, the tuners appear to just barely fit in their unusual, yet unique fashion on the headstock.