Jeff Duncan

Catching Up with Jeff Duncan at NAMM 2022

Written by Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen of Metal Babe Mayhem - Photo by Jimmie Romero

Viper Guitars was the place to be during the return of NAMM 2022. Not only was Jeff Duncan (Armored Saint/DC4) at the booth with his two brand new signature strats, Ronny North, Michael Felder, and others were nearby. I took this opportunity to step aside with Jeff to discuss his new guitars, solo project, and upcoming Armored Saint tour.

Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen: Jeff, this is really big, exciting news. For the first time in your life you have your own custom guitars, and not just one, but two, from Viper Guitars! Tell me about your guitars.

Jeff Duncan: Yeah, it has been close to 40 years in the making, well not including the dream time… When I was 15 I dreamed of something like this. I first met Jeff Heitmann at the Dallas Guitar Show. Ronny North introduced me to him. Jeff was very interested in doing something with me. We talked and it all happened really fast.

I basically wanted him to do a replica of my main guitar, which I call “Duncanstein.” He did… He replicated it. And then we did another two-humbucker version. A different model. They are both super strats. I couldn’t be happier. Jeff did such an excellent job on them.

Alison: Wow, that is super cool! Both of us are a fan of stars. That’s kind of why we connected in the first place so many years ago. I think it was a star necklace, or tattoo. there myself. The one model is the JD-66, that’s the one-humbucker version. And then I wanted him to do star inlays for the fret markers for the double-humbucker version. (JD-66+) But I wanted them to be subtle. I didn’t want it to be too carnival like, just small enough that if you get up close you can tell, but from a distance they look like dots. Jeff said “Yeah, I can do that.” And when I got it, it was just perfect. It was exactly what I wanted.

Jeff: Yeah, yeah, we’re fans of stars. (Jeff shows Alison his star jewelry and tattoos.)

Alison: So tell me about the stars on the guitars.

Jeff: The one that has the white star on it, I put that on What I have to say about Jeff Heitmann over at Viper is that he got down perfectly everything that I specifically wanted for both models. There were not any discrepancies. They were just great when they showed up. I’m happy about that. Really happy. He’s a great guy to work with, super nice.

Alison: That’s great. I love them and am very happy for you.

Jeff: Thank you, thank you.

Alison: You’re welcome. Tell me about your future plans. I know you have a side project in the works, an upcoming Armored Saint tour… What does the rest of 2022 hold for you?

Jeff: I have a new project that I’m starting up with a singer called Mark Weitz. My brothers Matt and Shawn will be involved in it. I’m just writing and doing demos now. I’m really excited to be doing something fresh and new. DC4 is not broken up, but just on hiatus right now. We’ll see what the future holds for DC4, but right now we’re working on this new project.

Armored Saint goes out on the road at the end of October for about seven weeks, with WASP. It’s a U.S. tour. I’m really looking forward to that ‘cause Armored Saint hasn’t been out for a little while. It will be nice to go out. It will be a good tour. There’s a good number of the shows that are already sold out, which is great… So far in advance. We’re really excited for the tour. It will be great to see the Armored Saint boys again. It’s been a few years since I’ve even seen them. They’re family, so I do miss them. It will be great to see them again and play some Armored Saint music.

Alison: Definitely. Very cool Jeff, thank you for your time. Have an amazing tour!

Jeff: Thanks Alison, always good to see ya!

Please see below for more information on Jeff Duncan, Armored Saint, and Viper Guitars:

https://www.armoredsaint.com/ https://www.artistecard.com/DC4 http://www.viperguitar.com/

Booking now

Liquid Music Group LLC