Highly recommended non Tokai

If you ever see an Dearmond M-75 or M-75T give it a try, I bought mine for next to nothing and boy o boy is it sweet, resonant isn't the word they are almost as loud as acoustics unplugged and the USA made pickups are fantasic. Spot on finish and silky smooth neck to go.

A very underrated machine!

You mean like this one?





I picked mine up new in 1999 from a local music store when they first started getting discounted. (Originally priced in stores around $550, this one fell to $350 ... if I waited longer places like Musician Friend were selling them at clearance for around $200!) I liked them better than the Guild Bluesbird reissues around that time. The USA DeArmond pickups are nice but the wiring and pots were not, so I placed an order with StewMac and put in fresh pots and quality wiring, and wired the 4-conductor pickups to series/coil tap/parallel as shown here. The body is light and chambered, and it's got a very bright sound. Coil tapped and parallel it's almost like a Tele. Neck is a bit beefier than my other guitars (which are slim) but not too chunky. The only weak point are the plastic control knobs, which often crack and fall apart.

The action was nice and low out of the box, but eventually I dropped it off with a local tech for a setup and fret dress if needed (the latter was not). When I picked it up, the guy at the music store said the tech was VERY very impressed with the guitar and its construction. I want to say the tech was Rene Martinez (SRV's tech) but am not certain.

If you see one in a store, pick it up and give it a go. This one (M-75) has a trapese tailpiece, but some others had stop tailpieces. There was also a model with single coil DeArmonds and Bigsby (the M-75T model).

Anyone know which factory in Korea was producing these?

Probably Cor-Tek (Cort).