Dean Guitars Parent Company Files Chapter 11

  • Thread starter Thread starter glpg80
  • Start date Start date
Sucks, but...

Not really surprising. Pretty mediocre products in a crowded shrinking market.

Many more right behind them.
 
That's a shame. They sold a lot of crap, but the good stuff--the USA-made guitars, mostly--could by quite good. The company seems to have lost its way when Elliott Rubinson died.
 
Rising Farce said:
That's a shame. They sold a lot of crap, but the good stuff--the USA-made guitars, mostly--could by quite good. The company seems to have lost its way when Elliott Rubinson died.
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Elliott ran the company well, and their Custom Shop guitars are as good as anything out there, (in some cases better).

Firstly, they milked the Dimebag name too long. When he died they milked it more. Then, when Elliott died, his shithead son Evan took over, skimmed money, ran off their artists by not paying them, disrespecting them, badmouthing, (Mustaine, Rik Emmett, Andy Larocque, to name a few), and ran it into the ground. I believe he stopped paying Dimebag's estate for sales as well. He's the reason this is happening. He took over in 2017 and forced out in 2022. He faced embezzlement charges, and took out massive fraudulent loans with forged business records that ran up that debt, and spent the money on his extravagant lifestyle. His mother had him removed, and I believe he was escorted off the Dean property by law enforcement. He was looking at prison time, and I believe his own mother was suing him. I don't think they pursued any criminal charges, I could be wrong.
 
It takes a special kind of PoS (Evan Rubinson) to embezzle money from his mother.
 
napalmdeath said:
Elliott ran the company well, and their Custom Shop guitars are as good as anything out there, (in some cases better).

Firstly, they milked the Dimebag name too long. When he died they milked it more. Then, when Elliott died, his shithead son Evan took over, skimmed money, ran off their artists by not paying them, disrespecting them, badmouthing, (Mustaine, Rik Emmett, Andy Larocque, to name a few), and ran it into the ground. I believe he stopped paying Dimebag's estate for sales as well. He's the reason this is happening. He took over in 2017 and forced out in 2022. He faced embezzlement charges, and took out massive fraudulent loans with forged business records that ran up that debt, and spent the money on his extravagant lifestyle. His mother had him removed, and I believe he was escorted off the Dean property by law enforcement. He was looking at prison time, and I believe his own mother was suing him. I don't think they pursued any criminal charges, I could be wrong.
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You absolutely nailed all the facts. The D.O.A. during the Elliott years were fantastic. I had several custom shop builds during the time they were having U.S.Masters ghost build for them in Chicago under Zelinsky's "watchful eye". Then I had two built at the Tampa facility when Jon Hill was running the new wood shop. Elliott and Brave Dave let me have the "Last Rust" Razorback, and it was the trophy of my collection for a long time. This was a great time for me since I was running OTR trucking and could get a run anywhere just to meet up with Dean forum members and guys from Rigtalk just to buy amps and guitars all around the lower 48 states. Life was good.

Evan and Curse Mackey destroyed Dean. Fuck them both.
 
I had an earlier Dimebag tribute Dime Slime Dean ML, made in korea. That was actually an excellent guitar, even if it was a cash grab. I took the Dimebucker out and put a Bill Lawrence l-500xl in it and it kicked ass. Even the tremolo was awesome. It stayed in tune forever...I put a real Floyd Rose bar on it. All it needed were those couple mods and it was a great guitar for the money. I used it to play all my bands D tuned songs, including a Pantera cover "Walk".

Those Razorback guitars were hideous though, I don't know who in there right mind would buy one.
 
napalmdeath said:
It was actually his dead father he ripped off.
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What a PoS Evan is!

When Elliott acquired Dean and was buying vintage Deans I talked to him on the phone and sold him a very early black ML Standard.

Dean Zelinski was with him and he let me talk with him as well. Dean Z took the time to answer a few questions about vintage Deans. That meant alot to me.
 
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riffsfordaze said:
What a PoS Evan is!

When Elliott acquired Dean and was buying vintage Deans I talked to him on the phone and sold him a very early black ML Standard.

Dean Zelinski was with him and he let me talk with him as well. Dean Z took the time to answer a few questions about vintage Deans. That meant alot to me.
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I talked to Elliott years ago about working for Dean. Super nice guy.

They were on the right track back then when the Soltero and Hardtails were introduced. Their USA made guitars were works of art. Way up there with PRS and better than Gibson, IMO.
 
Sucks to hear. Dean USA built fantastic guitars & their Korean imports were a great value for a long time.
 
napalmdeath said:
I talked to Elliott years ago about working for Dean. Super nice guy.

They were on the right track back then when the Soltero and Hardtails were introduced. Their USA made guitars were works of art. Way up there with PRS and better than Gibson, IMO.
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That is rad you almost worked there!
 
Bought my first Dean in 1998 right after Elliott bought the company. They sold 4 models and only bolt on's at the time. He really loved the guitars and brought Dean back as a contender. After his passing it's been nothing but garbage guitars and drama. So sad to see.. I hope they survive, but they can't even make V or Z's anymore due to Gibsons BS..
 
Sad news. I've never played a Dean, almost buying a 333 was the closest I've been to one.
 
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