History Of The Dean Guitar - By: Johnny Stall

The Dean Guitar Company was established in 1976 by luthier Dean
Zelinsky, who was only 18 years old at the time. Dean Began
playing guitar when he was 9 years old and was restoring old
beat up guitars by the time he was 16. He would buy an old
Gibson SG with a broken neck, fix it, play it for a few weeks
and then sell it. Dean Zelinsky also employed his karate
teacher, who was a corporate pilot, to look for antique guitars
in the cities that he stopped over at. He put together a chart
for his teacher of every valuable guitar that was available at
the time, with everything to look out for in these guitars.

By the age of 18, Dean opened up the Dean Custom Guitars repair
shop in Northbrook, Illinois. He came up with an idea for an
academically accredited work-study program that he set up with
his school. He would go to school everyday until noon and then
worked until 9 or 10 at night in the shop.

When Dean reached 19 years of age, he decided to make his own
instruments. He enjoyed repairing guitars but it didn't reward
him enough financially. He realized that to make the kind of
money that he wanted to make, he would have to start
manufacturing his own guitars.

Being a fan of Gibson's and with the popularity of the Gibson
V's and Explorer's at the time, he decided to make guitars
similar in style to theirs. There were a lot of other companies
making copies of these styles already but most of them were of
very poor quality. Dean was determined to make his guitars stand
out from the rest with good quality parts and a huge sound. The
Rock music that was gaining popularity at the time was in his
mind missing a certain look and sound, so Dean came up with a
line of guitars that would solve this problem.

The first Dean guitars that were released had some interesting
design and engineering features. "V-shaped" headstocks and
pointy bodies made the Dean guitar easy to identify on stage as
well as produce an amazing tone and sustain. These new models
were called "V", "Z" and "ML". The "V" and "Z" guitars were
shaped like the letters of the alphabet while the "ML" was named
after a friend of Dean's who passed away, Matt Lynn. Dean also
came up with a new type of neck that was also "V" shaped. This
made it easier and faster to play up and down the neck.

Dean decided that he wanted to get out of the guitar making
business and sold his company to Oscar Medeiros in 1986.
Medeiros continued to make great quality guitars and even
improved the Dean guitars by introducing the "neck-through-body"
construction.

Dean guitars went through another ownership change in the late
90's when Armadillo Enterprises bought it. Armadillo Enterprises
also brought original owner Dean Zelinsky back into the company
as an executive and creative consultant.

The Dean Guitar Company is still to this day creating great
quality guitars at a reasonable price. One of the reasons for
their success is because of the great guitarists that love
playing them. The most popular of the bunch would have to be
Dimebag Darrell (Pantera and Damageplan) and the "Razorback"
guitar that he helped to design. Other guitar players who have
used Dean guitars are Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Randy Rhoads
(Ozzy Ozbourne and Quiet Riot), Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill (ZZ
Top), Eric Peterson (Testament), Jerry Cantrell (Alice In
Chains), Michael Angelo Batio (Nitro), Michael Schenker (UFO and
MSG), Rik Emmett (Triumph), Rik Ocasek (The Cars), Rudolf
Schenker (The Scorpions) and CC Deville (Poison).

The Dean Guitar Company was established in 1976 by luthier Dean
Zelinsky, who was only 18 years old at the time. Dean Began
playing guitar when he was 9 years old and was restoring old
beat up guitars by the time he was 16. He would buy an old
Gibson SG with a broken neck, fix it, play it for a few weeks
and then sell it. Dean Zelinsky also employed his karate
teacher.

"Teach Yourself Guitar The EASY Way" - grab your FREE report
that Reveals "How to Avoid the Top 7 Mistakes That Most
Beginners Make When Buying a Guitar Learning Product"
http://teach-yourself-guitar.com/freereport