Debuting my DeArmond Starfire Special in church tomorrow

dreadnut

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Ha! My old D25M is still at Elderly Instruments undergoing some maintenance, in fact my repair tech called me today and it's done, but I can't pick it up until Monday.

So I will be leading music at church tomorrow with my lipstick-red electric guitar. No amp or effects, I will just be plugging into the church's sound system as usual.

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Someday I will bring my Fender Super Champ as well and play some hardcore Gospel Blues like this...

 

dreadnut

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Well that was interesting. Even though I was plugged in, I couldn't get a good sound in the monitors, we'll need to work on that. With my acoustic, I can at hear my guitar much better; it's tough to lead the music without being able to hear my guitar well.

guitarlover, I think these DeArmonds are a little bit nicer than the Newark St. Guild reissues, but only the Korean made DeArmonds. After '99, Fender moved the DeArmond production to Indonesia and "cheapened" the bill of materials, and the workmanship isn't quite as stellar. Then they shut down production entirely after 1 or 2 more years and offered "blowout" sale prices at the dealer level. The new ones got mixed into the stock, and some lucky individuals got the nice NOS Korean DeArmonds at blowout prices. Not me - I paid a bit over $600 for this one.

Not to open an old wound, but I think Fender did the right thing by not branding these as "Guilds." I don't like having to pick and choose to figure which were made in the U.S. and which were not. Of course, the asking price is a pretty good indication.
 
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crank

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I sometimes play my electrics through a PA, but I have to go through my multi-effects unit which has a preamp.
 

Bonneville88

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How do these Dearmonds in terms of quality compare to the recent Newark series reissues ?

Have long wondered the same!

Fit, finish, wiring - would be interesting to know more.
Were set-neck Korean-built guitars of the time ('99 - '00? era) generally well built / well-regarded, or as
hit and miss as anything else?

Meanwhile, recently scored an S73 in dark trans green, to match an S73-12 I found earlier.
I'm not an electric player in the least but been enjoying some recent dabbling.
Fell in love with the dark green and the gold and chrome accents.


 

dreadnut

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Boy, that's a real beauty, Bonneville! I love the color and the pickups, and yeah, nice gold-chrome combo. What year is it?
 

Bonneville88

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Dread - thanks! - and apologies for the veer :sneaky:
Not sure - seems from what I've read is pretty much what you posted, the DeArmond line
was only around for 3 - 4 years - like '98 to '02 or thereabout?
My understanding is the same - the set-neck Korean-built ones are the ones to have - I now have several.
No idea how DeArmond coded serial #s, this one is KC01011522

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