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All the skinny on "by Guild" - DeArmond

Some of my DeArmonds (5 of 8)
DeArmond and Rowe has manufactured string instrument pickups since the 50's.  Including mandolin and autoharp, as well as guitar.  They are extremely sought after and were used on 60's & 70's Harmony, Kay, Silvertone, and even high-end guitars like Guild and Gretsch.  After Guild tried the inexpensive guitar market with Madeira and Burnside, they tried reviving the DeArmond name by using it to mass produce Guild spec electric guitars and basses first from Korea then from Indonesia.  They reproduced thin-line semi hollow Starfires and full hollow jazz guitars with the X series - maybe more on them later, I'm hoping to score an X-145 or X-155.  For now, we'll look at the sold body electrics based on the Bluesbird and what started as the Polara after it changed body shape and was renamed as the S series.

I've have two M series (Bluesbird or LP shaped) that may be shaped like a Bluesbird, but any number below 70 is a thin body bolt-on neck.  I have a M-65 and a M-65C and there are major differences between them, but from my research, we'll start at the lowest number, single pick-up model.  According to most sources the M-55 (and majority of the solid bodies) has an agathis body - a conifer almost exclusively from the southern hemisphere (think Spruce). The neck is nato, also known as mora (a tropical South/Central American and Caribbean tree) sometimes called eastern mahogany, and topped with a rosewood fretboard.  22 jumbo frets with dot inlays and 3+3 chrome tuners top off the neck.  A single open-bobbin humbucker with just a volume and tone control, Tune-O-Matic and Guild inspired stop tailpiece finish off the body.  There seems to be an M-50, which is not a model with fewer features, I mean a single-coil with nothing but a volume knob?  But no, from what I've seen, it's got dual open-bobbin humbuckers, a three-position switch positioned well behind the Volume and Tone knobs.  The big difference is the single piece, all-in-one bridge/tailpiece unit similar to a tele, I haven't seen the back of the headstock, so don't know if it has 3-on-a-plate tuners instead of individual sealed units - other wise it is very similar to my M-65.

Speaking of the M-65's, there doesn't seem to be another model between 55 and 65.  The M-65 has the same looking pickups as the 50, T-O-M and stop tailpiece as the 55, the same neck with dot inlays.  The only difference between the twin humbucker M-50 and the 65 is the bridge/tailpiece and the placement of the selector switch.  The M-65C has some considerable differences, Chrome covered humbuckers, the classic 4 knobs, and the selector switch  in the LP, upper bout position.  The neck has block inlays instead of dots, but the same T-O-M and stop tailpiece.  There are at least a couple more in the 60 series, the M-66 and M-68.  The 66 seems to have clear/amber knobs, Filtron humbuckers, and a Gibsonesque tailpiece.  The 68 has a harp tailpiece and black-face 2-k pickups, the rest is the same as the M-65C, black knobs again, and block inlays.  

The 70 series guitars have a few extra surprises - more Bluesbird-like, thicker bodies, set necks and at least one is chambered, like a real Bluesbird.  From one source the M-70 is agathis, the others are mahogany.  The necks are mahogany with the possibility of one being maple, but it looks like all the fretboards are rosewood.  Most have block inlays, with the exception of the M-70/72.  Two models have a T suffix that have "Digsby" (DeArmond Bigsby style) tremelos.  The other tailpiece options are the harp and the Guild style stop tailpiece, and pickups are the gold-foil or white-face 2-k.  All those options consist of the M-70/72/75/75T/77/77T models - from what I've seen.  I wish there was a DeArmond expert out there, someone with a music store that carried them, or a sales rep , or something.

Anybody out there that can add to, correct, or verify any of this?