Cut Up
One of the most tragically modified Dan Armstrong's we've ever seen. It appears that someone tried, and maybe succeeded, in cutting out the end of the neck for a single coil pickup. The 2017 Ebay description says it all so read on...
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This is a significantly modified Dan Armstrong 1969 clear guitar. The images show that there has been a fair amount of work done to the guitar.
I came across this around 1993. A friend of mine sold it to me for $50. He told me his dad worked at an airport at lost and found. A band (I never did find out which band) had lost this piece at the airport and never came back to claim it. The band had added a whammy bar, new pickups (Each string had a separate pickup and pin out), and some other electronics, and had also shortened the neck somewhat. I took this to a shop to see if I could get it restored. They cleaned it up a fair bit and removed some of the modified gear, but mentioned that I would have to see a quality acrylic shop to get it cleaned up further. At the time, I didn't have the money to do so. Here it is, over 20 years later, and I realize that I'm never going to use it, and I'm never going to fully restore it. I also don't have the original pickup (which could be slipped out and exchanged). If someone on Ebay finds this of interest, here's your chance. May give it a chance to be useful again. Please note: in discussing the guitar with potential buyers, I realize I need to add a note here that the pickguard is NOT the original. The original (which can be seen online, if you look for the images of a Dan Armstrong 1969 guitar) had a darker nicely grained guard. The one that is currently on the guitar was placed there by the guitar shop I visited when I first bought it, and is functional but not visually similar to the first one. I do not have the original.
If you have already bid on this item and would not have bid, had you known this additional information, I will not hold you to the bid and will not provide negative comments if you do not wish to complete the purchase. OK, I've had feedback from a number of people with questions and some information and I'm now not entirely sure what I have. I now know that around 6000 of the original Dan Armstrong were made and they were produced from 1969 to 1971. You can roughly tell what year it was produced by the serial number on the tongue of the neck. I pulled the neck to get a better look and can't find the serial number.
This means one of three things: 1. The neck is not the original 2. The neck was sanded and cut in places, so it's possible the SN was removed 3. Or possibly the whole guitar is not the original. I bought this in 1982, and the shop told me the body was molded, not cut, so they claimed it was an original Dan Armstrong, now I'm really not sure about what I've got. If anyone has further information on this or ideas about how to identify the body as original or not, please let me know. I don't want to have incorrect information in the ad. I've added some pictures of the tongue next to the body on both sides to provide a better look at what I'm seeing. As usual, since this is a significant change in information, I will allow any previous bids to be pulled if desired. Another member confirmed this is an original Dan Armstrong, based on the new images. They mentioned that I may be able to tell what year this is based on the thickness of the neck and faux wood veneer on the head stock. I'm not a good judge of the thickness of the neck, but I can describe the veneer as being very lightly grainy, not perfectly glossy. This may indicate it may have been issued in the '70 to '71 range.
Also, I can't tell if the CTS pots are the original as they don't have the "137" number that was common on the 69 to 70, but not 71. It's possible these were replaced during the repair though, so that may not mean much. And another bit of info (thanks justmerk50) which would appear to now indicate this is more likely a '69 to '70 release. I also just noticed that the original routing for the 'ball-end' of the strings can be seen on the photo of the backside of the body. It's just behind the current bridge and where the strings go through the body. By 1971 the shape of that cavity had changed as customers complained it was too difficult to get the ball end of the strings past the original tailpiece and down into that small cavity. So they made it larger, with a different shape. So, based on that, I believe this is not a 1971 guitar, but either a 69 or a 1970 instrument. |