I was talking guitar with the Mom of one of my oldest son’s friends last night at the school’s holiday concert. I was explaining that while the size of my guitar collection is impressive, I don’t have any standout show pieces of significant value. I have a few cheap instruments to beat on and a good number of very serviceable performer’s instruments. I never picked up a crazy high priced instrument because my guitars were taken out to clubs and bars and where they get knocked over, spilled on and stolen.

But I do love my Dearmonds. I’ve surely written about them before. They were Korean and later Indonesian-made guitars based on classic Guild models. Fender set up the line after acquiring Guild in the 90s. They already owned the Dearmond brand of classic American electronics, so they combined the two and created a line of imports that outsold their higher priced American counterparts.

One of my favorites is an M72, which is based on the Guild Bluebird. The Bluesbird had that classic Les Paul look. Like a carved top Gibson Les Paul Studio or Standard rather than the slab body junior style. It’s such a sweet player, but man, is it heavy!