Dean Exotica FM Acoustic/Electric Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsPurchased at Musician's Friend for $359.00.
This guitar has looks, feel and sound. The top, back and sides are flamed maple (mine is in flame blue transparent) with a set mahogany neck.
Standard features are: 3-ply binding on the body, bound fretboard, inlaid abalone rosette, fretboard markers, and Dean logo, Dean 3 band preamp with presence and volume, Grover tuners, and rosewood bridge & fretboard.
The bridge design for Dean acoustics requires mention. It is shaped like a claw, in that the bass side of the bridge (low E side) is about 1.5 inches wide and from there on down, it tapers to a point that extends about 2.5 inches past the treble side (high E). The function of this design is to have more surface area in contact with the guitar's top on the bass side and extend the surface area for the treble side further out across the guitar's top. The result is a very balanced mix of bass, mid and treble.
Couple the bridge design with the use of maple top, back and sides (as opposed to spruce & mahogany) and you have a very tonally-rich guitar that can project a ton of sound!
The only thing I find I don't like about this guitar is that I'm scared of how I'm going to behave the first time I scratch or dent it...hehe.
80% of guitars in the world today are manufactured in Korea, and this is no exception.
The contruction is fantastic, as is the quality of the components used to create this beautiful guitar. It looks good, has a tremendously low action for an acoustic but still "feels" like an acoustic, stays in tune, and well, I'd sleep with it if my wife would let me get away with it.
The Dean 3-band preamp with presence could easily be a Shadow preamp built under the Dean name. It's quiet, and adjusts for a fantastic range of tones.
The bottom line is this:
I was looking for a guitar for $500 or less, and I played Epiphones, Gibsons, Sigmas, Yamahas, and Washburns in pursuit of my guitar and even the high-end Gibsons didn't play as nicely as my Dean does.
NOTE: Dean Zelinski is back with Dean guitars, and he and other Dean representatives frequent the message boards on the Dean site. They are happy to answer questions and are good people to deal with, as they really care about their customers.
All of my future guitar purchases will be Deans. Enough said!
Larry Oster rated this unit
on
2001-09-09.
