Too many guitars image by jfsears fromWhen you see it or hold it in your hands, you may know it's a Dean guitar. First created in 1977 by a 17-year-old guitarist, Luther Dean Zelinsky, Dean guitars are associated with the early days of heavy metal bands and the rock-and-roll life. Other guitar brands have tried to copy vintage Dean guitars, but they have not achieved the devoted fan following that vintage Dean instruments enjoy.
The 'Vintage Dean Collection' includes guitars manufactured between 1977 and 1987.
Dean GuitarsHistory ofDean GuitarsDean ZelinskyI started carrying Dean Guitarsback in 1978 around when Dean Zelinsky first started producing them. Dean wasonly 17 years old. It was remarkable how good those guitars sounded. As far as Iknow I was one of his very first dealers. I know I am the oldest one. Most of mycustomers know that I like to help small companies get off the ground and that Iam not in favor of KKK Guitars. Korporation Krappolla, Kruddy guitars.When I first started selling DeanGuitars I met with great resistance from the typical guitar player.
I couldnever understand how a group of supposedly enlightened musical individuals,could reject a quality item, just because the headstock didn't look like thetypical Korporate made snot guitar that they got for their 15th birthday. But Ibelieved in the product and that helped me sell a lot of them anyway. I wouldliterally have to force them into the hands of people. Once the players got theminto their hands and the felt that original V shaped neck and checked out thebalance, weight, tone and feel it was an easy sell.Today, 40 years later, many ofthese same people are still my customers and many of them are still swearing byDean Guitars. Some of them are so 'dyed in the wool' that they are buying newmodels just because it says Dean on the headstock.
(That's howGibson survives)I've got anewsflash for these people. Dean today is a Corporate Mega-Giant with salesrivaling Fender & Gibson. It so happens that they are still offering some reallygreat guitars to the buying public.
Dean J Serial Number
But be careful and remember. Just because itsays Dean on the headstock, It doesn't mean it's good. They have theirshare of low end dreck just like Gibson does. There is one majordifference. Dean's prices are more than fair.
They really offer a gooddeal for your dollar. Unlike some of the other mainstream companies. Restassured that if they start hiking their prices to an over inflated level likesome other companies Ed Roman will be the first to report it back to theconsumer. Even though I truly like the people at Dean, I never trust a bigcorporation to always offer good deals.Dean & Hamer werethe two pioneer companies that came up with all kinds ofgreat colors, Blueburst, Silver burst, & many other super cool innovative ideas.Ordering guitars from Dean was always fun. It was even more fun when they camein.
There was always something new & interesting. Ordering guitars from the likes ofGibson was always a drag and usually very disappointing when they came in.Dean has neverbeen a company to rest on one or two successful models and put out 2000different versions of the same guitar.
Instead they have repeatedly introducedmany great new ideas.In the early days(I'm dating myself) if you wanted to bedifferent, (I always do) there were very few well made non Korporate boutiqueguitar companies. Dean, Hamer, SD Curlee, and maybe a couple ofothers that I can't think of now. Remember this was pre Kramer, JacksonCharvel days.Some companies in our industry are what I call 'Sue Happy,' (They willHappily Sue Anybody or Anyone) and if there is no one to sue they willactually go out and look for people to sue. They get free publicity doingthis but it cost's millions of dollars a year. Dean does not do that. They spendtheir money on research and development and that's why they keep coming up withnew great ideas.Today BC Rich has been bought byDavitt & Hanser, Hamer, Guild, Ovation Jackson, Charvel, Tacoma, is owned byFender. Valley Arts, Tobias, Steinberger, Epiphone; & Many Others are owned bythe same people who bought Gibson.
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SD Curlee, Rick Turner, Jim Jaros, GaryJacobs, Rick Gledura, have all gone under.Stay tuned for more details on theHistory of Dean Guitars.In the Late 80's and early 90's Oscar Medeiros ownedthe Dean name & trademarks. Heinitially instituted the American Custom Shop. I purchased and sold a largenumber of these models from him. The basic quality was quite good.
I dealt withthat reincarnation of the Dean company for several years and sold a tremendousamount of product.When Armadillo Enterprises purchased the Dean companyin the late 90's the owner wisely sought out Dean Zelinsky and brought himback into the picture. Dean ran the production for all the USA made guitarsavailable.He is no longer with the company today, He is off building some new guitar line.The company is also bringing in from Japan & Koreasome of the best looking import guitars I have seen.
Many of my long timereaders can attest to my dislike of most imported guitars. Dean however isselling them at such incredibly cheap prices that I have to give them a highmark. ML, V's Z's as low as $499.00 now that's what I call a good deal.When I bash imported Asian guitars like ESP for example it's because they areselling pretty much the same stuff for 5 to 6 times as much money.Dean Guitars has acoustic guitars with fullelectronics, custom inlays and beautiful finishes for dirt cheap. Their Bassline has taken 'Best in Class' year after year by most of the magazines who haverated them. One of their Basses is my favorite low end Bass on the planet.Example of an Original 1981Dean VeeI have been selling Dean Guitars for close to33 years, I believe them to be an excellent product and I believe the people atDean are interested in the well being of their customers, before and after theactual sale. The people at Dean have organized a museum in Florida to celebratethe original Dean Guitars. If you have any old Dean Guitars sitting aroundI would truly like to purchase themEd Roman(702) 597-0147.