The radical guitar designer tears into Dimebag, new Washburns, old Deans, and everything else in sight. Please buckle your seatbelts. Unless you've been spelunking in a deep subterranean grotto for the last year, you know that Dean guitars are staging a comeback. Even vintage models from the late 1970s and early '80s are jumping up in value, thanks to Dimebag Darrell of Pantera, who until only recently was a steadfast Dean user (he now endorses Washburn). So who exactly is Dean? Meet Dean Zelinsky, probably the youngest man to ever start a successful guitar company.

Dec 21, 2009 Dean Serial Numbers. Problem is, he says it is a Dean Vendetta 3.0, and the only guitar I can find. The Korean and Chinese guitar.

Dean made top-quality solidbody guitars and basses for nearly 14 years before getting out of the 6-string business altogether. Nevertheless, Dean axes were -- and still are -- played by many of rock's electric royalty.

Now, in a rare interview, Mr. Zelinsky emerges from obscurity to skewer the industry and anything else that moves. Give this man a talk show! Nudi Direct 4.0 more. Do you remember the first guitar you ever owned as a kid? At the music store where I took lessons, there was a cherry-red Gibson SG with three humbuckers hanging there. I wanted it in the worst way and asked my father for it every day.

So Christmas rolled around and I was expecting the SG, but instead I got a Gibson ES-120 semi-hollowbody with no cutaways, a brown sunburst, and one soap-bar pickup. Anytrans Mac Crack. You've never seen a kid more disappointed when he got a guitar for Christmas. It was terrible -- no switches and just two knobs. What a bummer. Who were some of your favorite guitar players back then? Johnny Winter, who used a Gibson Firebird, was my favorite player at the time. To me, he was an incredible blues guitar player -- I wish I had done something with him as far as Dean guitars.

Another of my favorites was Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, a great blues player and a good friend of mine. Blues guitarists were a major early influence for me. Later, I got to appreciate players like Eric Clapton. What about the first guitar you ever built? Our first Dean prototype was a Flying V-type with the original V headstock and Dean wings. Actually, the very first Dean guitar never really got finished, and it had 77-0001 as the serial number (it was made in 1977). We always knew it was the first Dean guitar, but it just kind of hung around the factory.

One day someone asked if they could take it, and I said okay. I don't even remember who took it! But I think it was a friend, so it's floating around somewhere. Maybe the proud owner will read this. How many models did you have in the Dean line back then? The File Setup 1c Bin here. Originally we had three models.

The V was the first. Then we had the Z, based on the Gibson Explorer. And the ML was a combination of a V and a Z. The ML is the one that Dimebag Darrell has been making more famous recently. What did ML stand for?

Matt Lynn, who was my best friend growing up. He was a great guitarist and we used to play guitars together -- we were like brothers. When we were 16, Matt got cancer and he died within six months, so I named the ML after him. Right after high school, you started Dean Guitars? Yeah, my senior year in high school, I got out of school at noon.

So I rented a place and started doing custom repair work on guitars. Later, I rented a 4,000 square-foot place and started making Dean guitars. I was basically making 'on-stage' guitars with a lot of features: humbuckers, maple tops, shaved necks, nice hardware, state-of-the-art electronics. Like nice vintage Gibsons, but new.

How many V's, Z's, ML's and Elites did you make? American-made, probably 6,000 to 7,000. It's been several years and I haven't looked back.

Who were some of your favorite players who played Deans? I'd say Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. I really liked the Cars, and Elliott Easton played several Deans. I always dealt directly with the artists -- there was no one else in my company who handled that. I spent most of my time going backstage and hustling guitars in the early stages. Then it was more word-of-mouth. For example, I was sitting by the pool at the Fountainbleu Hilton in Miami talking to Billy Gibbons and Sammy Hagar.