The dean guitars Company has been set up in 1976 by luthier Dean Zelinsky, who was only 18 years old at the time. Dean Began actively playing guitar when he was 9 years older and had been restoring aged take down guitars by the time he was 16. However buy an old Gibson SG using a harmed neck, fix it, play it for a couple weeks and then sell it. Dean Zelinsky also employed his karate teacher, who was a business pilot, to look for antique guitars within the towns which he halted from. He put together a graph for his instructor of each valuable guitar that has been offered at enough time, with everything to appear out for over these guitars. The Rock music which was gathering popularity at the time is at his mind lacking a particular look and sound, so Dean came up with a distinct guitars that would fix this problem.The very first Dean guitars which were released had several interesting layout and engineering functions. “V-shaped” headstocks and pointy bodies produced the Dean guitar easy to identify on stage in addition to provide an amazing tone and sustain. These kinds of 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).