I bought this guitar new in '98. It is a real player. Lots of mojo. I use Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings on it.
My '98 DeArmond Starfire III by Guild.
- Thread starter dreadnut
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 23,240
- Reaction score
- 18,984
- Location
- NJ (The nice part)
- Guild Total
- 112
Moved
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 23,240
- Reaction score
- 18,984
- Location
- NJ (The nice part)
- Guild Total
- 112
I've owned a couple of DeArmonds from that era and have been pretty impressed with all of them.
matsickma
Senior Member
That model was the 1st DeArmond I purchased and still have! However back in the day when Franz pickups were near impossible to get I acquired a set, repotted them and installed the "dog ear" set my Starfire Special. Semihollow body with Franz pup's! Still a great guitar and if I'm not to careful and crank up the treble and volume the guitar will pierce your skin!
I had so many DeArmonds it isn't funny. Still wish I would have kept one of the T400's and the TOrange M77T. Any of the Korean made DeA's were great. Only complaint was the very thick poly clear coat and occasionally the weight. They also made great basses. Still have one with the set through neck.
Great guitars and if purchased during the Fender "DeArmond blowout" period of 1999-2000 they were super bargains!
M
I had so many DeArmonds it isn't funny. Still wish I would have kept one of the T400's and the TOrange M77T. Any of the Korean made DeA's were great. Only complaint was the very thick poly clear coat and occasionally the weight. They also made great basses. Still have one with the set through neck.
Great guitars and if purchased during the Fender "DeArmond blowout" period of 1999-2000 they were super bargains!
M
Same here.
DrumBob
Senior Member
I keep wanting to buy another DeArmond. I've had several. Just waiting for a good one to come along at the right price. It's got to have those great humbuckers they used called Gold Tone. They are some of the best sounding buckers I have ever heard. They're clear and bright, not mushy or wooly.
Last edited:
I have owned and enjoyed several Dearmonds.
M-75T
M-72
S-73 (two of them)
S-73-12 string
Starfire
T400
All had their virtues. My faves overall were the 12 string S-73 and the T400. The latter DA is one I should have held onto.
Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
A whole lotta bang for the buck, also a bucket list guitar.
guitarlover
Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2020
- Messages
- 414
- Reaction score
- 214
How do they compare quality wise with (against ?) the recent Newark series ?
It really rocks. Would like to compare it to a Guild Starfire III side by side..
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 23,240
- Reaction score
- 18,984
- Location
- NJ (The nice part)
- Guild Total
- 112
I have a couple of DeArmonds and think they’re better built than the Newark St. Guitars, but I don’t have a hollowbody so I can’t directly compare those. I think a fair bit if that, though, is that the DeArmonds I’ve handled seemed patterned after the ‘90s Guilds where the NS guitars are patterned mostly after ‘60s models.
matsickma
Senior Member
I certainly had GAS in the DeArmond blow out days!
I had "sampled" multiple of every Korean made model and also a few Indonesian guitars like Jetstar Spl and S-65.
Most guitars were outstanding quality.
As an example...I had 4 different T400's with 2-TOrange, 1- Blond and 1-Transparant Red. The Blond and Red samples were earlier models and the TOrange later ones. The Blond and TOrange guitars were essentially perfect. The T400 also had the neck feel of an original Guild DE400 but with a poly finish. Unfortunately the Red T400 had neck problems and the action was way off.
The guitars were bought and sold at different times and different reasons. Some were priced so good I couldn't resist. The red guitar came with a DeA case so when I sold it but kept the case.
The mistake I made was selling the last T400 when I acquired a DE400. Having a DE and T model would have been a better choice as I installed vintage DeA 2000 pups on the Guild and would have kept the 2k pups on the T. Live and Learn...
The solid body DeA, Korean models like M75 we're like a 70's Guild M75 but had the floating harp stop and chunkier neck than the equivalent Guild. The early DeA M75 with Goldstone humbuckers and the later M77T with 2k pups are my pick. The M77's had the slimmer headstock design and a little thinner body.
The Jetstar "Thunderbird" style guitar are great.They had TBird body but the neck is pleasant wider and chunkier feel that vintage Guilds. Similarly for the the S73 where it looks like a 70's S100 but the neck is similar to the DeA Jetstar in feel rather than a vintage 70's S100.
The DeA were and are great guitars. I especially liked that the Starfire Special wasn't a hollow body guitar as the semihollow style didn't have a Guild SF3 shape equivalent. Both the DeA Special and Starfire Classic (SF4 shape) mimicked the vintage neck feel of Guild equivalent. Finally the X155 was my first deep body electric. I had a black and Sunburst model. Both we beauties with bound f-holes. I hung onto the black model the longest and installed a Guildsby to it.
One subtle observation...although the Indonesian guitars were the lower grade models they didn't have the very thick poly finish associated with the Korean built guitars.
Yep...the DeArmond "era" got me back into enjoying guitar playing and acquiring cool guitars!
M
I had "sampled" multiple of every Korean made model and also a few Indonesian guitars like Jetstar Spl and S-65.
Most guitars were outstanding quality.
As an example...I had 4 different T400's with 2-TOrange, 1- Blond and 1-Transparant Red. The Blond and Red samples were earlier models and the TOrange later ones. The Blond and TOrange guitars were essentially perfect. The T400 also had the neck feel of an original Guild DE400 but with a poly finish. Unfortunately the Red T400 had neck problems and the action was way off.
The guitars were bought and sold at different times and different reasons. Some were priced so good I couldn't resist. The red guitar came with a DeA case so when I sold it but kept the case.
The mistake I made was selling the last T400 when I acquired a DE400. Having a DE and T model would have been a better choice as I installed vintage DeA 2000 pups on the Guild and would have kept the 2k pups on the T. Live and Learn...
The solid body DeA, Korean models like M75 we're like a 70's Guild M75 but had the floating harp stop and chunkier neck than the equivalent Guild. The early DeA M75 with Goldstone humbuckers and the later M77T with 2k pups are my pick. The M77's had the slimmer headstock design and a little thinner body.
The Jetstar "Thunderbird" style guitar are great.They had TBird body but the neck is pleasant wider and chunkier feel that vintage Guilds. Similarly for the the S73 where it looks like a 70's S100 but the neck is similar to the DeA Jetstar in feel rather than a vintage 70's S100.
The DeA were and are great guitars. I especially liked that the Starfire Special wasn't a hollow body guitar as the semihollow style didn't have a Guild SF3 shape equivalent. Both the DeA Special and Starfire Classic (SF4 shape) mimicked the vintage neck feel of Guild equivalent. Finally the X155 was my first deep body electric. I had a black and Sunburst model. Both we beauties with bound f-holes. I hung onto the black model the longest and installed a Guildsby to it.
One subtle observation...although the Indonesian guitars were the lower grade models they didn't have the very thick poly finish associated with the Korean built guitars.
Yep...the DeArmond "era" got me back into enjoying guitar playing and acquiring cool guitars!
M
Thunder Cannon
Junior Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2021
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 55
- Guild Total
- 1
What a beautiful guitar. I'll bet is sounds fantastic!! Beautiful red finish!!I bought this guitar new in '98. It is a real player. Lots of mojo. I use Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings on it.
Twin 2K DA pu's.
Smiert Spionam
Member
I owned several of the Korean DeArmonds too -- lots of good guitars in that line. I was ultimately put off by how heavy the SF Special and M-75T/M-77T usually were, but they were still good guitars. The one I should have kept was an especially good T-400.
I don't think any of them were better than the current Newark St. line, though.
I don't think any of them were better than the current Newark St. line, though.
Can't comment on that because I haven't played any Newark St. guitars. Maybe they'll have some at Elderly Instruments next time I go
I agree with Smiert. Dearmonds are for the most part excellent instruments. Let down in some cases by weight, and in some cases by too thick poly finish, not ideal fretwork. My first DA was an M75T. That guitar had something going on tonally. It had huge, square frets, made it not so easy to play. I liked the guitar enough that I actually sprung for a refret. The reason I no longer have it is the weight.
Not all DAs are too heavy. The Starfire was ... T400 and M72 were not.
The NS Guilds I've tried were more consistent in being not too heavy, and in having excellent fretwork.