Dean Guitars appeared in 1976, as hand built custom models built by Dean Zelinsky in Chicago, Illinois. They quickly caught on with major touring artists like ZZ Top, Heart, Kansas, and The Cars.
Dean was very influential, introducing unconventional shapes and colours and custom-wound pickups.
In 1986, the brand was sold to Tropical Music, who focused on instruments for latin musicians.
In 1997, Armadillo Enterprises bought the Dean name and revived it to offer a wide range of stringed instruments of all price ranges.
