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One thing should be made clear about Dean guitars right off the bat: This ain’t no guitar for a folk singer. This ain’t no guitar for a country band, either. Dean guitars are made for metal aficionados by metal aficionados. The shred-heads who claim Dean guitars as their axe of choice onstage looks like a who’s who of all things metal. Dave Mustaine, Jerry Cantrell, and John Connolly all use Dean guitars, just to scratch the surface.
Most people were first introduced to the Dean name when the late metal God Dimebag Darrell started using the company’s guitars while in Pantera and Damageplan. After Dimebag was fatally shot on stage, Dean’s popularity waned a bit but the Dimebag Darrell custom guitar made by Dean instantly became a prized collector’s item. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to people familiar with Dean, as the company has made riches off its custom guitars. The aforementioned Dave Mustaine, Michael Amott, Eric Peterson, Lesley West, and many more artists have signature guitars with Dean, and many more use Dean’s own popular models like the ML, Razorback, Vendetta, and V while performing onstage.
The Dave Mustaine line employs about ten models including a double neck and all sport the beautiful flying V design. This V shape is consistent with a large amount of Dean’s stock, including the Michael Ammot USA line and the Dean 30th anniversary models, but there is a vast slew of other models sold by Dean like the Dean Caddy line and USA Soltero, both of which employ more of a Les Paul body style. The Dime Razorback series, however, is the big killer app in Dean’s catalog. Boasting about thiry-five models, these Dimebag Darrell signature guitars are cherished by collectors and players alike for their tone and sustain. Dimebag, may he rest in peace, was a technical virtuoso whose pinch harmonics and wailing vibrato has stumped guitar hopefuls for decades now. The Dimebag Razorbacks won’t make you a superstar overnight, but they will definitely do justice to any of his licks you wish to imitate.
Dean guitars will continue to be stalwarts in the world of Metal if only for the reason that the company is fiercely dedicated to metal as an artform. The amazing tone reached when tuning a Dean down to drop D just has to be heard to be believed, and the heavy crunch you can reach with the right pedal makes Dean a consistent name uttered by anybody who knows metal.
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