DeArmond M75 Upgrades

Several years back I got a Moon Blue DeArmond M75 guitar as payment for some studio time.  It was in pretty bad shape; it had a bad nut, crappy tuners, terrible action, terrible intonation, and a big gouge on the back.  Despite all these flaws I could tell that the base guitar was actually pretty special.  When I found a position that I could play in tune it had a great tone and the neck was straight.  I figured it could either be a good base for a dedicated slide guitar or, with some work, a good Gretsch Duo-Jet stand-in.

It sat in its case for about seven years until recently my favorite luthier, Gary Rosier, struck out on his own and his lead-time fell to a reasonable time.  It used to be six to eight months(!) but now was six to eight days.  I gave him the guitar and told him what needed to be done.

He replaced the nut, fixed the gouge, and intonated the guitar.  What I got back was amazing!  It inspired me to continue the upgrades and I made the following list and started upgrading, I’ve checked the completed upgrades:

1. Sperzel Tuners ☑
2. Graphite Nut ☑
3. Graphite Saddles ☑
4. Straplocks ☑
5. Chrome Knurled knobs ☑
6. Custom Pickguard ☐
7. Dampened Tailpiece  ☑
8. Bourns 500k A-Taper pots ☑
9. Bourns Push-Pull Pot for Series/Parallel ☐
10. Gretsch Duo-Jet HS Case ☐

In the end I will probably spend nearly as much in upgrades as the entire guitar is worth, but nothing should stand in the way of great tone (and fun). I’ll post a pic as soon as it is finished.

~ by Cram on July 21, 2010.