The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review and Music Article Archive: Review: 2006 DeArmond S-67 Seven String Electric

Review: 2006 DeArmond S-67 Seven-String Electric

The DeArmond S-67 was created to give beginners and intermediates an entry level seven string, a type of guitar that was popular in 2000 for the hybrid metal/rap/thrash music that was in vogue back then.

The seven-string guitar has always had a cult following with some jazz players who utilized the extra bass string to create more complex chords and basslines, but it was never common in rock. The extra string on the DeArmond is intended to be tuned down to D or even lower, giving someone who was cranking out powerful chords that extra bottom, and some “churn” as one rakes the bottom strings. The heavy Gibson SG-like body adds the right atmosphere for the edgy sound this type of guitar was intended to create.

The S-67 has an agathis body, a bolt-on nato neck (often called an Asian type of mahogany) and average hardware. It’s pretty heavy, but the pickups are excellent DeArmond passive humbuckers. The street price was around 280.00, but when Fender took over DeArmond and put their inventory on fire sale, the price dropped to 200.00 (or even lower).

I should digress a moment and explain the DeArmond mystique. DeArmond pickups have always been esteemed, and the brand name was associated with Guild, one of the great 50-60's guitar makers. When Fender took over DeArmond, the guitars were sold off at amazingly low prices, and thus the name has come to denote a quality guitar that is a bargain.

It should be noted that this guitar didn't drop that much in price except to become rare, and so it's important to realize that is a case of a guitar that's still priced close to it's real value (unlike it's fine X-500 hollow body jazz guitar)

The guitar was an interesting reversal of what someone would do with, say, an Epiphone. An Epiphone tends to be a well-made guitar for the price with the best possible woods used, but the costs seemingly cut on the electronics. Thus, many who buy one upgrade to new pickups.

The S-67 is a pretty cheaply made guitar but with its pickups already upgraded. This makes the guitar sound much better than it would have with cheaper stock pickups. DeArmond pickups are almost always an upgrade over most stock pickups. At its current average price of 200.00 or so (I wouldn't pay much more for one), it's a good one-dimensional tool when you want to thrash out some really bottom-heavy metal.

Also, given that DeArmonds are essentially undervalued guitars (being all cut-outs by Fender), it's hard to go wrong with one, particularly a used one obtained at an even cheaper price. The one I got was 200.00 new, and 180.00 after some haggling. Also, given the “aura” that DeArmonds have, the guitars do tend to go fast when up for resale. After all, it's difficult to come up with a list of electric guitars in the 200.00 range that are better in terms of pickups and basic package.

However, the thing to keep in mind is that the guitar is very much a period piece, and designed to play music that is a sub-genre of metal. Its clean tone is very average, even with DeArmond pickups, and anyone buying should know it's intended to be played both loud and aggressively (otherwise, the seventh bass string doesn't add much to the sound).

To be fair, it's a well set-up guitar, and the fatter neck is offset by good, low string action and decent frets. The guitar stays in tune well, and the pickups perform well at high volume. You can generally find these guitars at a pretty good price, and given the pickups, if you intend to play music requiring this type of guitar, it's as good as any that are much more expensive. Also, the DeArmond brand has that image of a fine guitar that's a bargain, so it's a cheap guitar with a certain “cool” to it.

So, what do you get for the money? Seven strings, wood you'd find on a pretty cheap guitar, but plenty of it and crafted well, and pickups you'd be happy to have on just about any guitar in the 600.00 and below range.

Not a bad deal, but be sure you need that seventh string, and more importantly, know what you're supposed to do with it.

- Al Handa

2006

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2013. This and other reviews were short takes that accompanied the link to a business that sold the guitar. As a rule, the guitar had to be at least examined and played by the reviewer (and ideally owned). In my case, a severe case of GAS made it possible to have at least owned the reviewed instrument for a short while. I'm reprinting these as having another source on a guitar never hurts, even if the reviews aren't definitive. Other than minor corrections, these short takes are unchanged from the original text. I figure that it might be helpful to keep the older perspective.

The Quitturz by Al Handa