FACTOIDS & TRIVIA

In 1999, Guild (Fender) introduced the DeArmond series of guitars as a “budget line” for Guild. Built in Korea, they featured specially designed, American-made DeArmond pickups. The DeArmonds purposely made use of venerable Guild designs and visual cues of the early 1960s Starfires. The Starfire Special emulated the look of the early Starfire III, but fell shsort until the introduction of the Newark Street series in 2013. However, unlike the original Guilds, the DeArmond is a semi-hollowbody and has a solid center block to resist feedback. The DeArmond 2K pickup has a P-90 type design, but uses ceramic magnets instead of the P-90's alnico magnets. The tone is fat with a sharp upper end. The Starfire Special was available in black, sunburst and transparent red. It possessed great “bang for the buck” factor, but in 2001 the Starfire Special was discontinued along with the entire DeArmond line.

 Body: Semi-hollow; laminated maple top, back and maple sides; 3-ply bound top and back

 Finish: Black, polyurethane

 Neck: 1-piece maple, set-in; black plastic headstock overlay with pearloid logo and "Chesterfield-style" inlay

 Fingerboard: Indian rosewood, single bound; pearloid dot markers

 Number of Frets: 20

 Pickguard: Black plastic

 Bridge: DeArmond Roll-o-Matic with DeArmond Vibro tailpiece

 Nut: Plastic

 Tuners: Rotomatic-style diecast, chrome

 Pickups: Two, DeArmond 2K single coil with adjustable pole pieces

 Controls: Tone and volume controls for each pickup, 3-way pickup selector

 Scale Length: 24 3/4 inches

 Neck Width at Nut: 1 11/16 inches

 Body Width at Lower Bout: 16 1/4 inches

 Body Depth: 1 3/4 inches

 Weight: 9.0 lb