Dan Armstrong FAQ's
Dan Armstrong guitars have a reputation for being "heavy" or certainly not as light as your average Tele or Strat. But how heavy? To see what DA's really weigh we purchased a new Adams CPWplus-15 digital scale and carefully measured a number of guitars in our collection. We also weighed the individual pickups just to see if there was much variation among the different pickup types. Each guitar and pickup was weighed several times for accuracy, carefully zeroing the scale between each measurement, although the Adams scale is a remarkably accurate device and produces results to three decimal places (we rounded to two decimal places). The results show that unmodified Dan Armstrong guitars weigh about 9.57 lbs (4.34 Kg) on average, which is probably similar to Les Paul's from the era, and certainly lighter than Les Paul's from the later 1970's.
Although the sample set below is skewed towards earlier guitars with the fatter (and heavier necks), it does include two 1971 guitars that are measurably lighter than the 1969 models. This makes sense, as the guitar necks were slimmed down later in the run which also lowered weight. We can also conclude there is very little variation in pickup weight, so it's really just the necks that make a difference, and perhaps a slight difference if Grovers were installed or Schallers.
The last line in the table includes weight statistics for A1563D, a guitar which has a modified strat-style bridge and an aftermarket clear pickguard placed under the original (cracked) pickguard. Obviously, both of these items add extra weight, and we have excluded this data from the average of the unmodified guitar group.
The last line in the table includes weight statistics for A1563D, a guitar which has a modified strat-style bridge and an aftermarket clear pickguard placed under the original (cracked) pickguard. Obviously, both of these items add extra weight, and we have excluded this data from the average of the unmodified guitar group.
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Guitar # |
Year |
Comments |
Pickup Type |
Pickup Lbs. |
Pickup Kg |
Total Guitar Lbs. |
Total Guitar Kg |
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1969 |
Heavy Neck |
RT |
0.68 lbs |
0.31 Kg |
9.70 lbs |
4.40 Kg |
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1969 |
Heavier Neck |
CT |
0.69 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.65 lbs |
4.38 Kg |
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1969 |
Heavier Neck |
CB |
0.70 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.63 lbs |
4.37 Kg |
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1969 |
Medium Neck |
ST |
0.68 lbs |
0.31 Kg |
9.52 lbs |
4.32 Kg |
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1969 |
Heavier Neck |
RT |
0.70 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.70 lbs |
4.40 Kg |
|
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1970 |
Thinner Neck |
RT |
0.70 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.54 lbs |
4.33 Kg |
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1971 |
Thinner Neck |
ST |
0.69 lbs |
0.31 Kg |
9.53 lbs |
4.33 Kg |
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1971 |
Thinner Neck |
JT |
0.69 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.26 lbs |
4.20 Kg |
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Average |
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0.69 lbs |
0.32 Kg |
9.57 lbs |
4.34 Kg |
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1970 |
Strat Bridge |
RT |
0.70 lbs. |
0.32 Kg |
9.86 lbs |
4.48 Kg |
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