The latest on Dean

[ICTGoober]

Sad tale...

The fate of Dean Guitars hangs in the balance as Armadillo faces demands to surrender all equipment and inventory – inside the Succession-esque drama determining the future of the US guitar brand | Guitar World

[Mincer]

I have many friends who work there, and have been to the factory many times. Well, it is more of a warehouse than a factory. Dean lost the Gibson lawsuit, then all of their major endorsers fled. Then the family imploded. It is all very sad.

[JOLLY]

Everything about that company/companies reads like it's a complete cluster f#*k.

[NegativeEase]

yeah, and Step Momma has posted some bad things about playboy/business boy step son... so Im not sure what happens to the company...

My money is family divests and splits whats left of the falling brand value to someone who can operate the company with an eye for the future

Sometimes these kinds of things are the best things to happen to companies -forces them to really do their own thing -Hopefully Dean can get on the front foot with some new things.

[ErikH]

What a mess.

[NegativeEase]

I guess the other question is "who's next" for the Gibby lawyers -or was Armadillo and Heritage enough to get their message across?

[NegativeEase]

News came up that said "Gibson sues Home Depot" in my feed, and honestly it seemed like "yeah thats not unexpected". -even though it ended up being somebody with last name GIbson.

[beaubrummels]

My guess would be the banks take ownership of the companies and brand and sell it to an investment company, unless an actual manufacturing buyer wants to take it over/merge. Would be ironic if Gibson ended up with the brand and just kept selling the same shapes.

Gibson reminds me of Microsoft. When I was between high school and college I briefly worked for an internet company that did mortgage and banking web sites, and Microsoft came in and said, "We have $3 million dollars. We can either buy you, or crush you."

[ICTGoober]

They should have moved on from Explorers and V's a long time ago. A simple body shape change, and they could have kept on going. ESP, Schecter, and Ibanez have done well with those altered shapes. The ML is definitely a Dean design - just stop doing Dime's paint schemes. Is Dean management too lazy to change? Or too stupid? I really do wish them well, as I like their guitars. Still don't understand why the Cadi isn't more popular, but that's a subject for another thread.

[Phantasmagoria]

All their problems will disappear if someone just gets rid of that horrible "V" headstock

[Mincer]

Even when Elliot was around, they had trouble keeping endorsers. The ones they had were all from 80s 2nd and 3rd tier bands. Everything was all metal, all the time. And some of the shapes are just terrible.

[larryguitar]

Even when Elliot was around, they had trouble keeping endorsers. The ones they had were all from 80s 2nd and 3rd tier bands. Everything was all metal, all the time. And some of the shapes are just terrible.

Maybe if they got someone to design their guitars other than medieval weapons of torture experts they'd have more appeal to non-Viking guitarists.

Larry

[Mincer]

Maybe if they got someone to design their guitars other than medieval weapons of torture experts they'd have more appeal to non-Viking guitarists.

Larry

Well, it is fine to have those shapes, but that will only appeal to certain players. No one is gonna do a wedding or church gig with a blood stained V.

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

Well, it is fine to have those shapes, but that will only appeal to certain players. No one is gonna do a wedding or church gig with a blood stained V.

I would disagree a little bit. It would depend on the wedding and the church.

[Mincer]

I would disagree a little bit. It would depend on the wedding and the church.

Well, there might be a few, but most of those players want at least a choice of something more understated. Dean is essentially all or nothing.