Just bought DeArmond M-65c electric guitar!!!Piece o Crap or Good Deal???

mshea

New member
I nabbed it for $175 (sunburst) and a gig bag too. Was I robbed or did I make a decent purchase for a guitar for a beginning guitar player which may or may not be used to often. (my boyfriend tends to put things away if he doesn't figure them out immediately) I have a funny feeling it'll be played for a month then begin picking up dust.

Please let me know. I have 2 days to change my mind if I picked up a real piece o CRAP. IIt seemed like a better deal than the Yamaha's and Ibanez's which were selling for $180 and UP withough gig bags...ok...ok...I know I can nab a gig bag for 20 - 40 bucks...but I wanted to get everything at once. Now all I have left is a strap and a cable and I am THROUGH!!! Unless y'all think this is a heap o junk. Was looking for a starfire special...but unfortunately the few I could hunt down were out of my price range. :confused:
 
I bought a m-77t http://www.dearmondguitars.com/m77t.html and the m-72 http://www.dearmondguitars.com/m72.html in that samash.com blowout thing for $250 each or something. All I can do is give you my thoughs on these, as I have never played your model.

I bought them with a view to selling one for a greatly inflated price to somebody used to extortionate Irish prices, but two months on I still haven't.

If my guitars are anything to go by, you made a good buy. There are obviously much better guitars on the market, but I can't think of many in this price range that are built as well and have such a useable sound.

I know there was somebody on this board who had problems with the build quality of some of the cheaper DeArmond models (bass I think) but mine are built really well. I have know idea whether how your model would compare to mine either, but I would definately go with DeArmond before Ibanez or Yamaha (with the exception of the Yamaha Pacifica maybe)

pAp.
 
PHEW!!!

Ah Ha! I was looking at the Yamaha Pacifica and this may sound really feminine, but I thought that it looked 'cheap'.

The only reason I went for DeArmond over the other two was because I bought a DeArmond Pilot Pro Bass during that Samash blowout they had and IT IS A BEAUTY!!! It's my first bass, but I've been trying to hunt them down and already they're $200 bucks more than what I paid for mine. So...

I ASSUMED that the same might apply for a DeArmond guitar. I REALLY wanted that starfire special but they've gone up SO MUCH and are hard as hell to FIND!!! Thanks so much for the info. I thought it was a pretty darn good price and I jumped on it. Hopefully he'll be happy!!!

It's lovely...it's got the inlays on the neck and is this neat sunburst orange to red yet natural color...it just LOOKS 'classier' than that Yamaha did. Plus...my brand preference as far as Yamaha is concerned transferred over from being a former owner of a Yamaha keyboard and having a NIGHTMARE OF A TIME keeping it WORKING PROPERLY. Now I know it's like comparing apples to oranges, but I was leary...even though I heard decent reviews on the Yamahas in my price range. WOO HOO!!! This is good. Can't wait till Christmas!
 
HEY!!! I'm half IRISH!!!

My Aunts and Uncles are in Dublin...I have a cousin in parliament and I am a distant relative of Bono. (VERY DISTANT) something crazy like 6th cousin. I've NEVER been to see them. My Mother goes back quite often. She was born and raised in Dublin. Once I get my degree I'd like to work over there. It's so beautiful!!! You're very lucky!!! As a matter of fact I wrote a celtic song for my Mom for part of her christmas present. It'll be up at mp3.com shortly...i will be sure to send the link your way when it is finally approved.:) :D ;)
 
I've seen a _lot_ of DeArmonds, but I can't immediately place the model you refer to, as it's a non-current model.

Here's the bottom line: The better DeArmonds are the Korean-made set-necks. The lesser ones are Indonesian-made ones with bolt-on necks. There's quite a divide between the two, but there is also a very wide gap in quality between individual DeArmonds. A very few are great, most are so-so and some are junk.

I have a great, truly great, M-77T, which was their final top-of-the-line $999 solidbody. I got it new for $199 at GC on Memorial Day. It's possibly the best all-around guitar I've ever played (and I've played a _lot_), but I've seen some M-77Ts that were pretty lackluster. I got lucky. Unfortunately, I spent a great deal of trouble and money trying to duplicate my success with the M-77T to no avail. I've seen a lot of DeArmond lemons, and unfortunately purchased some myself.

If this guitar works OK for you, I suppose it's an OK deal.
 
Re: HEY!!! I'm half IRISH!!!

mshea said:
Once I get my degree I'd like to work over there. It's so beautiful!!! You're very lucky!!! As a matter of fact I wrote a celtic song for my Mom for part of her christmas present. It'll be up at mp3.com shortly...i will be sure to send the link your way when it is finally approved.:) :D ;)

Cool...in the meantime, if you ever plan on coming over on a holiday and want to play a couple of gigs, let me know well on advance and I may be able to line up a couple of spots in decent venues for you.


bogolation: Any idea which Dearmond models have which necks ? Or do can the same model have either ? My little cousin is looking for a guitar and I'm thinking of getting him one. It would be nice to know this info as it doesn't tell you in the normal sales schpiel.

pAp.
 
Hey Bongolation!

You know. I HEARD the EXACT same thing when researching to buy my bass. I like you got lucky and have a well put together bass. Hopefully I'll be as lucky with the guitar...I went to Harmonycentral.com and read even more reviews on the models...they were all in the 9s and 10s. All seem to agree that it's perfect for a beginner as it had a wide variety of sounds you could eek out of it. So far so good. I just got an email from someone on the harmonycentral post.

And at P!!!

Thank you so much for the offer. I'll try to get there before my Old Aunts and Uncles leave (they're gettin' pretty old). But...I'm not at that performance level yet...at least I don't think. So far I'm just makin' my stuff and throwin' it up on mp3.com for friends and family to hear. I can play the bass and I can play the piano, but I can't do either and sing at the same time so it really SUCKS!!! I'm workin' on it. If you'd like to see what I'm talkin' about my current tunes are at:

mp3.com/mayashea

Feel free to check out at your leisure. My personal favorites...'Creep Like You' and 'Can't Sleep'.

My boyfriend is into Garage and experimental beats...i'm still not sure why he wants a guitar...he makes GREAT beats though. You can check his stuff out at:

Polyopia Project

Thanks again y'all!!!
 
Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer on the set-neck question as DeArmond has made so many different models and FMIC doesn't even say which ones have set necks on their site:

http://www.dearmondguitars.com

It _appears_ to me that all of the M-7* series has set necks, the M-72, M-75, M-77 and M-77T models, but there may be others as well. I just don't know. I suggest you ask around at the FenderForums DeArmond/Guild board:

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&message_area_number=9

Frankly, it's hard to find killer deals on DeArmonds now as they're not being made any more and the existing old stocks have pretty well evaporated. Both Musician's Friend and SamAsh.Com in the US have done a roaring business in recent months selling DeArmonds that they don't have.

Most DeArmonds I have seen are excellent values for the prices they were selling for during the "blowout" stage and are reasonably good guitars _qua_ guitars. For beginner instruments, the inexpensive Pilot basses, in particular, were well-received by virtually everyone who got them. I was not as enthusiastic about the Pilot DeLuxe I got, though there probably isn't anything that could touch it at $299.
 
WOW!!!

Guitar got here yesterday...unwrapped it for a quick second to make sure it wasn't battered. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL to look at. Plugged it in and gave it a run (can't play guitar...know all of 3 chords...but working on playing the bass). Has a very 'WARM' sound. NO TWANG! They set it up quite nicely...sturdy. Good buy. Can't wait till Christmas.

The sucky thing about this whole thing is that my boyfriend...recipient of the guitar...will probably dump me soon. I almost wanted to say F it and keep the darn thing for myself, but that's bad Karma. I swear this could be the next 'Cosmo' column...woman dumped by boyfriend because she bought a house. Crazy, huh.

Anywho...I'll stick to the main post. Thanks for the info. Think I got a pretty good deal on a solid guitar. Thanks all!!!
 
I have the 65C and I like it alot, it has a very nice feel to it and it sounds really good also (it's just the distrotion on my effects pedal that sucks :rolleyes:).

I'd say that $180 w/ gigbag is a very good deal. :)

Also if you don't want that guitar picking up dust, then you might want to send your boyfriend here. That is an awesome guitar lessons sight, and if he's into heavy metal head-banger music he'll be in Heaven. :D They have some beginner guitar lessons in there somewhere (you just gotta do a little scrolling for it) which I imagine are very good, as he is a great teacher. :) They also have live lessons every Friday, which he may want to check out.

-tkr
 
I nabbed it for $175 (sunburst) and a gig bag too. Was I robbed or did I make a decent purchase for a guitar for a beginning guitar player which may or may not be used to often. (my boyfriend tends to put things away if he doesn't figure them out immediately) I have a funny feeling it'll be played for a month then begin picking up dust.

Please let me know. I have 2 days to change my mind if I picked up a real piece o CRAP. IIt seemed like a better deal than the Yamaha's and Ibanez's which were selling for $180 and UP withough gig bags...ok...ok...I know I can nab a gig bag for 20 - 40 bucks...but I wanted to get everything at once. Now all I have left is a strap and a cable and I am THROUGH!!! Unless y'all think this is a heap o junk. Was looking for a starfire special...but unfortunately the few I could hunt down were out of my price range. :confused:
Funny how things come up, just saw this in a feed, you say you have two days to make up your mind well is 22 years too late to comment? I have about 7 Guitars presently, honed down from 14, and one of them is a De Armond M-65. Great Guitar, which I have preferred to My Gibson semi 330 on some recordings. Horses for courses. If a guitar plays and sounds great, its a good guitar. Go with your gut. Sorry for being so late lol.
 
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