With Dan Armstrong at the Ampeg booth at NAMM 1998 for the unveiling of the prototype Armstrong reissue guitar. I felt so lucky to have learned from him. He knew Jimi Hendrix well and set up his Strats, inlcuding the white "Woodstock" Strat. (I got to play that exact guitar at the Experience Music Project in Seattle during an Isaak tour in 2000. It was an emotional experience, needless to say.) Dan also introduced me to bassist Noel Redding. There is a wonderful site dedicated to Dan's legacy at DanArmstrong.org. You should check it out!

Normally, one would never buff out a vintage nitro finish, but the Perspex acrylic Armstrong guitars lend themselves to a very fine and slow series of wet sanding underwater. Next comes a three stage power buff out process until it looks showroom new. After the full set up is complete, it is always a buzz to see the player's face when the finished guitar is shown. Let me know if I can help bring your Dan Armstrong guitar or bass back to the best it can be. I have served players' needs from around the globe with quick turnaround times.

Here is a finished vintage Dan Armstrong bass body after Bill has buffed it out and restored the original luster.

Cyril Jordan of the Flaming Groovies and Bill sport a couple of original Dan Armstrong guitars. This was taken when Cyril came to pick up his well-traveled '69 model after Bill had given it a total refurb (fretwork, body buff out, replaced pick guard, new nut). Note the extremely rare black Dan Armstrong - one of eight known to exist.

After years of looking for a completely dead Armstrong bass pickup, I found one at a guitar show in L.A. I was able to peel away all the brown hard rubber-like compound that surrounded the two coils. Two hefty ceramic magnets surround a fatter coil below and a single ceramic magnet sits on the north side of the pickup. Your "tone" control on your Armstrong bass is really a balance knob between these two coils. I don't have a way to repair these pickups, but wanted to share the picture to help players understand how these neat sounding pickups work...and sometimes die.

At the Ampeg NAMM 2007 booth with another prototype Dan Armstrong guitar. This one is a little closer to the original - but not exactly. I'm glad I kept a few of the original Armstrongs!