Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

PS412

Well-known member
Been eyeballing this particular guitar, different color.
Anyone have any experience with his privates?
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

No, but I was going to interview someone from his company (maybe him?) for the Duncan blogs, and they never responded to repeated requests. While I haven't tried them personally, that was my first impression. I cancelled the article and wrote about another company.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

HMMMM, how to win friends and influence people.
May not bode well seeing I'd have to order sight unseen and cross an international border.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Well, who knows, maybe they will be better being that you are sending money.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

True but...
Could be like Canada Post when you click on the I have a complaint button, you get reloaded to the Homepage. A never ending loop.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

True but...
Could be like Canada Post when you click on the I have a complaint button, you get reloaded to the Homepage. A never ending loop.

At least the Canuck post office seems to have a sense of humor.... :)

Larry
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Made in India. Thats a 1st, lotta guitar for the money!!
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I really like the idea of that neck and it's a lot of guitar for the price. I wouldn't be afraid to order one. Just use Paypal for the buyer protection.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Yeah. I was thinking the same. It is a lot for a decent price. I keep teetering back and forth. But I know I have drove his website hits up.
The thing that really makes me think is the weight. 7 pounds is pretty light. I do like a touch heavier guitar.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Anything I have ever played in the "Soltero" family has been pretty decent. Go for it. All about the manufacturer, honestly, not DZ.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I don't have any experience with Mr. Zelinsky's "privates", nor do I ever want to.

But I do have a little experience with his guitars available to the *public*.

I briefly played the product line at NAMM a few years ago. NAMM guitars, of course, are always cherry picked and well set up, so naturally the experience was pretty good, if unmemorable. Zelinsky to some degree still has the 70s fascination with V profile necks, so I remember not liking those on the models that had V necks.

I briefly owned DZPL's S-style guitar, the Tagliare. I didn't bond with it, but it was decent, about on par with the average Fender MIM build, with more thoughtful features like Tusq nut and locking tuners.

Zelinsky has fantastic ideas, and I have great respect for the original incarnation of Dean, which essentially made Gibson-style guitars better than Gibson did. I'd put the original Hamer brand in that camp also. In DZPL I can see Zelinsky trying to work with his original ideas (pretty guitars, high quality tops, thoughtful features), but manufactured to fairly aggressive price points, which is interesting.

My only caveat is that resale may be a difficult endeavor since DZPL seems to still be fairly unknown today.
 
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Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Thanks for the info. Usually when I'm done with things the resale value is not so hot anyway.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

So area ya' goin' to buy one or not? Stop the madness and suspense, will ya?
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I think the Streetavita is pretty damn sweet and if I wanted a strat style guitar the Tagliare in the "Private Label" configuration is sweet. I see that he is now producing Explorer and V shapes too, which weren't on the site last time I looked.

The LaVoce is very interesting option for reducing the weight of the guitar. The clip provided didn't give an indication of how solid and tight the lows are. What they played did sound good, even if the "OD" was too fuzzy.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

So area ya' goin' to buy one or not? Stop the madness and suspense, will ya?

Ahhhhh, more than likely. If I do it, it will be probably the fall. I just got word from a fellow that's making a guitar for me right now, he's going to want some money in a couple of weeks.
But ya have to keep your eyes on the future sometimes.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

Just for those in the know...how many companies has he headed by now?
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I only know of 4 (well 3 and a return). Original Dean Guitars owner. Sold company but went back in 2000 or so (not sure of his title). Then on his own with DBZ guitars (don't know if he was the owner, outright). They became Diamond DBZ then just Diamond. Now Dean Zelinsky Private Label. I'm probably missing something.

I do know that at one point he was adamant about never being associated with having his guitars built overseas. I think that's why he sold Dean Guitars in the first place. He couldn't compete as a smallish, USA builder with the inrush of lower cost imports. I noticed that, when he went back to Dean, at some point they had some guitars built in Japan. I think they were limited models and short lived but the his Hardtail was one of them. They fell between the USA and Korean models in price. I have to believe that Zelinsky had some influence in trying to up the quality and find a compromise. At any rate, reality hit him long ago and his DBZ guitars were built offshore and most of his Dean Zelinsky guitars are as well (India I think) but he has some USA built guitars as well now.
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I saw one like that for like 260 bux last night. The neck seems cool, but maybe its a PITA to keep clean
 
Re: Dean Zelinsky. Any experience?

I am very intrigued by that LaVoce model, I've played a few of the other thin body guitars from DZ and thought they were kind of neat.
 
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