Dan Armstrong - Man & Guitars

The Dan Armstrong Signature III guitar was a more economical version of Dan's Signature Series creation. While the physical dimensions are identical to the Signature I, the Signature III lacks a few of its appointments. At upper left & immediately obvious is the lack of the licensed Floyd Rose tremolo system. Instead, the Signature III features a fixed die cast bridge. At upper right, and from the back, the bridge features the string-through design. According to Westone literature the Signature III was available in two colors, Ivory (WEA300IV) or Black (WEA300BK).

Another Signature III guitar like the one above. Although these instruments were equipped with Dan's 'Mini-bucker' pickup in the neck position (like the Signature I model), we know just by looking, that the rear, or saddle pickup is quite different. For if you notice the smaller size of the pickup (compared to the Signature I), and add to the fact that there are only two height adjustment screws securing the pickup to the scratchplate, and we can deduce that it is not the 'Maxi' pickup like the Signature I model employs, bur rather Dans earlier bridge humbucker - called the 'Rock Monster' pickup. This is verified in the Westone 1990 A Sign of the Times brochure which can be viewed here.

At right, and seen in the enlarged view are two interesting markings equally distanced apart, and placed about halfway down from the current tailpiece to the bottom of the instrument. It appears that these are holes. It is unknown what they were for, but it could suggest a different type of tailpiece was used on this instrument at one point.

Above left, this Signature III guitar also has two holes or markings behind the bridge, in about the same location as the above instrument. It is unknown if it's the same guitar or not.

At right, an earlier Signature III model which were produced with a chrome plated die cast bridge and a neck that features a 4x2 headstock design, at first. Notice too, the lack of the Dan Armstrong name on the scratchplate - but the presence of his name on both pickup covers.

Which leads us to the Signature II model. Although there was no such model, not officially anyway. But as can be seen above left and right, a model featuring a mixture of both the Signature I and III models.

Above left and seen better in enlarged view, this hybrid features the fixed die cast bridge of the Signature III model in black, making it a later model. At right, and also seen better in the enlarged view, the string ferrules on the backside of the body can be viewed as can the satin finished maple neck.

Above left, a full view of this hybrid. Even in the enlarged view it can easily be mistaken for the Signature III. At right, notice the master volume and tone control as well as the 5-way switch offering a great tonal variation.

Above left, the neck pickup, called the 'Mini-bucker' can be seen. This neck pickup is used on both the Signature I and Signature III guitars. At right however is where things change, for as can be seen, a 'Maxi' humbucker resides where a 'Rock Monster' pickup, allegedly should be. Seen better in the enlarged view the original holes in the scratchplate for the Rock Monster pickup can be seen. At first, I thought a past owner bought a Maxi humbucker and replaced the Rock Monster with the Maxi, but to my knowledge the Maxi was never available individually. Also, if you look at the scratchplate closely, the extra routing required for the Maxi to fit looks a little too clean, too precise. It's not beyond the realm of impossibility that this instrument was produced at, or near the end of the production line, and the Signature Series in general.

Above left, a closer look at the 5-way switch and master volume and tone control. At right, the chrome plate that attaches the maple neck to the body has the serial number stamped into it. In this case, it's the number L13277. I have not been able to decipher its meaning.

A Signature III model in the Ivory finish at left and right.

At left, decals of sorts have been applied the the guitar body. Apparently this Dan Armstrong instrument belongs to one 'Mr. Natural'. Unlike the hybrid model seen a few photos up, this model (and most, if not all) other Signature III models feature a Rock Monster pickup in the saddle position, which is what advertizement literature shows, and not the Maxi humbucker. At right, and seen best in the enlarged view, the black plate for the bolt-on neck sports the number 065657

At left, and seen better in the enlarged view, the headstock lacks a truss rod cover. No doubt the truss rod is adjustable at the tongue of the neck. Notice how the black of the headstock gives way to the stained maple that matches the fingerboard. Also notice a black Graphite or TUSQ nut. On the right, the headstock sports Gotoh tuners. Notice the grain in the maple neck in the enlarged view.

As seen upper left, the earliest versions of the Dan Armstrong Signature guitars featured a somewhat miniaturized version of the Fender Stratocaster styled headstock but with the tuners in a 4x2 design with the 4 lower string tuners placed on the upper portion of the headstock and the remaining tuners on the bottom side. The 'rumor mill' has it that Dan was warned about the headstock being shaped too close to the Fender design but Dan said words to the effect of "I'm not too worried about it." and I can see why he wasn't - for although close - I feel it's overall measurements were different enough so as not to be a problem.

But as fate would have it, while introducing the Signature guitars at a NAMM show it was not Fender that objected but rather Ernie Ball and it was not for the headstock shape. Instead, they had claimed a copyright infringement on the 4x2 tuner design, which seemed odd to Dan - as other guitar makers were already using this same 4x2 design.

But whatever the case, Dan didn't want to get caught up on such arcane issues and quickly went to work designing a headstock with an entirely new look. At upper right, the new headstock features a 3x3 design with looks that can only be described as Gibson Firebird meets Fender Stratocaster. On both of these headstocks, Dan used yet another 'hold-over' from the past. This 'hold-over' came from the Dan Armstrong · Ampeg acrylic guitars..... headstocks that were shaped in such a fashion that the tuners could be located directly above the string slot on the nut, which in turn allows for a straight run of the string as it leaves the nut and makes its way into the tuner.

In the end, the headstock tuner design issue was hardly of any consequence, for not long afterwards production of these instruments ceased altogether - for neither Dan - nor any other designers in the Signature Series line were able to save Westone from virtual extinction.