Dean death?

Word is, Dean guitars are on the brink of death. There are major issues surrounding the parent company, Armadillo Enterprises, involving the owners who are actually family members. Won't say too much here, just watch this: 

Pic: G&M

NAMM '23: Dean

OK... so this is the latest manifestation for Kerry King, it's a Dean Overlord, excessively pointy & hey, there's a Kahler on board. The thing with Kahler today (yes today, not decades ago) is, there are no ready parts replacement if the bridge requires some looking into over time. Dean has made a very bold commitment with KK considering he's living on his Slayer reputation & currently without a band. No disrespect to Mr. King as he has a formidable catalog of crushing thrash tunes under his belt, some of which are definitely industry standard, to say the least.

Pic: Dean

Dean 2022 (2)

After Rusty Cooley left Dean, his signature models were re-interpreted to become the Exile models. These are basically super shredder guitars in Dean's offerings. The manufacturer is not known for the shred reference despite having such players in their endorsement roster. Seen above, the Exile X, the most affordable in the series featuring an FR 20 bridge. Pickups are in-house DMTs.

This here is the NT version which costs USD1.1k more than the X, has a flashy top, FR 1000 bridge & Fluence Classic / Modern humbuckers. I'm just wary of the thin cutaways of the Exile. Rusty Cooley specified those to be as such for a functional purpose; he cited unobstructed upper fret access to be his thing back then. If the guitar should topple, these thinner contours might not be as resistant to absorb the impact. Then again, we rarely hear of such incidences but it's a concern for me.

Pics: Dean

Dean ML 2022

Interesting development - new for 2022, the Dean ML is now 24-fretted & has a Kahler bridge. Maybe it's a throwback thing but if you ever commit to owning a Kahler unit, please be informed that replacement spares are not readily available unlike Floyd Rose & its similar counterparts. 

Dean 2021

Nothing particularly outstanding in Dean's 2021 releases but we take note of these two developments. Firstly,  Dean has joined the roasted maple camp, represented by the MD24 here. This one features an FR1000 bridge as well as a pair of Seymour Duncans (Custom / Alnico II Pro). Serious appointments here so that we do not dismiss Dean as a fringe brand name. 

Secondly, the Fluence pickups are in selected models as well. The V Select here sports a pair of Moderns. If you think roasted maple & Fluences are exclusive appointments to certain brand names then these prove otherwise. 

Pics: Dean

Mustaine - Dean: Parting ways

Dave Mustaine is leaving Dean. This is his final week with the manufacturer & he managed to confirm this in a reply to someone in cyberspace. Rumour has it that he will be in the Gibson camp come 2021. There's a pic going round of the prototype, purportedly by a Gibson employee & he nearly got fired for it. I think Mustaine will be happy with whichever company that entertains his quirks. 

PIC: Grammy

Dean 2020

Nothing much from the Dean camp this year (maybe more later in the year). This MD 24 Select looks more mainstream featuring a headstock we can all like. 

Equally simple & mainstream but still attractive is the Tele-style Nashvegas. 22 frets on this one. 

They made this official - the Karl Sanders signature V. Of course, the other V that made a greater highlight is the Kerry King model but I've mentioned that before & it's not that affordable.

King D

Good Sunday/ December morning to all. You know that Dean Kerry King signature model that you badly wanted for Christmas? It's available for USD8,666 only. Yes, only. 

Dean KK

Look who's in the Dean camp now. Not being pessimistic but I hope they don't try too hard. If there's any value or tasteful appeal when it comes to all things pointy, BC Rich is the go-to name. We all move on & so does Kerry King. 

PIC: Dean Guitars

D vs G (4)

The next instalment of the saga sees Dean doing two things: 1) Asking the courts to cancel Gibson's trademark infringement claims 2) Damages for commercial interference.

The case for 1) might be clear cut for some instances. Time is of the essence; the fact that Gibson laid this to wait might go against them. This will be buffered by the fact that they lost the trademark case in European Courts. The ruling might be influential but not binding. In any case, it's a blow to the Gibson camp. As for 2), there are currently no statistics shown anywhere to carve a strong case for damages. Dean needs to show that Gibson's interference here affects Dean's accounts. However, the case for interference per se is a strong one, especially when there is black & white to show that such unwarranted actions indeed took place. If Gibson did this with the backing of a successful trademark infringement case is another story. It's an open market, players shouldn't feel threatened when they go about their commercial dealings.

Pic: Musicradar

G vs D (Part 2)

No, the Dean camp does not take things lying down. It seems there's a fair bit of defence/ fight coming. They remind the world that their versions of the V & Z models were there for the taking back in 1976 & question why this is unfolding now. 

From an intellectual property perspective, we note that Gibson had filed the V design trademark registration in April 1997.

The Explorer design was registered in the same month/ year, just a few days following the V documentation. 

The way I see it, Gibson is pushing the courts for a legit recognition of its design which became increasingly difficult owing to commonality & the lack of perpetual protection. They are trying to show the courts the elements of infringement & design sharking should this be unaddressed. Dean is simply a scapegoat in all this considering the timing of things. You need not agree on this, it's just me coming from the legal end of how things are shaping up between these two guitar giants. I'm for mitigation, definitely. Legal proceedings are costly & subsequently affect the consumers as well. 

G vs D

Ladies & gentlemen, in Round 2 of Gibson vs The World, we have Dean in the fray. The details are still fresh & scant at posting time, more to come for sure. Nothing new- trademark infringement. Gibson is actually putting the parent company of Dean & Luna guitars, Armadillo Distribution Enterprise Inc., in the legal spotlight. There are currently seven points of contention, among other things, the headstock design seen above...

... & the Flying V outline. Amazingly, the Les Paul singlecut outline was not included. 

Maybe the Cadillac's Les Paul/ Explorer dichotomy (above) was a clever segue out of legal contention. We continue to wonder.

I'm neither a Gibson fan nor a Dean fan- I'm a guitar fan. I acknowledge the fact that both Gibson & Dean plays an integral part in guitar history. If you are inclined towards a certain brand name, other brand names should not be a threat to your liking. If it does, it's called blind loyalty & it impairs judgment. The fact remains that one guitar in unable to replace another comprehensively. If the Les Paul can out-twang the Strat, Fender would have been out of business a long time ago. The opposite is true; till today, no Strat could manifest a thunderous bottom end like the Les Paul. In music, guitars remain to be the tools for musicians. Tools should not compete with one another. If one reigns supreme, there would be a false sense of absolution; you think you are an end-all reference to issues till you are shamed by that little problem that blindsided you. 

On a closing note, there might be hidden politics behind it all. We are certainly not privy to all the details & taking sides would show our ignorance more than anything else. Personally, I'm looking forward to the Gibson resurgence now that they are beginning to show more product focus. This recent development is like throwing a spanner in the works. Time will tell.

Vulgar display of restrictions

I'm still trawling guitar sites to see what I've missed out from NAMM '17. Dean released this Vulgar Display ML which looks interesting but we know it's a celebrated budget affair; the FR Special bridge is an obvious sign. 

That aside, I'm more intrigued by this announcement & very soon, we might see it everywhere. In case you missed it: CLICK

Z-gliding

This is neither a defect nor an artistic intention but a patent pending design by Dean Zelinsky. It's an etching that stretches across the guitar's neck rear supposedly to enhance hand movements by avoiding a sticky situation when sweating takes place.

The hit here is, after a personal experience, I agree that there is a certain amount of enhanced gliding offered by this design for a simple reason; there's less wood in contact with your thumb during play. The miss is that it affects feel for many of us. Throughout my playing time, I simply couldn't ignore the fact that the necks feels different, it's grooved & manifests this apprehension of a missing component. Can you get over this after prolonged playing? High chance of adapting to the feel, no doubt. However, there are already some finishing processes in the mean time to avoid that sticky situation during play; less lacquer overcoat is one of them.

Head over to SV Guitars if you wish to have a go at the Z-Glide experience & on that note, DZPL guitars are now available there for your considerations.

Dean: F-hole(s) Mustaine

A new Dave Mustaine V-type Dean. The difference this time is a certain degree of hollowness marked by those F-holes. Seen here, Mr. Megadeth himself playing one with an orchestra backing. It's called the Stradi VMT.

Pic: Dean

Dean Bathory

This used to be Zoltan Bathory's (Five Finger Death Punch) signature BC Rich model...

This summer, Mr. Bathory opens his accounts with Dean guitars.

I've no idea if there's a mass migration, away from BC Rich but the manufacturer had been off the radar since the start of 2013. 

Static Dean

Wayne Static...

... left the ESP/LTD camp...

... to be with the Dean company. The FR bridge inclusion is a little baffling since he's not using it. Pictured above: Dean Wayne Static Modifier.

Dean: Vinman 2012

Here's a new Vinnie Moore Dean model for 2012. What's the difference, you ask? Not much deviation from the USA model but this one has an FR Special bridge so it's not gonna dent your piggy too much.

For the Thousand

Dean now offers the budget-conscious players a range of budget American models- the USA 1000 series.

Conceptually, it's where Fender's Highway 1 series are treading; great American fundamentals for the money.

Ditto the discontinued SUB1 series by Ernie Ball.

Dime amp

 

Darrell Lance Abbott- we all knew him as Dimebag Darrell, one of the most talented guitarist in aggressive music. RIP...

Recently, his estate collaborated with Dean guitars to release the Dime series of amplifiers. The model you see above is a 120W head which promises Dimebag's crushing distortion as well as some excellent cleans. We are aware this is a posthumous release; would this be a fair representative of what Dimebag would have wanted? Would there be other products with the Dime tag? Is it disrespectful to have a dead man's name on products which would conjure the probability of disapproval by the individual himself should he be alive? We know how it is with the 'Hendrix' name, don't we?