DeArmond M-72 Reviews 5

The M-72, in cherry red finish was on the cover of Musician's Friend catalog, at a sale price of $200. It looked reall nice, and also had listed elsewhere from $400 to $800. Features sounded good, Jeez, for $ 200, you can hardly go wrong, and I have faith in M.F., bought lots of stuff from them. Wish there was a hardshell case available, they didn'l list one at that time.

This is a beautiful guitar, the workmanship is excellent, the sound is very versatile. As others have stated, the factory strings were pretty bad, but that's expected. The fret job seems very good, I just polished them out with a Dremel wheel, and any roughness came right out. I was able to get the action quite low and the intonation right on. It's very playable.

There's reall nothing to dislike, it is kind of heavy, but that's what you get with solid mahogany, needed for sustain, which this thing has tons of!

The overall quality is very good to excellent. My unit has no finish defects, and is visually stunning.

This is a great guitar for the money ! I believe these were made in the factory in Korea that is churning out tons and tons of guitars for everybody. I don't mean to knock American quality, but I've seen some really good products from over there. The DeArmond line seems to have disappeared, Fender was selling what looked like the same models under the Squier name for a while after, haven't seen them in a while. That'a shame.

John Evans, Evans Guitar Co. rated this unit 5 on 2003-11-26.

I found DeArmonds for $199 closeout at musiciansfriend.com during summer of 2001 and based on the rep of musiciansfriend and the M-72, I decided to take a gamble, even though I had only heard other DeArmond models.

What I absolutely love about this guitar is the value. Great sound, great looks, reasonably high quality, easy playability, and a fantastic price. Holds it tune pretty well also. Sustain, Sustain, Sustain, this guitar rocks.

There are a few flaws in the finish. But nothing terribly obvious. I am not a big fan of the clear knobs. I'll eventually switch them out with maybe some metallic ones.

Mahogany neck and body with a maple top. Basically a Les Paul style guitar. DeArmond gold-tone humbuckers. Clear knobs and pickguard. Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece. Looks like medium-jumbo frets. I got the natural finish. I must say, with the figured maple top, mahogany body/neck, the bindings, and the gold accented hardware the guitar looks quite stunning.

After trying out the M-72, it surpassed most of my expectations. I'm glad I didn't let this bargain slip by.

Rob rated this unit 4 on 2002-02-09.

I was looking for humbucker shortscale guitar. I paid 200.00 it was a closeout price

excellent substain nice finish different sounding pick ups light wieght balanced tone chambers give it a unique tone. stays in tune real good

Bad fret job but was a easy fix by local guitar tech. pick ups are a little on noisey type tone knobs could work better rear humbucker could be a little fatter sounding.

Made quite well finish is great electronics could of been better. Pick ups are USA made with a tone of their own.

I got it for 200.00 but I would pay 400.00 for another one. A well built shortscale working mans guitar w/ a unique tone.

mcdee rated this unit 4 on 2001-12-18.

I bought this guitar online from Musiciansfriend.com for $200.

It's got an absolutely beautiful black transparent finish with cream binding. The sound is great, I definitely appreciate the U.S.A.-made humbuckers. The best thing about the guitar is the value; it listed for $800 but since Fender discontinued the line the dealers wanted to get rid of their stock. If any of these are still lying around, you will not find a better guitar for $200.

There is a small nick in the finish between the neck and the rhythm pickup. The clear pickguard is sort of cheesy, I wish it were cream-colored to match the binding. The factory strings suck but those are easily replaced. The most annoying thing is probably the fret buzz of the lower strings around the 5th fret. After many attempts to get rid of the problem I have yet to find a satisfactory compromise between string height and buzz, but perhaps thicker strings will do the trick.

Outstanding. This thing is a rock. It's chambered for reduced weight so it's not quite as heavy as a Les Paul, but it's still solid enough to take a beating. The tuners, nut, and volume/tone controls are not wonderful but are passable, and the metal strap buttons are nice. By no means is this a top-of-the-line guitar but you still get way more than you pay for.

Wonderful guitar for the money, I couldn't praise it enough. Curses to Fender for discontinuing the DeArmond line, otherwise I would have picked myself up a bass and a semi-hollow to add to my collection.

E. Boyden rated this unit 5 on 2001-12-07.

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