DeArmond M-66

I have a M66 and have not have any problems at all.

I am using a 40w Ibanez amp and the blues sounds great.. rich full aound.

Factory set-up was ok. I had to adjust the pickup to my kind of music. No flaws.

I play this guitar everyday and have had it for 5 years and it still has all orig equip. finish is excellent and strap buttons are tight and I can depend on it. My son used it in his band off and on for 2 years also

It has been a truly great guitar and I wish I had brought more of them back then.. No repairs have ever been done

I have been playing for about 45 years and I have an Ibanez electric and also a Martin and Alvarez flattop guitar and fiddle. If it were stolen I would purchase another fender . I love the color Turquoise and the pear inlays. I wish it had black buttons Its like the older corvettes.. good to look at and a lot of power and a great feel to it.

Made in Indonesia, new 2000 or 2001, Wide bolt on neck. Two DeArmitron humbuckers. Two volume, two tone pots, 3 way switch (like a Gibson). Body is Agathis. Neck is "NATO" wood. Non-locking tuners, seem okay. Tunamatic bridge. Nice bound black finish. M.O.P. style inlays on the rosewood fingerboard. Standard size frets.

Wow, it sounds really nice. The pickups Impedance: 7.8 bridge, 8.6 neck are bright, with a tight low end, and they are loud (but their tone can be effectively adjusted with the tone and vol. pots to get nice sounds similar to a Les Paul or even a fender). I love their sound. I eventually moved the pickups a little closer to the strings and I adjusted their independent poll pieces to get even more unbelievable tone.

As well stated in another review (about the pickups): "Think of a good P90 with expanded range: bites, good low end, great high-mids, very workable, NO HUM, cleans up nicely."

The neck and bridge give the guitar a lot of sustain, and it seems to stay in tune, at least as well as my $800.00 Fender.

Factory setup was okay, but I always make minor adjustments to get thing right.

No flaws on mine.

I have had it for 5 years and it still plays sweet. No problems at all and I have used it for recording and a gig or two.

N/A

I love this guitar. Due to its small price I never thought that it would make its way into being one of my main guitars, but its tone and looks are so impressive that I can't seem to put it down.

Made in Indonesia, 2000,2001
22 frets, 2 tone and 2 volume controls, 3 way selector, 2 humbuckers, rosewood fretboard, bolt-on neck, brand x tuners, Les Paul knock off with a clear plastic pickguard, cream colored binding, nice glossy black finish. Not that bad of features for the money paid out for the thing, but definately not top of the line components...not for $139, but gittars can be up-graded if you like the way a particular one feels.

I play motly blues, blues/rock oriented tunes, and some old classic rock and even an occasional country lick or two. It's all good. Don't play in a band anymore, except for the occasional bbq or fun night at the local water-hole. I have played this ax thru a Peavey ValveKing for the most part, and some thru a VoxAD30VT. I'm pleased with the way that it sounds thru the Peavey...a nice warm sound with the neck p'up set at 6. The bridge p'up is noticeably hotter than the neck. I'd think one could cover a lot of ground in musical style with this instrument, especially with a pedal or two.

I bought this guitar 5 years ago for my youngest son who played the hell out of it for 10 minutes. It came well packed from SamAsh in a gig bag that I bought at the same time. I immediately took it to my cousin for a tune-up. According to him, there were a few loose screws and the action needed just a bit of lowering...other than that, it was apparently a fair set-up from the factory. Fret ends are a little jagged in places and the strap buttons, as mentioned in previous posts, are suspect. The gittar has not seen much use until about 3 weeks ago when I picked it up and fooled around with it. Since then I have played it a little every day. Most of the hardware is cheap, but works. The black finish is really very nice, and the cream colored binding goes well with it. The plastic inlays look OK, but I do not care for the looks of the clear pickguard. Actually, the thing looks like it would cost a lot more, and sounds good enough to cost more. The action is acceptable. If I were to decide to up-grade...and I might...I would probably go with TonePro tailpiece, a graphite nut, and new tuners. I kinda like the p'ups, but would be curious as to how P-90's would sound.

As I mentioned before, I don't really play out all that often, but if were, I would consider this ax for a back up, but would not use it as a main ax, partly 'cause I'm a Fender man and have been playin' 'em since the 60's. You can't expect quality hardware on a gittar that costs this much, but I can honestly say that you are getting a pretty good deal for the buck.

Been playin' electric gittar since the 60's. My main little set-up is a Custom Strat thru a Peavey ValveKing. Other gear is a modded mim Tele, Vox AD30VT tube/ss hybrid, 20 watt Marshall VT tube/ss hybrid, and some various small s/s amps that I've accumulated over the years. Gave most of my pedals to my oldest son, but kept a Boss EQ, Bluesdriver and tuner, an a/b box and a Danowah wah pedal. I don't know if I would buy another one if this one were lost. I like playing it, and would even consider modding it. But as is, I would not cry for very long over it. For a decent practice gittar or something to bang around on when you know you're gonna be drinkin' and not so very careful about how you handle your ax, this is probably as good a deal as you'll find anywhere. I think it is every bit as good as a couple Epiphones and Squires that I've played/owned.

Made in Indonesia, year unknown, agathis body, nato (=commercial mahogany) neck, rosewood fingerboard, tuneomatic bridge, sealed tuners, two DeArmatron humbucking pickups (passive), two tone knobs, two volume knobs, 3-way pickup selector, opaque gloss black finish with white body binding, clear pickguard, body style resembles a Les Paul, although the differences are apparent.

The sound is really awesome. I spent several weeks checking out guitars at a local Sam Ash. I only had about 200 dollars to spend, so I was mostly looking at Squire's and cheap Ibanez's. They all sounded really flat and flavourless, with a tinny midrange and almost no bass. The M-66's sound is really fat and bluesy, with lots of midrange and bass. The highs can go from mellow to head-splitting shriek via the tone knobs. I'm using a Fender 25-A practice amp with it. I don't like the amp too much, but it does a decent job on the clean channel. I also use a Tech21 SansAmp Classic (for a really sween Marshall-like distortion) and a Dunlop Crybaby 535Q wah-wah. I play mostly classic rock and blues, and the sound is just perfect.

There were a couple of flaws in the fit and hardware, but first the good news.
The gorgeous polished rosewood fingerboard is absolutely perfect. I just started playing when I bought the DeArmond, so my fingers couldn't handle high action. The action on every other guitar I tried was too high for me. The action on this thing is so low, I barely have to touch the string to fret it. Yet it produces no buzz on any string, at any fret. I recently visited the local Sam Ash and checked out a few very expensive guitars. The only ones that could really compare to my DeArmond in playability were Gibsons ($1500+). The body and neck are finished in opaque glossy black. Nothing to brag about, but the paint is flawless. The fret inlays are plastic, but look and feel just fine.
Now the flaws. Lots of hardware wasn't tightened down properly and loosened in a matter of days. No problem, retightening them takes only a minute. The bridge pickup vibrates against the pickup ring and produces a buzz, but it's not picked up and therefore inaudible when amplified. The one big flaw was in the soldering. I noticed that the tembre kept changing for no reason, so I decided to open up the tone knob back cover. One of the wires came loose, and the soldering job was very sloppy overall, with strands of different wires touching each other and a couple of wires hanging by a loose thread. I resoldered all the wires, and it sounds perfect ever since. While openning the cover, I also noticed that one of the screws holding the cover in place was driven into the wood so close to the inner edge, that the wood split. I fixed it as a matter of principle, but I didn't really have to since it's hidden under the back cover.

I've had this guitar for about 4 years, and the only signs of wear are scratches on the back from my belt buckle and slight wear in the fret wires (I bend/vibrato about every other note, so that's no surprise). The fingerboard has lost its glossiness, but is othewise holding up very well considering how much my fingers rub against it. I bumped this guitar accidentally on various objects a few times, and that didn't seem to put any scratches or dents on it. The guitar seems sturdy, but I've always handled it with care, so I wouldn't really know how well it holds up to dropping it or playing baseball with it. I wouldn't recommend either.

I've been playing for 4+ years. I played a cheap (very crappy) Yamaha classical before I bought the M-66. The DeArmond came as a very pleasant change. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's extremely heavy. I also wish it had a tremolo, but then again, I also wish I were rich and famous. If it were lost or stolen, I would cry like a baby, because they don't make 'em any more, and for the price I paid it would be impossible to find a replacement.

I recently purchased a Indonesia-made Dearmond M-66, I believe it's a 2000 model. This is a cross between a Les Paul(arched top solid body)and the Gretsch Duo Jet(Filtertron copy "Dearmatron" pickups). Mine is Turquoise with black pickup rings and chrome hardware, I replaced the clear knobs with original Dearmond black knobs(expensive at 6 bucks a piece and hard to find but worth it for the originality)and ordered a custom Cream and black pickguard from Pickguardian to replace the stock clear one. This is a beautiful guitar now, for any price, the cream pickguard matches the cream binding and the black laminate matches everything else. After playing it on a Marshall MG-15 DFX it came so close to an old Gretsch sound I almost ordered some TV Jones for it, but then I hooked it to a 1985 Crate Bass amp through a x-series Digiverb, wow,so close to an old Fender Twin!I'm keeping it like it is, it needs nothing else!The finish is superb, I can't believe these things went for 150 bucks new, the frets are done well, the rosewood fingerboard is excellent(just a little Sea Foam green splatter from the neck)and the inlays everyone complains about look great to me. I recently changed what I believe were the stock strings to Ernie Ball 10's and the tuners worked perfectly, though I can tell they are not top notch, still better than the junk thrown on starter guitars today! It even came with a quality Guild gigbag.

I had to play with this thing awhile to get it to that swampcat skiffle sound I like. The tone controls go quickly from muted to ice-pick splitting head sound, about 4 is good. It smokes through the little Marshall with chorus and medium gain settings, I run this through a homemade Leslie speaker and really like this sound. But when I run it through my old solid state 150 watt bass amp with a Digiverb pedal set on Reverse Reverb the sound comes alive. Sounds like my Brother playing his 1966 Country Gentleman through a Fender twin, at least to my ears. I can do anything with this guitar, it's the last electric I will need. The only other unit I will order is a Tech 21 Sansamp, just because they are so versatile and I want to play with it. Also considering a bridge tremelo unit with a Chet Atkins-type handle, yeah baby!

I am tired of hearing how the solid neck Dearmonds are better than this bolt-on,hey, Fender makes bolt-ons, always has, and the old ones are going for 20,000 dollars now!This Dearmond works perfect, get it?The action couldn't be any better, and I doubt the guy I bought it from did anything to it, looked factory.This is not a cheaply made guitar, bolt on or otherwise,Indonesia or Korea. The finish on this guitar couldn't be any better, besides the small splatter where the neck was taped off while painting.I've been around guitars for 35 years, played and owned all them so-called greats everyone rants about, Fenders, Gretsch,I will tell you this;we would have killed to have a trouble-free axe like this Dearmond back in the Sixties for under 200 dollars, give me a break, what do you want? This thing had one flaw in this category, a loose input jack. I would take it any day over a ratty 60's Fender solidbody(except I could sell the Fender for 20,000 dollars and buy equipment)This is a players' guitar.

I will depend on it, this will be my last electric guitar, period, I don't need anything else. If I so choose I can modify and improve everything on this thing to do whatever anyone else can do with their much more expensive instruments. Top quality wiring harness and TV Jones Filtertrons, Gotoh tuners, whatever.But it doesn't need it, it works great the way it is. I can understand why Fender stopped production, after reading these reviews what would you rather have, a Dearmond or a Fender Squire Bullet? I am watching the strap screws, if one fell out and the thing fell and marred this pretty paint I would be highly pissed off. Will it last? I feel these Dearmond guitars will only increase in value while China spits out more clones.This was the last great value in a guitar purchase, there may be more I don't know of.

I do appreciate Fender keeping the old web info up for the Dearmonds, all the info I need is on there. For that fact alone, since the old Guild/Dearmond line is sadly defunct, I'll give it an 8.

I just got back into music after a 20 year break. I own a Hoyer flatop I restored/customized with a Martin neck and J-160e pickup/ control configuration. I also have a 1969 Yamaha FG-260 12 string with a Lawrence soundhole pickup,a Cort Flatop with a Kent pickup,a Telleno archtop with a Kent pickup(old American junk, sound great!)and a Teisco Del Ray I rebuilt into a cool Blues player(these guitars get no respect, I don't understand why, they are not that bad,considering)I remember the Dearmond blowout, Music Loft in Greensboro near my home was selling the SG copy Dearmond for 89 bucks, I bought one, wish I had bought a truckload of All styles from Dearmond at the time. I would have to have another if it got gone, I'm tired of overpriced, overhyped opinionated types putting down things they just don't understand. I've played these other so-called great guitars of the past, in my opinion,Dearmond/Guild had it going on, gear snobs suck.

22 Frets, 3-way toggle, Rosewood fret board.

I play a lot of rock and punkish stuff and it sounds amazing. At the moment I'm useing a Crate 30WR ,an earlier version of Crate's 30W. It was a perfect sound.

It was set up vey well when I bought it. Then I took it to my guitar man ,Todd, and he set it the action to perfection. So it is possible for the M-66 to be perfect in action. The pickups gave me some trouble about a year after I bought it. I got it fixed by Todd and it's great now. Other than that nothing really went wrong with it.

It is very reliable. The hardware is perfect. The finish is unbeleivabley long lasting. I changed the knobs but only because they looked good. I had to tighten the strap buttons once and they've been fine ever since. I'll always bring a back up but I would depend on just that.

Unfortunetly Fender ruined yet another guitar company since they bought De Armond. The new ones are so plane looking. I don't dig it.

I've been playing for about 4 years now but I grew up with guitars so I know about them. Other gear I own would include an Austin AU506 acoustic, a Ibanez JS40, a Marshall MS-2 mini amp, a Crate 30WR as i mentioned earlier, a Danelectro Black Licorice Beyond distortion pedal, a Danelectro Dan-O-Wah, a DOD FX20C Stereo Phaser, all Crate cables, and a Korg CA-30 Chromatic Tuner. If my M-66 was lost I would try to find another one or hunt the person down who stole it and do something very very bad to them. I love every thing about it. I compare it to any great guitar.

made 2001, Indonesia.
see below
nothing included.

It has a very bright but thick sound. It suits my tone, which tries to get an electric blues sound, something like the Yardbirds 1965. This guitar's humbuckers are quiet, even on louder amps. It is not that easy to get controlled feeback. This can play a variety of cleans well, from warm jazz lead lines to Radiohead-style leads. I like the clean better than the distortion, because the pickups are not that hot.

The action was playable, but after I got mine set up by the store's tech with Ernie Balls, the sound popped out a lot more. The flaws detract from the look, but not the playability. The frets have some rough cuts on the edges, but play fine.

This guitar is tough, and withstands several knocks without mahor scratches. The pickups do not seem easy to repair, but seem like they would stand a fall. The thick finish is good for durability. However, the screws in the strap buttons were not done well, and I had to go to the hardware store for longer screws.

This company no longer exists, and I don't believe Fender makes their products anymore.

I have been playing for 2-3 years, playing gigs as high as people's houses and school talents shows. I run this guitar through either my Peavey Rage 15T amplifier or my Fender Champion 30 DSP. I also have a Fender American Standard Stratocaster. The guitar have very different characters and are not redundant.

What I like most about this guitar is how easy it is to play. It has a very comfortable feel, and is excellent for writing and learning songs on. It plays at least as well, though having different characteristics, as Epiphones several times its cost.

If there was one thing I could change, it would be the pickup design. They are simply hard to access and clean.

I cannot argue with the features for its price.

Nice looking guitar, black with silver hardware, 2 volume and tone controls, looks like a Les Paul standard guitar.

Has a nice mellow tone, good for the blues or rock.

Very nice shiny black finish, good low action with no string buzzing. Plays really well and feels smooth. has a clear pickguard which I'm thinking about painting black. A good deal for $149.00.

Seems very durable.

For $149.00 this is a very nice guitar, I play blues and this ax deliveres a good tone. I don't think Dearmond makes this model anymore and I was very happy Victor Litz Music had one of the few left in stock.

2 tones, 2 volumes, 3 way select.
Indonesia?
22 frets.

With a Fender amp, its really warm and nice sounding.
Good with clean.

I love the color, and the finish is nice.

Good Gig Guitar, as long as your just playing it ( dont throw it around, into the crowd.. No crowd surfing with it. )

Not made anymore?

Get one if you can find one.

I'm not going to list all the features since everyone else has them covered, HOWEVER there are some things I do NOT agree with from some others who reviewed the M-66. Features on this for the price are great... if they had better hardware it'd be a full 10(for the price).

First of all I play all kinds of music and METAL can be played on this. I'm not trying to put anyone down. It all lies in your equipment as well as how you set your action, and effects. If your amp doesnt have alot of bells and whistles then buy a EQ pedal and a good distortion pedal(BOSS MT-2). You'd be VERY suprised what they can do for you! I think the stock pickups sound great and can be used for any type of music.

I have bought two of these guitars and they are awesome for the price. I gotta comment that the hardware is ok, but the tuners could be better as well as the posts. If you do not know how to set it up, get a pro. You'd be surprised what a difference a CORRECT setup feels like. When I got mine the neck had too much relief which ultimately made it play like shit. After I adjusted it, everything played great and stayed in tune , but only about as good as klusons tuners keep guitars in tune(klusons are stocks tuners on epiphones/gibsons).

Both of the clear pickguards on my M-66's have NO bubbles in them, however the screws to hold the pickguard are crap. They'll eventually split out. They should of put 3rd screw in the one end corner of the pickguard to help prevent this. It wouldn't be hard to do it yourself. Sometimes crap slips through quality control(bubbles in the pickguard, crappy action, blems). I however think a clear pickguard is kind of lame, but hey it works. The finish on mine was flawless.The Fiesta Red color is more like a orange construction sign, but I have put it to good use. The only personal dislike is the binding! I don't have a problem with binding, but cream binding on orange doesn't look right to me. They should of made it with black binding. HOWEVER I can't bitch because it was only $100(had a coupon).. regularly $130.
I'm sure the strap knobs will pull out eventually.

Some have said it doesnt compare to a Epiphone or Gibson. I can't comment much on the Gibson and don't need to! they are 50 times more expensive... and DUH!!!!!!! there is a reason. It's made better with better parts so OF COURSE it cant compare to a Gibson. Yes, Epiphones are still better than this, but if you want to buy a guitar this would make a ok back-up incase you had to repair your main one. I dont mean this is a back-up for a gig!!!!!! I wouldnt recommend this for live shows, etc. I meant if you're a guitar hobbyist. I also recommend the M-66 for experimenting. For example if you want a cheap thing to upgrade or learn how to work on a guitar. It'd be dumb to buy say a $500 guitar and screw with it and end up ruining it,etc... Everything looks good on mine so far. Just remember to check the neck relief and such.. they come all the way from indonesia and sit in a warehouse/guitarstore... so there are definate temperature changes, humidity, etc which will cause the neck to go one way or another. Whoever said the guitar body/wood is soft must of really smashed the thing. I bumped mine twice on a barbell and it didn't do anything. KEEP IN MIND that even though they are the same model they can change the specs and parts time to time and that includes the wood. This happens alot with low price guitars. Mine is heavy and thats how I like it. Basswood bodies dent really really easy and that's a cheap ass wood, but does have sound benefits. Hell I had an ESP made out of basswood and It had dents all over it from god knows what. I never knew where some dings came from!

didnt need to contact them, but as far as a warranty, you dont need it......... the only reason would be if the humbuckers died. everything else would be pretty much your problem due to regular tear and wear.

GREAT DEAL for the price.