A1160D

This Dan Armstrong guitar is part of a large UK-based private collection, which is extensive enough to warrant its own very impressive web site. The collection focuses on vintage 50's/60's instruments as well as some newer classics, but the common denominator seems to be that these are all working guitars and appreciated as much for their sound and not just for investment purposes. And thankfully, no collection is complete without at least one vintage Ampeg Dan Armstrong, as shown above. Here's some comments from the owner about this particular guitar, which seems to be a very intact example and includes the original CB pickup as well as an after-market Kent Armstrong humbucker.

"The neck is wide and flat with good string separation, very good for modern styles which rely on big bends or tapping. It only has a single pickup (the Country Bass variant, held in place by a single screw on the rear and removable by sliding it out), but six different exchangeable pickups were originally offered and the guitar was typically shipped with two, giving users some tonal choice. Pickups offered were; Country Bass, Country Treble, Rock bass, Rock treble, Jazz bass, Jazz treble. Dan’s son, pickup guru Kent Armstrong, wound me a retrofit hot humbucker which screams."

"Most of these guitars have a three position switch offering full tone rollback and pickup direct-to-jack as well as the standard volume and tone control, but this is an early example with a two position switch with no direct to jack option."

"It’s seen a few knocks, and has a chip on the upper side of the lower bout. As is quite common, the woodgrain-effect laminate pickguard is stressed around the jack socket from a previously-yanked cord. Moral: always use a right-angle jack in these things (and Gibson ES Models)!"

"The guitar on which to play the second guitar part to ‘Brown Sugar’ or earlier Foo Fighters stuff! Looks great for live work, though the plexiglass body is quite heavy for long gigs."

Gallery

<- Back

Disclaimer

Next ->

Sales