Dearmond Jetstar Special vs. Dearmond Jetstar w/ Gold Pickups vs. Newark St Jetstar

Trying to get a feel for each without playing them in person.

This is from 1999, I just add the Baritone model as well:



The body and the neck construction is different. The "Special" has an Agathis body with a bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fretboard, the other two have mahogany bodies with set mahogany necks and rosewood fretboards.

The "special" is the very low end guitar made at Cor-Tek in Indonesia whereas the set neck models were made at Cor-Tek in Korea. The pricelist is also from mid 1999:







The 2018 introduced Newark St. Jetstar has a different body shape (!) and is made in China by Yako Musical Instruments (Zhangzhou) Co. Ltd. (same factory that is producing for FMIC/Gretsch/Squier since 26 years already). The Guild little humbucker pickups are made by BHK in Korea.


The body shape you probably look for is the "T-Bird" (original Thunderbird).
There are several versions in the Newark St. line:

S-200 T-Bird with tremolo and LB-1 humbuckers:

T-Bird ST with LB-1 humbuckers: (no longer offered by Guild, but still in shops)

T-Bird ST with P-90 pickups:

The Newark St. T-Birds are made by WMI (World Musical Instrument Co. Ltd. ) in Korea.

Can't help with weight or sound.

Ralf

Oh, I'd like one of those baritones. I never knew they existed

parker_knoll said:

Oh, I'd like one of those baritones. I never knew they existed

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Ralf

One thing I can tell you is, the DeArmond Jets were very heavy guitars. I had two purple ones and sold both because they were boat anchors. I did like the Goldtone pickups quite a bit though.

I have two Newark St. series Guild S-200s now and would urge you to consider one. They are fairly plentiful used, and you can score a good deal on one if you look around. I just got a black one with all the bells and whistles, but if I got another, it would be the red one, which at the time was exclusive to Sam Ash. T-Birds are very comfortable guitars sitting or standing and they weigh considerably less than The DeArmonds do.

Bit of an odd question, but does anyone know what the stock strings are on a DeArmond Jetstar Special?

That's the one I got, btw, in red =)

I love it, it has a unique sound to it that is perfect for my current 90's rock obsession (mainly The Bends and OK Computer-Radiohead, and some early post-hardcore like Unwound and Rodan). Most of the gear played on the latter records was "cheap" anyway.

polarizing, congrats on the purchase, post a photo!

Not certain my NOS Jet-Star has the original strings but
it might, they look ancient - high E is .008", low E .042".
This Tyrian Purple example weighs in at about 9 1/2 lbs.

The Bajo-Jet didn't want to be left out of the photo so it's there too

Bajo-Jet, a little closer:



Have linked this before, but worth a re-post - cool demo!

That bridge pickup alone sounds amazing!

Ralf

Wondering if the trapezoidal tailpiece on mine preceded use of the horizontal tailpiece
on the black Bajo-Jet in the youtube demo.

If I'm understanding the serial correctly (based on previous posts by Ralf and others)
KC = Korea, Cor-Tek, 9 = 1999, 07 = July, 1589 = 1589th instrument produced,
but not sure if 1589 refers to instruments produced that week, month, or year to date.

polarizing said:

...perfect for my current 90's rock obsession...OK Computer-Radiohead

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no 1990-1993 telecaster plus??

Here she is

mavuser said:

no 1990-1993 telecaster plus??

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I did have a semi hollow Tele copy but sold it recently

Bonneville88 said:

Wondering if the trapezoidal tailpiece on mine preceded use of the horizontal tailpiece
on the black Bajo-Jet in the youtube demo.

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Yes it did.
The 1999 version (left) had the trapezoid tailpiece, the Guild shield TRC, a different shaped control cavity,...
The 2000 version (right), which the black one in the video is, had the stop tail piece.
Both were made at Cor-Tek in Korea however. Why the design (like the different cavity) was changed is unkown to me.
Also on the back of the headstock the Guild logo disappeared in 2000.

Bonneville88 said:

If I'm understanding the serial correctly (based on previous posts by Ralf and others)
KC = Korea, Cor-Tek, 9 = 1999, 07 = July, 1589 = 1589th instrument produced, but not sure if 1589 refers to instruments produced that week, month, or year to date.

Click to expand...

Assuming 07 is the month (and we would only proof it is not if we find an instrument with 00 or 13 or higher) I would say the number behind the month has to be the running number only for that month.

Ralf

Thanks Ralf - great info, you are amazing as ever!

polarizing, thanks for posting a photo - cool guitar!

Hey all, sorry to dig up a slightly older thread but I need some info from more knowledgeable people.

I have one of the Jet Star Specials, in emerald green, actually one of my first guitars. It spent some time languishing for years until now, and I wanna repair it, electronics are all rusted and need replacing. Got a replacement switch and output jack from StewMac, so that's fine. Unfortunately though the pots seem to be kind of non-standard, as far as I can tell. There's no indication on them what kOhms value they are, though I'm assuming the volume is 500k, but even then, the width is different than I've seen on other pots, and none of the replacement pots I have fit. What gives?

I haven’t measured mine but I’d be sure they’re the smaller metric pots having been made in Korea. Bourns makes nice ones that should fit.

Cheyne said:

Hey all, sorry to dig up a slightly older thread but I need some info from more knowledgeable people.

I have one of the Jet Star Specials, in emerald green, actually one of my first guitars. It spent some time languishing for years until now, and I wanna repair it, electronics are all rusted and need replacing. Got a replacement switch and output jack from StewMac, so that's fine. Unfortunately though the pots seem to be kind of non-standard, as far as I can tell. There's no indication on them what kOhms value they are, though I'm assuming the volume is 500k, but even then, the width is different than I've seen on other pots, and none of the replacement pots I have fit. What gives?

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Can you post pics? I agree that they're likely import pots. What do you mean by "the width is different"?

Yes, I'll post pictures once I'm home. Sorry should've been clear, but what I meant by "width is different" is that the width of the screw part(? not sure what it's called) on the pots don't match the other types of pots I have, and I have quite a few. My other pots are either too small or too large to fit the holes on the guitar. So it would make sense if they're metric because mine I believe are based in imperial units.

I'll see if I can find Bourns pots that fit it. Looking at their products, the pots that came on the guitar look similar, if I remember correctly.

(edited for further clarity, sorry I've had a full day of work and my brain is a tiny bit fried)