Dan Armstrong Lucite Guitar 1971 - Clear - UPDATED

Here is a 1971 Dan Armstrong Lucite 6-string guitar. If you're looking at this then you already know the in's and out's of these amazing guitars and the main things about them which are they are heavy as Hell and they also sound great. This particular guitar is in excellent shape with no scratches or dings on or in the lucite. Great playing and straight neck with plenty of life left on the frets. It is 100% original and comes with the modern drive pickup as noted by the MD etched into the back of it. There are no breaks or repairs to this guitar. I don't believe the case to be original by other examples I've seen but it is a hardshell case with black lining and the guitar fits as it should.

I'd had a couple of questions regarding the serial number of this guitar and while they're usually on the bass side of the neck heel this one is a bit of a rarity. After doing some research on the Dan Armstrong site I took this guitar apart to confirm a few things and have updated this listing with some new photos showing the neck heel with the ACF or ALF initials as well as the bass and treble sides and top and bottom of the neck tongue. There is no evidence of any sanding or any other impressions or shadows of a serial number in the usual spot and I can also say with certainty that this neck had never been removed prior to me as it was tight as Dick's hatband and did not want to come off. I've also included a couple of shots of all of the electronics and while the pot codes show a 1970 date this guitar is believed to be manufactured in 1971 based on the following details from Mark Schnoor at the Dan Armstrong Registry site.

Hi Chark, thanks so much for your response. This guitar is an amazing coincidence to me as I host the DA site online and many years ago I mentioned the ALF guitar at the very end of the Necks section of that site. It's an amazing instrument in that we can only speculate as to its serial number. I do believe, tho, that it's a 71 model (as I mention on the site) for a few reasons. One is that it features a larger routed cavity in the acrylic body for the ball end of the guitar strings. In addition, your photos reveal the control cavity components which reveal that this guitar also has what is called the 'Type II' switch which was used in later models where the electrical connection tabs were much thinner and as a result they were just bent outwards (instead of clipped down or ground down) like the earlier switches that had much thicker electrical connection tabs. In both cases These things were done in order to make the switch fit within the confines of the shallow depth of the control cavities on these instruments. The earlier switch can be seen in the Hardware section of the DA site. I do realize that the CTS pots show a 1970 date but Ampeg had purchased pots in rather large quantities back then, so it is not at all unusual to see earlier pots in later made instruments back then. Anyway, It's quite a treat to see this guitar again.

Also, I just noticed that your ALF guitar has a somewhat two-toned Brazilian rosewood fingerboard on it. A dark portion of the fingerboard that blends in along with a lighter shade. This is also quite consistent with 1971 models. While I've seen this on a few 1970 models, it's pretty rare, whereas the 71 models it's more common. You can feel free to quote me as much of this is on my DA site anyway. Mark.

The following paragraphs are straight from danarmstrong.org. I hope this helps..

"But even with serial numbers at your disposal, some Dan Armstrong instruments simply defy description, usually as a result of the time frame, &/or the circumstances they were manufactured under. Again, and according to Dan "any instrument made prior to A100D was a prototype or anything made before the actual production run began."

"After hearing Dan say that I became curious if any instruments were made prior to, or after, the point where they stamped the necks with a serial number. It seemed likely that some instruments may have slipped through the proverbial 'cracks' in the system, but I had never actually seen one."

"My curiosity was satisfied the day I heard from Mr. Paul Q. Kolderie, a record producer and engineer who sent in photos of his Dan Armstrong guitar that somewhat fit my theory and who provided the photos seen below."

"Photos from website did not load." *CharknRoll V*

"As can be seen in the upper left, this guitar features all the usual hardware of later Dan Armstrong guitars. However, as the upper right reveals this guitar is fitted with a neck that has no serial number on it whatsoever. In fact, the only distinguishable feature on this neck are the letters 'ACF' or maybe 'ALF' which is hand written on the bottom, or the base of the tongue on the neck rather lazily or haphazardly, not like what one would write if one was trying to be extra careful. On the contrary, it looks rather scribbled in there."

So that's what we've got here. I can't fully explain it but there are other documented examples of it. If anyone has any other info or opinions regarding this I'd love to hear it. As always, feel free to ask any questions at all and thanks for checking us out!