| Dean Guitars | |
|---|---|
| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder | Dean Zelinsky |
| Headquarters | Tampa, Florida, United States of America |
| Area served | Global |
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Owner | Armadillo Enterprises, Inc. |
| Slogan | "Get Your Wings" |
| Website | www.deanguitars.com |
Dean Guitars is a manufacturer of musical instruments, primarily famous for their electric guitars. Dean Guitars was created in 1977 by luthier Dean Zelinsky who began building guitars at an early age. Zelinsky thought that rock guitar design had stagnated and decided to do what he could to change things. The first Dean guitars were released in the mid-1970s and featured designs including "pointy" guitar bodies and large V-shaped headstocks. These designs quickly gained in popularity because of the radical look and also because of the improved tone and sustain of the guitars. They also had a unique neck.[1] Dean's marketing campaign, which featured models holding the guitars in alluring poses, was widely copied by other guitar manufacturers until the onset of the grunge rock movement in the 1990s. (Advertising-heavy magazines from this time, such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician, heavily influenced "lad mags" such as Maxim.) Dean has since revived this practice. In 1986, Zelinsky decided he did not want to continue making guitars and sold the company to make furniture. He has attributed his decision to the popularity of the "superstrat", which he derides as a "Floyd Rose trem with a guitar attached to it." In the late 1990s, Elliott Rubinson (CEO of Dean Guitars) revived the brand name, later bringing Zelinsky back aboard as an executive and creative consultant. Since then, Dean Guitars has grown in to one of the leading guitar companies in the world. Their online BBS community continues to be the most active in the entire industry with close to 10,000 active users and growing.
