Dating an M-75

[caliban335]

I recently purchased a DeArmond M-75 and now understand why the GoldTones are so popular. I'm hoping to learn the date of manufacture. The serial number on the back of the headstock reads 7118333. Thanks in advance.

 

[BluesDan]

Welcome Caliban!

I was under the impression that the first two letters were the place of manufacture, KC for Korea, IC or Indonesia, the next number or two numbers were the year (my M77-T is a 2000 and the number starts "00") and then the next number was the month, followed by other digits. But that doesn't seem to work with your serial number starting in 7. I don't believe Dearmonds were manufactured until 1998. Then again, I could be totally wrong! Anyway, hopefully someone will come along here with a little more Dearmond info. for you.

Regards,
Dan

 

[caliban335]

Dan,

Thanks for the welcome and the information. Geez, maybe I have purchased a fake DeArmond! Where would those be made? Mongolia maybe?

Here's a photo of the back of the headstock for what it's worth.

Chris

 

[BluesDan]

Interesting. Slightly different format. I'm guessing yours was earlier. Here's my M-77T s/n:

 

[BluesDan]

And here's a full body shot....

 

[matsickma]

I didn't realize the early DeArmonds used a different serialization code. The later ones used K of Korea, C for "made in the Cort factory", X or XX for the year. I kind of remember that only a single digit , X, represents the year (i.e., KC9-- would be "made in Korea, in the Cort factory in 1999 or KC1-- would be "made in Korea, in the Cort factory in 2001.)

Hopefully someone will follow up on the SN coding.

Hey BluesDan how do you like your M77T? I owned one like that years ago. Sold it off and eventually replaced it with a sunburst M75T(which I sold off last year). The M77 is a little thinner than the M75T and i liked teh smaller head. Interestingly the M75T and M77T were similar in weight even though the M77T was stated to be chambered. The weight issue may have been a wood issue. I think the M77 was made from basswood and the M75 was mahogany.

M

 

[BluesDan]

I didn't realize the early DeArmonds used a different serialization code. The later ones used K of Korea, C for "made in the Cort factory", X or XX for the year. I kind of remember that only a single digit , X, represents the year (i.e., KC9-- would be "made in Korea, in the Cort factory in 1999 or KC1-- would be "made in Korea, in the Cort factory in 2001.)

Hopefully someone will follow up on the SN coding.

Hey BluesDan how do you like your M77T? I owned one like that years ago. Sold it off and eventually replaced it with a sunburst M75T(which I sold off last year). The M77 is a little thinner than the M75T and i liked teh smaller head. Interestingly the M75T and M77T were similar in weight even though the M77T was stated to be chambered. The weight issue may have been a wood issue. I think the M77 was made from basswood and the M75 was mahogany.

M

Hi Mats...sorry...I meant to respond to this sooner. I love the M77t. I still haven't gotten around to replacing the pots and switch yet, on a long to-do list and gettin' pushed down in priority. The absolute best thing about this guitar is the DeArmond pick-ups. Great tone. And I dig the Digsby. Stays in tune even laying hard on it. Amazing. As you know, these suckers are HEAVY, especially when compared to the rest of my herd, so it aint gonna be travelling with me any time soon. As mentioned many times on this board, the pots definitely need upgrading. I can turn 'em from zero to 5 with no difference. And the switch is scratchy. But overall, it's a killer guitar for the price. I think I ended up scoring this one for under 300 after a paypal rebate or somewhere in that neighborhood. Can't beat it!!

edit.......afterthought....I do NOT like the Mother of Toilet Seat block inlays!!! They just feel cheesy to me......would have preferred dots!!! But I DO like the overall feel of the neck!

 

[BluesDan]

And here's one only 17 numbers away from mine........like cousins or sumthin'!

http://cgi.ebay.com/DeArmond-De-Armond- ... 240%3A1318