NBD - Chinese made acrylic bass

[Wyrdlow]

This Dan Armstrong Bass in the photo is not of the original 1969-70's run of Dan Armstrong Basses. It is a reissue made (as I recall) in Korea. The give away is the recess in the acrylic at the top of the pick up. The reissue bass had this, the 1969-70's bass didn't. In the original, the guitar version had this recess to slide the pick up out but it was not found on the bass version. PS: I was able to obtain a Korean pickguard and the screw holes do not align with the holes in an original body.

Thanks for that! I wasn't aware of such a thing, but every day's a school day on TB! I've never come across a reissue for sale, just collector priced originals and more recently the Chinese copies - which are very tempting. Glad you're still enjoying yours! Cheers for the info.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I bet it's heavy.. but it's not always a bad thing.. it comes with a free gym subscription!

 

[ac100X]

No clue! Have not got it yet. I believe the original 4005 were 33.75". So if the Chinese copied it, probably will be that or standard 34". It doesn't look short scale in the photo. So we'll see!

This is how I know it's 34" scale:

Thanks for that! I wasn't aware of such a thing, but every day's a school day on TB! I've never come across a reissue for sale, just collector priced originals and more recently the Chinese copies - which are very tempting. Glad you're still enjoying yours! Cheers for the info.

No I sold mine but I enjoyed the money, In 2009 (big recession year) I got like $1,300 for it. I bought it around 2004 for $350.00.

 

[Wyrdlow]

This is how I know it's 34" scale:

No I sold mine but I enjoyed the money, In 2009 (big recession year) I got like $1,300 for it. I bought it around 2004 for $350.00.

Well, that's a win by anybody's standards!

 

[GKon]

For anyone still following along, if you remember, when I received this bass, there was a small break in the pickguard where one of the neck mounting screws appeared to have poked through ever so slightly.
Also, there was a scratch on the pickguard just under the knobs.

I had contacted the eBay seller about it. They had offered me a discount, or a replacement pickguard. I opted for the pickguard. They mentioned that it would take 30 days or so.
Well, 20 days later it appeared in my mailbox. It was extremely well packaged, arriving in perfect condition. I must give credit to the seller as they got the job done.

An interesting thing to note, it does seem the pickguard is made of wood, rather than plastic with a wood veneer or sticker because both sides of it have wood grain. I doubt that they would have
added veneer, or some sort of sticker, to the underside of the pickguard.

 

[Wyrdlow]

Glad they got it sorted, and - as you say - full marks for doing so.

 

[GKon]

Glad they got it sorted, and - as you say - full marks for doing so.

Thank you! It was a very nice surprise.

 

[ac100X]

For anyone still following along, if you remember, when I received this bass, there was a small break in the pickguard where one of the neck mounting screws appeared to have poked through ever so slightly.
Also, there was a scratch on the pickguard just under the knobs.

I had contacted the eBay seller about it. They had offered me a discount, or a replacement pickguard. I opted for the pickguard. They mentioned that it would take 30 days or so.
Well, 20 days later it appeared in my mailbox. It was extremely well packaged, arriving in perfect condition. I must give credit to the seller as they got the job done.

An interesting thing to note, it does seem the pickguard is made of wood, rather than plastic with a wood veneer or sticker because both sides of it have wood grain. I doubt that they would have
added veneer, or some sort of sticker, to the underside of the pickguard.

View attachment 5307706 View attachment 5307707

So the Chinese copy pick guards are made of real wood, nice that they sent it to you so fast. I stand by the plastic Formica Rosewood for the originals.

 

[wagdog]

According to a video on YouTube by one of our very own TB'ers (his handle escapes me at the moment), Geezer Butler played one with Black Sabbath, for a little bit! I was happily surprised, given that he was my main influence for starting to learn bass. I had never heard, or seen him playing a Dan Armstrong. So now, I'm cool, like Geezer.

 

[GKon]

So the Chinese copy pick guards are made of real wood, nice that they sent it to you so fast. I stand by the plastic Formica Rosewood for the originals.

It sure does seem that way. Not only from the look, but the feel.
I set the bass up today (truss rod, string height, intonation, nut groove height) and I realized that even the truss rod cover is made of real wood.
By the way, after doing the setup, it sure is playing very, very nicely.

I don't at all doubt your info about the original covers being plastic.

 

[GKon]

View attachment 5308740

You just made my night. Thank you!!!!

 

[b/o 402]

Bill Wyman too, FWIW.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

There was a local band of older guys growing up that the bass player & guitarist had the original Dan Armstrongs. I remember thinking how cool they were then.

 

[GKon]

There was a local band of older guys growing up that the bass player & guitarist had the original Dan Armstrongs. I remember thinking how cool they were then.

Oh yeah, absolutely. I've longed after a Dan Armstrong plexi bass since I first saw when when I was a teen. I don't know if I'll ever be able to buy one, so I figured this was the next best thing.

 

[ac100X]

So the Chinese copy pick guards are made of real wood, nice that they sent it to you so fast. I stand by the plastic Formica Rosewood for the originals.

The reissues I guess were made in Japan (I said Korea), here is one on Reverb in "smoke" acrylic. Note the recess for sliding the pickup out, the original Dan Armstrongs did not have this feature on the bass version but they did have it on the guitar version.

 

[RonSound]

Those pickguards on the Chinese copies are OK but break easily. I epoxied mine to a sheet of 2 or 3mm black pickguard material and cut it out. It's much sturdier now. I also replaced the pickup with a Kent Armstrong, tuners were replaced with Gotoh GB7 (they bolt right on. No holes to drill!) and redid the wiring like an original DA with push-pull pots for series/parallel and turning off/on an LED circuit in the control cavity. Flying saucer knobs, too! It's heavy, no doubt, but it plays and sounds great and it gets a lot of attention at gigs.