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Dan Armstrong R.i.P.


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I remember seeing a plexi Dan Armstrong guitar being played at a jr. high dance in the early 70s. The guitarist/singer looked like Lennon with the hair and beard, and he sat down with his left foot up in a cast. Seems like alot of bands opened up with "Long Time Gone" back then.

 

When are there going to be some plexi synths?

 

steve

You shouldn't chase after the past or pin your hopes on the future.
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There was also one called, I believe, the Gleeman (or was it Gleeson?) Pentaphonic.

 

But Dan...man, brings back memories. I bought a plexi Dan Armstrong guitar (still have it) back in 1970 for my last gig with Mandrake, which we were playing at the shell up in Boston...a nice outdoor gig. On the way I stopped off at his shop in Greenwich Village, where we talked about guitars and such.

 

Many years later, I interviewed him in Santa Monica, stayed overnight at his place. I had just gone through a not very pleasant split with my girlfriend, and he and his wife Victoria were very gracious. We drew schematics and had a great old time. He also refined the action on my Dan Armstrong, and gave me a prototype pickup (people remember the plexi, they don't remember that the pickups slid in and you could change pickups) and also gave me a cool Strat rewiring I wrote up for Guitar Player.

 

I saw him on and off again at trade shows, last time he was into playing jazz and seemed pretty happy with life but this was several years ago. Dan invented a lot of great things, changed a few lives along the way, and contributed a whole lot to the world of guitar even though a lot of contributions didn't really get the recognition they deserved.

 

He was definitely a fine guy, smart, creative...he'll be very missed. Wish I could have said good bye, I just always figured he was one of those guys who would go on forever, like Les Paul. But I still have a little piece of his genius thanks to that guitar. Hopefully he's in a place where the strings never break, and the alnico magnets stay strong forever. Bye, Dan :(

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I opened up the album cover of Black Sabbeth Vol. 4 and there was a great big picture of Geezer Butler playing a see-through bass. I had saved up enough money to buy a Gibson EB-3 (I was into Jack Bruce at the moment) so I went down to Daddy's Junky Music in Manchester N.H. and hanging on the wall right next to the EB-3 was the same bass I had just seen a picture of in the album cover.

 

When I went to school the next day, I similtaniously attained "the weirdest kid/the coolest kid at school award". I couldn't believe what I had just bought! I paid $350 for it. I just saw one at GC in Hollywood for $1500. Man, I wish I still had that thing....

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