Dean guitars would be a well-known company specialising in creating electric guitars, primarily versions of Gibson's classic Modernistic compilation of guitars. In addition to being this Dean make top quality acoustic guitars and mandolins and banjos.

The business enterprise was founded in 1977 by Dean Zelinsky, after whom the business is called. He i thought i'd make smarter guitars for rock and metal musicians than existed for the company started. Whenever company first began the prominent models on the inside range were the V, a copy of Gibson's 1950s Flying V design, the Z, a duplicate Gibson Explorer, one another guitar using the Gibson Modernistic series after that actually made and sold (become extinct but a 3rd guitar with the series, the Moderne, which usually none were made, it is just in prototype stage, until 1982). It had fashionable third guitar in Dean's range, the ML, that wasthat's a remarkably well-executed mix of their aforementioned Dean guitars - it was comprised of the foot fifty percent of a V in addition the top portion of a Z. The guitars differed from Gibson's designs using no scratchplate and Dean's trademark headstock, a larger-than-normal model utilizing a V shape.

Early adopters of Dean guitars were Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill of ZZ Top, who could wind up being seen onstage in eighties with matching Dean bass and 6 string guitars.

The 1980s saw several new models added to to pick from to accompany the V, Z and ML models. These included the Cadillac from 1980, a Gibson Les Paul bottom half when a Dean Z top half that is effective far better may perhaps be expected, and 1983 Bel Aire, a pointier and smaller-bodied version of an Fender Stratocaster with one humbucker and single coil pickups, therefore maybe it's a prototype in the up-and-coming superstrat movement while using the 1980s, which favoured pointy Strat-shape guitars which included a better choice of pickups and a lot more playing options than Fender's original design.

Also introduced to the 1980s was your child series, including things like downsized versions inside V, Z and ML models. These guitars had 3/4-sized bodies, but full-sized 22-fret necks. The ordinary Dean models, specially the ML, had considerable bodies making it tougher for younger players to try.

Dean also have exclusively designed some guitars for shred guitarist Michael Angelo Batio, who for some time held the record for fastest guitarist. He has been ended up voted the easiest guitarist by Guitar World magazine. An excellent Dean custom guitar is a "quad guitar", with four necks arranged the X shape. Dean also made a double guitar for Batio, which looks just like the top portion of this quad guitar. At the time of 2008 Batio functions a new signature model, the MAB-1 Armorflame, a superstrat-shaped guitar having silver flame paint scheme.

Dean might be well known simply because of its start using the late Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. Abbott had been a huge fan of Dean's ML model, that has the primary guitar he used when using Pantera remarkable last band, Damageplan. He had a signature ML made, which included a dark blue splash of paint and lightning graphic. In 2003/4 Abbott worked Dean to develop a new model while using ML. It has been known as the Razorback and resembled an ML and a much pointier body. A Razorback V model was designed, a V-shaped guitar with the points body. Tragically, Abbott was shot dead in December 2004 while performing together with post-Pantera band Damageplan. He was killed via a mentally disturbed part of the crowd, along the ages of 38. The Razorback and Razorback V models were released in 2005 just like a tribute to Abbott.

Dean Guitars now has a large range, much like the ever-present V, Z and ML models, the Razorbacks, you can get in a range of custom finishes, the Cadillac, the Hardtail double cutaway, the Les Paul-style Soltero, the SplitTail additionally Vendetta. Dean also have a very wide range of artist signature models, for instance the MAB-1, the CBV and MKH for Corey Beaulieu and Matt Heafy of Trivium, the Dave Mustaine VMNT signature group of Vs such as a twin-neck V, the Michael Schenker few Vs properly as the Leslie West Soltero.