DeArmond M-77T

Here I am returning after six years. I agree, the M77-T is still one great guitar.

(I have an accurate weight for it now - 9 lbs exactly).

My advice remains to replace the neck (2k) pickup with a similar-looking but different-sounding DeArmond 2000 (never actually used in the DeArmond line of guitars but in the Guild Rockabilly instead - it's a long story). The 2000 is much clearer and ballsier at the neck position, and the combination is a dream.

(By the way, the DeArmond model T-400 was not inspired by the Gretsch Country Gentleman but by the Guild (vintage) Duane Eddy model. The DeArmonds were essentially copies of Guild models and were originally marketed as "DeArmond by Guild." The Country Gentleman has always had FilterTron pickups, while the Guild D.E. model came with Rowe Dearmonds, which is why the T-400 SHOULD have had 2000s, NOT 2ks (leave it to the marketing types to screw things up). And is also why at least the neck pickup in both guitars should be replaced by a 2000 for best results.

Cosmetic tip: depending on the color you have, spray painting the rear of the pickguard either Testor's Metallic Silver or Metallic gold (as alternatives to black) will provide a very attractive Gretsch-like look to the guitar. In the case of my guitar, the Silver goes great with the dark Moon Blue finish.

We'll say it's like a Les Paul as far as the body style is concerned (even though that's not what it's copying). It's got binding on everything but the headstock. The fanciness of this guitar lies primarily in its Bigsby style vibrato and, to a lesser extent, in its DeArmond pickups. However, the pickups are where it's at.

My specimen has a gold/bronze top with everything else a nice dark stain. I believe the wood used is mentioned by previous reviewers.

The guitar comes with a clear pick guard. I personally hated the way it looked, so I spray painted the back of it with black paint. I now have the benefit of shiny plastic coupled with the stylishness of black. The instrument isn't really constructed in a way that makes complete removal of the pickguard realistic so I would suggest my measure as a way of making the guitar, which is already quite striking, even more appealing.

My musical style doesn't necessarily exist, but since I have to put something I'll say rock, folk and country, with some blues and jazz thrown in for all those notes that I incorrectly hit but sound good.

I've used it through a number of different amps and, to be honest, it doesn't always work. This guitar needs an amp with a good clean sound. You could argue that if an amp doesn't have a good clean sound, it isn't a good amp. And I would agree with you. But if you really want to hear this guitar, I suggest supplying a good amp. I know this from experience. I thought it sounded good for years. Then one day, I finally got a "rather good" amp (I had been using only "moderately good" amps before that).

Having said that, I agree with a previous reviewer in that it sounds like a guitar with p-90s but without it sounding like p-90s. It's definitely single coil, there's no doubt about that. It's like there's a battle between chime and warmth, and it's reached some sort of equilibrium. You could say there are strong mids. The pickups float between Strat-like single coil and humbuckers, but in a different way than p-90s (people tend to describe this as "Gretschy").

You're not going to get metal sounds out of this (unless you use digital effects, in which case you can wait a few years and it won't matter what guitar you use). You can get a decent blues sound, and probably a decent jazz sound. It'll definitely work for country and for rock and roll. This isn't the kind of guitar that's tied to a specific genre so if you're creative enough (or if the sound of the guitar fits your creativity) you can find a use for it. It's not like Jimmy Page using a Les Paul or Hendrix using a Strat. If you want to sound like that, you already know what you need.

Lastly, I'll say that if you're looking for bottom end, you're not going to find it here (single coils).

I'm a very big fan of the neck of this guitar. I used to think I'd like the frets larger, but I no longer feel that way.

The hardware is holding up well. It hasn't corroded like other guitars I have. I can't say much about the adjustment of the pickups since I got it used.

I can complain that the finish on the front of the guitar (the gold/bronze part) is a bit discolored in places. I don't really care, but I know some people do. It's really very slight, though.

I can also make the popular statement that the tuners aren't the best. This is true, they aren't. They're not too bad though. They're about appropriate for the price of the instrument. Even if I replace them the cost of this guitar won't raise considerably.

I did not have a good time with the strap buttons. Luckily I caught the guitar every time (notice, as a measure of my character, how I let this happen more than once). This was easily fixed, but the screw holding the strap button in really didn't have very big teeth. An electric guitar is essentially a block of wood. It can take most screws you can throw at it.

That's the only problem I've had with this guitar, which I assume based on other reviews was a fluke.

(chuckle)

I've had this guitar for a few years now, and even though it's not my main guitar it's among my two favorite electrics (note: my main guitar is actually NOT among my two favorite electrics).

If this was stolen or lost I would just suck it up. I have enough guitars (it pains me to write that) and these aren't as freely available as they should be.

This is definitely an option for those who aren't satisfied with the paradigms that Fender and Gibson have created.

Dearmond M77T in the orange (Gretschy orange) finish. As mentioned in several reviews, it has the 'Digsby' tailpiece, Dearmond 2K pickups etc. I won't into too much detail listing features because they have been mentioned several times.

The one thing I have to add that might differ from other reviews is that I personally don't find mine to be THAT heavy. After reading all the reviews I was a little nervous since I bought it online. Mine is around 8 lbs though and is not as heavy as a lot of Les Pauls I have played.

I bought mine used. It's a 2001 and the pots and electronics have never been touched. Everything is still working great on it, so I would have to assume they are decent.

My only real knock on it is the tuners don't seem very stable.

I play a mix of Rockabilly, Rock n' Roll, Surf and COuntry. The guitar is pretty much tailor made for any of those styles.

The pickups sound like a P-90, but with more 'chime' in the mids and trebles which to my ears puts them more into Gretsch tone territory. They can be noisy just like other single coils, but are dead quiet in the middle position.

The pickups are pretty unique sounding I found it took a lot of fiddling with my amps and the tone and volume knobs to find the right balance. If you just go full out, you can get some pretty harsh tones on the treble side. You can get a LOT of tones too. I can get some fantastic blues tones using the neck pickup and a little overdrive, or a nice twang on the bridge pickup.

The biggest surprise is how great the pickups sound when playing with overdrive. They totally get a Reverend Horton Heat kind of sound.

The guitar is amazingly well built. I have only heard about the great "Dearmond Blowout" and it's hard to imagine these guitars ever sold for that much. I paid $400 for mine and even at that price it's a ridiculous deal. They are just plain beautiful looking guitar.

As mentioned earlier, this guitar is from 2001. I know the person I bought it from gigged with it, and it's still in fantastic condition. They seem to be built like brick.

I am always suspect of electronics on imported guitars, but this guitar hasn't had them touched in 6 years and they are still working great.

As mentioned I play a mix of Surf, Rock n' Roll, Rockabilly and country. I mainly play Teles for the twang factor, and I also play a Revernd Charger 290 (fantastic guitars). This guitar can get you some of the twang, but definitely gives you a more powerful tone when playing with either a touch of gain, or full on overdrive. It really gives you a Gretsch sound on a budget as other reviewers have mentioned.

It's basically one of the most versatile guitars I have played. And it looks beautiful to boot. At the prices you can still find these at, they have to be one of the best values out there.

This is the amazing m77T ORANGE! Wow, it is beautiful (and heavy) with bigsby and two gretschy pickups... The neck is fast although having played teles and strats all my life, the string tension (gibson-esque) has taken some getting used to. I believe this was sold in 2001, I am the second owner

I have mostly played this through my old champ and through a blues deluxe and some through my adrenalinn and pod 2.0.... I kind of wanted a guitar that I could jam to Neil Young's Weld album, this looked much like his les pauls and when it is distorted the way Neil likes it, it sounds "close enough". Beyond that, I decided it would probably do a fair job on Allman Bros type stuff and it is a lot of fun on "Jessica" but it isn't a les paul (not that I'd know, I don't think I've ever played one) but it has a really cool range of sounds and can do a kind of Buddy Miller thing too... It is a really good guitar, certainly worth more than the 300 I have in it... I'd buy it again in a heart beat.

This guitar is a beauty.... Seriously, if you didn't know it wasnt a bargain guitar you could pass it off as fancy 1500-2000 gear. The tuners, if there is a weak spot, might could be better, but it stays in tune just fine and the bigsby is, well, groovy.

I believe these guitars are made of some funky techno wood, this thing feels solid, well built, the finish is gorgeous it is just a really, really nice guitar... I may replace the volume and tone knobs at some point, but they are actually fine. I would gig with this as my only guitar without hesitation.

Dearmond is part of Fender, and while they no longer produce these guitars, their support network is still available online, including wiring schemes etc... so, I'm not too concerned... I seriously doubt this guy needs any support for many years, and if it does, I'll take it to Sylvan over in Santa Cruz and let those guys work on it... they are the best!

I've been playing 28 years, I own 2 teles, 1 strat, 1 danelectro, 1 Fender XII, a Jay Turser 335, a Larrivee (the PETE! What a guitar!) a lap steel etc, a variety of amps, mostly fender... a bunch of pedals, an adrenalinn, a pod, a mac based Logic studio, lots of mics etc.... I dig american music... this guitar has all the major attributes of good gear: Good Mojo/Design, solid construction, thoughtful layout of features, a nod to the past while embracing good new technology/construction, really amazing price... these were amazing guitars, too bad they are no longer produced. I was thinking of buying either a les paul standard or Gretsch 6128t but, I couldn't really justify the price... this just fell out of the sky on Craigslist and I'm glad it did!

Consider this short review an echo five years after the great DeArmond blowout. If you were there, you remember it.
I bought my black M-77T at the height of the blowout during the summer of 2001. The last things I needed at that time were more guitars, especially budget imports (having dropped $1,400 a week earlier on a specialty handbuilt R.C. Allen jazz/semi hollow, which I kept hidden in the closet for weeks out of fear of spouse, and having a number of other, better guitars and basses lying around...).
However, I got caught up in the blowout mania and bought the M77T and a hollow 400T.
I paid $269 for the M77 and about $329 for the 400T (a gretschy country gentleman inspired natural). I quickly tired of the 400T, which I felt was impossible to tune and just not for me.
I bought the M77T strictly on price/value ratio (I'm an acceptable MBA and a less thsan fair musician). It was impossible not to acquire something of its obvious quality for so little money. And I am glad I did -- no regrets or buyer's remorse over the M77T.
Over the next three years, I reserved the M77T for slide purposes: high action, five string open G tuning. It excelled in this purpuse, despite having a Bigsby-style bridge (fixed bridge better for slide).
About three months ago, I rescued the M77 from the closet, where it was making me feel guilty. I cleaned it up, gave it a quick set up, tweaked the truss ross and polished the frets.
It is my current favorite, and delighting with playability and good tone.
Overall specs as noted by other reviewers: A Les Paulish/Gretschy Duo-Sonic inspired single cutway; very heavy; made from agathis wood; nice black top, somewhat mat finish, with a stained back revealing light grain; medium-plus-jumbo frets, fairly well worked (could use further polishing); set neck. The set neck is a remarkable qualitative feature for an instrument under $1,000. The neck is well shaped, Gibson-ish, straight and "pro" feeling.
I will give this category a 10 because of the high value/price ratio.

Terrific neck and neck/bridge sound. The nexk is smooth and jazzy; both pickups together hav medium bright sound, very articulate and toneful without being cutting. This is a hybrid Gibson/Gretsch sound, probably more Gretstchy than Gibson. The pickups are US-made.

I have been playing more than 35 years and I collect a little. I do not play well but I love guitars, I follow the market and I know quality. This instrument continues to surprise me with its pro-grade design and manufacture. Nothing about it is cheap, and its best features (set neck, finish and pickups) are solidly professional.
It is not perfect. It could use further fret dressing. The tuners are acceptable and it holds tune; if I wanted another project, and I don't, I would replace the tuners and the plastic nut.

Absolutely solid. I always replace strap buttons with straplocks, and I will with this instrument in the future.

I wouldn't bother trying! This was a Fender/Guild/import blowout special event.

As noted above, this is a rare bird: A low-cost import without any noticable compromises; solid set-neck construction; US pickups and very nice finish. I like budget guitars, and I appreciate them for what they are - just as I appreciate higher price/quality guitars for what they are. The M77T is a quality guitar designed and sold at a low price. I am keeping mine. If you are tempted to get one on E-bay, I recommend getting the darker finishes (black first, moon blue second) over the spangly silver. Many buyers liked the orange, but it was garish for my taste. I could not find a case in any store that would fit it. A man named Chris Datt custom builds cases, and he can be located on the internet.

Continuing the pickup discussion earlier in this listing: I spoke to the man who designed both the Fender DeArmond 2000 and 2k model pickups, Bill Turner. He expressed surprise when I told him that the DeArmond T-400 came with 2ks, instead of 2000s, because the 2000s were designed to mimic the old Rowe-DeArmond (like DynaSonic) sound, the pickups that were used in both Duane Eddy's '57 Gretsch Chet Atkins model and his Guild Signature model. Since the T-400 was a copy of the Guild Duane Eddy model, it should have come with 2000s, not 2ks. For a long time, Gretsch was selling their cheaper line of guitars equipped with DeArmond 2000s, which they bought from Fender, but calling them DynaSonics in their product brochures. When Fender took over marketing, etc. for Gretsch, they finally began calling them what they are. Only the professional series Gretsches have DynaSonics.

One easy way to really improve the sound of either an M77-T or a T-400 is to replace the neck pickup 2k with a 2000.

2001 (?) model, same features as previous reviews. Moon Blue, no case. The look mimics the Guild Aristocrat models from the '50s and '60s.

Sounds great with one exception, There does seem to be some stridency or excessive brightness in the pickups at the B string, particularly in the bridge position. Fortunately, most of this can be adjusted out at the pickup post. Otherwise, it has a nice tone for rockabilly/surf/garage styles. I currently use a small Vox tube amp.

The guitar was set up well from the factory. Action is low yet with no buzzing. Truss rod appears to be adjusted properly. Fretboard is finished nicely with no ragged fretwire. Plastic nut is a little cheesy and will be replaced eventually. Pickup posts needed some dialing-in to get the sound right. Neck pickup quit working only a week after buying this guitar, was fixed at the dealer but quit again 2 months later. I took the guitar to an authorized service center and the problem was corrected with no problems since then. Overall finish on the guitar is near perfect.

Now that the bugs with the pickups have been ironed out I'm confident this guitar would withstand live playing. It's built solidly and should last as well as any name-brand guitar. You could gig without a backup if you wanted.

I've dealt with the service center when the pickup went out the second time. They fixed the problem quickly, correctly and didn't quibble about the warranty. Fender is honoring the warranty on all DeArmond guitars.

I've been playing on and off since 1980 and have had maybe a half dozen guitars including a '65 Fender Mustang, a '73 Gibson SG, a Guild X-170T archtop and a DeArmond Starfire Special. This guitar is on a par with any of them with regard to quality, playability and enjoyment. If I lost this guitar, I would replace it with another one, definitely! This guitar has the most bang for the buck of nearly anything I have played. I have played the current crop of Squire "Series 24" guitars that were intended to replace the DeArmond and they don't hold a candle to the DeArmond M-77T. This thing looks as good and plays as good as any guitar costing three and four times the price.

Re. last posting on pickup sounds...I dunno man...I'm sure you're hearing what your hearing, but unless you actually replace the pickups in a vintage 6120 with ones that you've yanked out of a DeArmond, who's to say whether it's pickups, or wood that's making the difference. Even then...I've played 4 pre-filtertron Country Gentleman, and heard the same differences you mention in that group alone, My DeArmond Sounds EXACTLY like one of those Gretschs, a lot like another one, and not very close to the other 2, so I don't think you can make black and white statements as far as vintage vs. reissue as far as those pickups are concerned

Just a quick comment on some of the things said in these reviews: the Fender DeArmond 2K pickups in these guitars are really not good copies of the Gretsch DynaSonics (A.K.A. old DeArmond 200s). They are fatter and a step toward the P90-style. The Fender DeArmond 2000s, on the other hand, were designed to capture the DynaSonic sound in a more compact packaging. They sound a lot like the DynaSonic, but the Dyna still has better bass, less stridency on the top strings and better balance string-to-string.

2 Great sounding pickups, A seperate volume, and tone control for each one, and a faux Bigsby that works just as well as the genuine one on my Les Paul. What else do you need?

Let's see here, how would I characterize each position? Bridge position: Nice thick chunk, reminds me of "Won't Get Fooled Again", or any early Neil Young, "Cowgirl In The Sand" kind of thing. Middle position: GO CAT, GO! now you've got a very accurate take on the classic Gretsch twang! Did somebody say "Stray Cat Strut"? Neck position: Fender territory here...clean, and watery tone with a nice edge as it starts to break up, I'm thinking the solo from "Rikki Don't lose that Number" I'll take a point off only because they ARE single coils, so you do have to deal with some noise/hum...it doesn't really bother me all that much, but some might get worked up over it

Ah, ya see...This is where these guitars blow me away. I have never owned (and I've owned PLENTY) a guitar that bettered this one as far as over all quality goes. The orange finish on mine is just stunning! I was lucky enough to score one of the few that had a bit of "flame" on the top. No dead spots on the neck at all. The feel of the edges of the fret board is just perfect...the binding, and the frets create a very smooth union. Once again I'll take a point off because, with such a quality pice of work...WHY, WHY, WHY the cheesy knobs, and nut? I've already put knew knobs on this baby (think brass Tele knobs with a jeweled ruby top!!!), and the nut has to go soon! Anyone that has any experience with a Bigsby, or "Bigsby style" trem knows that a cheap, plastic, string grabbing nut just AIN'T the way to go!

Can't see a problem here. Seems like there's about a half inch of clear coat over the orange!!! One thing though, I prefer strap-locking systems on my guitars, and let me tell you...that's a problem...you can overcome it, but STILL a problem...The screws that hold in the strap thingys from the factory are HUGE!!! If you take them off, and go with either the Dunlop, or Schaller system, you need to get out the tooth picks, and white glue to fill the huge holes that are bored out to accommodate those screws. I'll still give it a ten here, because once that's done...Rock on baby!!!

No idea here... Fender has re-introduced a new line under the DeArmond name, but do they still deal with this earlier/better incarnation? You really got me there.

I'm very happy with this axe. right now it's my numero uno standard tuning guitar. I play it through an old Supro 2x12, double 6L6 combo amp with very little in between. (Fulldrive II, Crispy Cream treble booster, univibe, and a Boss DM-2 analog delay) The only thing that I'd change on it...the neck is nice and wide (E string to E string)but for my very long skeletal fingers it could have been a bit thicker (fretboard to back of neck)