Soundcheck: DeARMOND Jet-star, Starfire Special and M75T

Soundcheck: DeARMOND Jet-star, Starfire Spcial and M75T

While it’s true that the Gear-Vault’s obsession with all things retro has spawned a seemingly endless series of dubious reissues and ill-conceived oddities, the reverence that guitar players and manufacturers show for the instrument designs of the Fifty and Sixties is largely justified. For any number of reasons, the aesthetic sensibilities of those two decades, whether expressed in the chrome-in-steel swoosh of Cadillac tail fin, the snotty stylishness of shag haircut or the space age lathery of a sonic blue Fender Stratocaster, have survived as watermarks of cool.

Of course, in the heat of our nostalgia, especially where guitars are concerned, we tend to forget that the good old days weren’t always so good. Guitars designed in that period-- even some of the most time-honored classics---suffered from a variety of ailments for which time and research have provided the curves. Howling microphonic pickups are a near-extinct breed, bridges that don’t allow for individual string intonation have become the strict pureview of acoustic instruments and unreliable tuning machines are reserved for only the most shamelessly low-budgets models.

Guitars that hit the perfect balance between retro vibe and modern convenience are scarce indeed, and those that do so while maintaining a reasonable sticker price are even scarcer. This makes the new line of DeArmond electronics (brought to you by the fine people at Fender Guitars) a truly rare breed: based on classic guild designs of the Sixties, these guitars have all the retro mojo you could ask for but employ modernized, U.S.- Made pickups, sleek contemporary-feeling necks, hassle-free hardware and some of the finest Korean craftsmanship a Gear-Monkey has ever seen.

Jet-Star

The First of the Two solid bodies in the DeArmond Survey, the Jet-Star is based on Guild’s bizarrely shaped Thunderbird series of guitars from the mid-to-late Sixties. And while the original Thunderbirds were doubly odd--they actually featured a kickstand built into the back of the guitar--the Jet-Star, with its warped, Fifties-modern coffee table contours, is definitely strange and beautiful in its own right. Sporting an imposing eagle (it could be a hawk) emblem in it’s asymmetrical headstock, this striking axe features a mahogany neck and body (a sonically bulletproof formula that has had Les Paul Juniors and SGs heaping out lovin’ spoonfuls of tone for decades), a bound roaswood fretboard with handsome block marker inlays, and flawlessly applied glossy black finish.

While the guitar is built in Asia, its two newly designed Gold Tone DeArmond hum buckers are U.S. made and combined a handsome chrome-and-gold design with tuneful Alnico V magnets and vintage-style PAF-like outputs. Each pickup has its own volume and tone controls, and keeping with the instrument’s lopsided loveliness, the neck unit’s knobs are smaller than the bridge’s. A three way toggle switch located on the Jet-Star’s lower bout completes the control layout.

While its body shape may be unconventional, the Jet-Star is an extremely well-balanced and ergonomic instrument. The 24.625-inch scale neck is fast and comfortable, and it boasts playability that would put to shame many guitars costing four times as much. Because it has a relatively flat 12-inch fretboard radius, bending on the Jet-Star is as smooth and trouble-free as the framework itself. The instrument’s tuning machines, while not the sturdiest ever, are smooth, and, combined with the guitar’s Tune-O-Matic bridge and Guild-style stop tailpiece.

Plugged into a new Sunn Model T 100-watt halfstack and a vintage Marshall Super Lead, the Jet-Star produced incredibly satisfying classic rock tones, fearlessly going head to head with a ‘67 Gibson SG for churning out ball-breaking AC/DC-like power chords with excellent not definition and stinging leads. The guitar also performed well with the Model T set to an ultrahigh-gain “scooped” metal sound, delivering focused, tight crunch. Fans of the ultrahigh-output shred pickups may find the Gold Tones’ sound to be a little anemic in the lower midrange frequencies, but for vintage enthusiasts, these pickups will be welcomed as instant classics.

Starfire Special

An updated re-creation of guild’s Starfires of the Sixties, the single-cutaway, semi-hollow Starfire Special makes it easy to understand why twang master Duane Eddy once endorsed these instruments. The guitar’s back and sides are made of sturdy maple ply, and a solid center block eliminates the feedback problem often associated with hollow body guitars played at high volumes.

Although it’s made of maple instead of mahogany, the Starfire Special’s neck shares the same comfortable contour as the Jet-Star’s. And even thought the rosewood fretboard is bound, DeArmond judiciously opted to inlay it with simple dot markers, which compliments the instrument’s classic curves and no-nonsense vibe.

While most Starfires from the Sixties featured movable wooden bridges, which cracked, slid around at the slightest prompting and just generally sucked, the Special is equipped with a sturdy, adjustable Tune-O-Matic that sits snugly drilled into the center block.

The guitar features volume and tone controls for each of its two pickups, and a three-way toggle switch that’s located conveniently on its upper bout. A Bigsby-style DeArmond vibrato and chrome die-cast tuning machines complete the hardware picture.

Most exciting than this guitar’s playability and distinguished air are the new DeArmond “2K” single-coil pickups with which it’s been equipped. Remarkably immune to the 60-cycle hum that haunts most non-humbucking units, these pickups have a punch, clarity and airy musicality that is instantly appealing. Powered by a blackface Fender Super Reverb, the Starfire Special’s bridge pickup generates authoritative twang, without a hint of harshness, and the neck unit had a bell-like chime. But it’s the way the Starfire handles distortion duty that is perhaps its most impressive attribute. Unlike virtually all vintage single-coils, the “2K” pickups are virtually immune to microphonic squeal, even at the most extreme gain levels, and deliver rich, Neil Young-meets-Leslie West distortion tone that would make even the finest P-90 blush.

While the old-school design of the DeArmond tremolo doesn’t lend itself to frenzied dive-bombing or Dimebag Darrell-inspired squeals, it has a smooth action and its perfectly suited to tasteful chord vibrato or twangy rubber-like single-note runs. As is the case with all non-locking tremolo systems, abusing the bar will yield its share of tuning problems, but in all fairness, this system provides good tuning stability, if used properly.

M75T

If you’re a a few grand short to buy a Fifties Dual-Jet, the M75T may be the answer to your prayers and can be found at many used music gear sites. Using a body shape reminiscent of early Guild Bluesbirds (which were themselves inspired buy the Les Paul), the single-cutaway, solid body axe features a maple top, agathis back (DeArmond informs us that agathis is a less expensive wood of the mahogany family that’s used to many Asian-made instruments), maple neck and bound rosewood fretboard with block inlays.

Our review guitar was finished in dazzling blue sparkle and came equipped with the same DeArmond vibrato and “2K” pickups as the Starfire Special. Boasting the same ease of playability and top-notch craftsmanship as the two previous axes, this guitar is will feel immediately comfortable to players of Les Pauls and like guitars, since the adapting to the geometry of a large-bodied guitar isn’t always easy (and if you’re vertically challenged, a semi-hollow body can only highlight the problem).

Plugged into the same array of amps as the Starfire Special, the M75T yielded tones extremely similar to its semi-hollow body counterpart, and in a blindfold test, it would be difficult to distinguish between the two. Splitting tonal hairs, though, the M75T’s solid body construction results in a slightly more percussive, tight response, with a more well-defined and less rotund low end when it’s set to the neck-position pickup.

The Bottom Line

Excellent tone, playability, good looks and ultra-competitive pricing combine in the DeArmonds, making them tempting axes that should satisfy retro-minded guitarist on any budget. It’s reassuring to see that guitars inspired by the past can retain a vintage aura while incorporating features that make them useful instruments for any number of present-day applications.

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By: Sarah Beers
Published: 03/19/08

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2 Posted Comments:

Duane Eddy Guild

@ 8:02 am 03/19/08 by Bobbi Brown

A small correction here. Duane Eddy never played a Starfire, as he had his own signature model Guild, the DE-500. Also, was the first rock guitarist to have a signature model.

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