Dean

Dean Guitars is an American manufacturer of guitars. It was founded in 1976 in Chicago, Illinois, by Dean Zelinsky, and is currently owned by Armadillo Enterprises in Tampa, Florida.
After nearly ten years of production, Zelinsky sold the company to Oscar Medeiros, who had ownership of the brand name and trademark until the mid 90s.
Medeiros stopped manufacturing Dean Guitars in the mid 1990s or so when Armadillo Enterprises purchased the company in 1997. Production of the uniquely shaped Dean electric guitars and other musical instruments accounts for the majority of Armadillo's sales each year. In late 2008, Nathan Karls, formerly of Megadeth joined Dean Guitars as lead engineer.

Dean Guitars is best known for their line of electric guitars that include the ML, Razorback, Cadillac, Soltero, Split Tail, Vendetta, z and the Dean V.

Dean bass guitar models include the Demonator, Edge, Metalman, Rhapsody, EVO and Zone.
Dean Guitars offers a full line of acoustics as well. In addition to the traditional acoustic instrument shapes, Dean also has acoustic versions of their ML and V electric guitars.
In 2007, Dean Guitars began producing their own pickups in their USA facility called Dean DMT.
At the 2009 NAMM trade show, they unveiled the new Dime Blacktooth amplifier, which will be shipping mid-year.