Dean Guitars Chafin Del Sol

Made in Korea, apparently by somebody who takes great pride in their work. I don 't know the exact year it was made but I bought it used off Ebay around 2003 or so, and Dean had already discontinued making it - why, I cannot imagine, it is SWEET. It is a semi-hollow,double-cutaway,two f-hole little number in the ES-335 tradition, except the back and sides appear to be carved from a single, routed-out piece of mahogany, capped off with a fabulously figured flamed maple arched top, with a glossy, transparent candy apple red finish that you can almost taste. The absence of a pickguard allows maximum display of splendid face. The tone and volume knobs have their own little smooth-contoured, carved little niches in the arched top. Pickup configuration is the traditional 3-way toggle to select bridge, both, or neck pickup. Tone controls are one volume, one tone, nice and simple.The two Dean passive humbuckers are very easy to love. They seem to sort of know what you want them to do and they are very willing to co-operate most musically.You want to push the edge of politeness, dig in with your pick and she hollers and wails convincingly. Use a gentler touch, and she sings sweetly. Sustain is long and lovely, with no dead spots to be found. (Wish I could say the same for my Les Paul Studio, which, compared to this, is an obnoxious, uncouth beast crafted by neanderthals.) The set-in mahogany neck is a substantial Les Paul type shape, topped off with a
roomy,slightly wider than average rosewood neck adorned with these really beautiful mother of pearl radiant-sun inlays that make the thing just irresistable to pick up, play, or admire as it sits on a guitar stand. Mine has the regular violin-style f-holes, some others I have seen have the narrower, "cat's-eye" shaped ones.Medium jumbo frets are just the right height for comfortable bending and vibrato, but not so high as to get in the way of long, smooth, up-the-neck slides.Tuners are smooth, sealed grover-type non-locking. The hardware is all gold plated for extra snazzyness,from the tuners to the tune-o-matic bridge and stop tail piece. And the guitar is nice and light on the shoulder, and a bit more compact than a 335, which makes it pleasant and comfortable to play.

I play lead guitar on a worship team, and I use this when I want the thicker sound of humbuckers compared to my very favorite guitar, my 1995 or so, 50th anniversary Fender American Standard Strat.
I am playing it through a Digitech GSP-2101 Artist rack processor, into a nice old 70's Music Man HD130-212 combo amp (130 watts, 2 x 12" speakers, four power tubes) and I absolutely love the sounds I get...makes me want to play 'till I die. It's full, rich with harmonic complexity, especially with a little (or a lot) of tube overdrive. I will always love the complex clean sounds of my Strat,which pleases the ears like a beautiful waterfall pleases the eyes, the Dean Chafin Del Sol is more like glass of vintage red wine, tasty and pleasurable.It will not give you single coil sounds, and it does not have the "air" of a hollowbody, but if you love the 335 jazz-rock or blues thing,this is the bomb right here, especially since it costs less than $400.00

This guitar was previously owned and it came to me in optimal condition. I have had it for about three years and I literally rarely even have to tune it.

All the hardware seems perfectly gig-worthy, the finish has a very durable feel and appearance, like a good, glossy hard shell of a protection.I feel very confident about it, but I never leave the house without at least one backup guitar.

I have a Dean Palomino and a Dean Stylist and I know from experience that they are the type of company that likes to make their customers happy. I have never needed any thing from them for the Del Sol, however.

I have been playing for 41 years, I own a Fender Amrican Standard Strat, a Dean Palomino, a Dean Stylist, An Ibanez Artcore hollow body thinline with a Bigsby-style trem, a Gibson Les Paul Studio, an Epiphone Chet Atkins solid-body classical, an Ibanez S470DXQMNF, a Wilson Classical,and an old Guild 12-string.
If it were lost or stolen I thhink I would try to find another one or, if I had the money, I would try to find a Gibson Blues Hawk, another tonefull, semi-hollow, discontinued gem of a Guitar.
The only thing I wish this had was coil splitting capability, but so what. I need an excuse to buy Stratocasters.

2004 made in korea 22 frets gold hardware white finish

unfair to rate this one

total crap

if was perfect straight out of box would get a 9,but this one was horrible

this is where things change,the reason im writing this is to warn people of shitty vendors on ebay trying to pawn off fucking shit to people and then have to go straight to dean to clear things up,the shitty vendor i cant remember what they were called,if i did i would tell you.anyways the shit they sent me was quickly replaced with something that truly represented dean .a 10 in every respect,dean did not fuck around,when i called them in a fury!!!they are top notch,if you get a bad one call them, email them,remember to tell them who the piece of shit vendor was so they can deal with them!!

ebay vendor sent me 2 pieces of total crap,dean sent me a true gem a1 to dean for a truly decent product,and a big finger to the a'hole vendor on ebay.CHECK DEANS OUT FOR SURE!!!

Brand new.. purchased early summer 2004.. Red flamed top..... Same description as seen below with one major exception - the pickup selector switch has been fixed/upgraded - whatever. It is very solid. I was specifically looking for an axe with just one Tone and One Volume, so this fits that perfectly.

This is a GREAT mini-335 / PRS Hollow McCarty style blues instrument. Good variety of tones even with the one tone / one volume setup. The pickups are excellent. The tonal variation I get in all three pickup positions gets a lot of notice from the other guys. This is also the most usable Bridge position Humbucker I have played in many, many years. Loud and musical at the same time. I have played it through a Traynor WC model and both Peavey Delta Blues models. This axe sings through those amps. The sound is rich, and the response is even all the way up the neck.

These Koreans (and lately the Chinese) guitar builders are scary good. No, they are great. Great set up straight from the factory .. I had locking Grovers installed, and I then had it set up for the BB King string set (Basically .10's with heavy bottoms - .056 low 'E'). Frets, woodwork, Inlays, Pickups / Rings, Bindings - all were absolutely beautiful and well dressed. I own a 1975 Gibson 'V', a 1980's "lawsuit" PRS-like Epi, a recent Cort double cutaway double Humbucker Solidbody, and I have owned a few Strats - every last one of them - including this Dean - have been delivered with loose volume and tone pots! I have had to tighten and re-set the Volume, Tone pots and the input jack on EVERY guitar I have ever purchased. And they come from all over the globe, as well as the USA. Does anyone know why this is so ?

Anyway, this axe was delivered in excellent condition and it looks and feels like an instrument that is worth about three times as much. I own, and have played, instruments what were supposed to be "prestige" instruments, and many of them do not compare in workmanship, attention to detail and value to this Dean.

The hardware is quite durable looking. The guitar "feels" solid. As I mentioned earlier, the last review I see for the Del Sol is from 2003, and as of July 2004 when I received this guitar, the pickup switch has been completely upgraded or replaced with a very substantial one. The Gold hardware will probably look pretty worn quite soon (it is now September), but that is the way gold hardware is.

n/a

I've been playing for 35 years and I own an original 1975 Flying V, an 80's PRS style Epi, a Double Cutaway PRS style Cort, an OLP Musicman licensed Bass. I play through a Traynor WCV20 class 'A' amp. I just love the tone and the outright solid and substantial feel of this guitar when I play out with it. It's a pleasure to play unplugged in the living room, too. I like it better than the Epi 335 style guitars I've played lately. The Gibson 335 is OK but way too overpriced (and it's just OK). For the price the Dean could have had the locking tuners standard, but I bought it anyway and put 'em on myself.

On balance, I really feel this guitar is a very good value. I'd replace it in a heartbeat if anything happened to it.

Made in Korea-pretty good things come from there these
days. An absolutely gorgeous guitar-the sun inlay position
markers were too hard to resist, along with the gold
hardware.That was just for starters. When you plug in and
play it you've had it! Sounds great and plays well. And
quality construction with a good price.

Great sound-reminds you of a baby ES-335. Very comfortable to play. Does well with rock, blues, etc.
As previously stated there is an issue with the pickup
selector switch (not the greatest).I run the full gamut
of effects and it sounds good with all of them.

There was some fret buzz which was corrected by the
music store, other than this all seemed satisfactory.The
locking nuts on the tuners were loose and had to be
tightened also.

Seems like a well made, dependable guitar for $689. I
have the red model-they also come in blue and in white.
Has a lot of features for the money usually found in the
more expensive guitars, particularly the headstock binding,
the Grover tuners, and the set-neck construction.

Haven't had to deal with them, so I'll pass on this
category.

Have been playing acoustic guitar for 9 yrs.,only buying
this guitar in May 2002 along with a bevy of vintage Boss
and Ibanez effects.Both have significantly enhanced my
playing abilities. I'm no authority on electric guitar
quality, but know good tone when I hear it. This is a
beautiful instrument to look at, plays very nicely with
a good tone. These can usually be had on ebay for around
$500 or so-well worth the money in IMHO.

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review


Well, unlike others postings here, I got bumpkiss out of Dean.
Only dealt with them via email, maybe it was just the weenie I dealt with.

I will say that after playing several of the Delsol's and the Sarasota's I knew that the Pickup Selector would go piss-up on me sooner that later, but after 5 or 6 weeks the Volume pot just up and died. two weeks later the tone pot got so scratchy sounding I had to replace it also.

Emailed Dean about this, and in response I got a song and dance routine about how Guitars could be customized by their owners once they got them home.
(!!! SAY WHAT !!!)

Below is a cut and paste from the email from Dean:
Verbatim, No adds or edits by me, Just cut and paste:

ME:
Hello

Several months ago I purchased a "Del Sol" from the Web.

The Guitar sounds great.
Tried Several in local shops, liked the way it sounded (and looked). Searched the Web for the best price, got it.


One "MAJOR PROBLEM" though, The Pots and Pickup switch are all crap.

I have had to take the pots out twice and clean them, scratchy as all Hell. Switch kept dropping out, I had to remove this as well and bend the tabs out. So I could actually switch between pickups and get any sound out of the pickups.

I have read glowing reviews of Dean guitars.
This and the fact that in the store, the guitar sounded great, This is why I purchased the Del Sol. And this is my first purchase of a Dean guitar. For a guitar you list at $800.00 this is a joke.

Great looking and great sounding guitars.
But if the electronics crap out after three months, why bother ??? I do not think I will be buying another Dean guitar anytime real soon. As this had made me real leery of Dean's quality !!!

And when asked about my Dean, I will tell them the truth, is what I just told you. No! Don't Do It !!! Not unless you are willing to replace the electronics in your axe the day after you get it.

Being an Electronics Repair Tech and a Network Systems Administrator (and general computer geek) This is no big deal to replace parts, but this is not the point.

Signed: So far, not a happy customer.



DEAN:
sorry for your problems...we would have been happy to replace the electronics under warranty...you do get 5 years on all dean gtrs....we do our best to make the best gtr for under 1000 bucs we can...we get alotof good reviews on the sound of the pickups...hopefully you like the sound and feel of the gtr and the pickups.. consider this...when I buy a gtr...I buy the gtr because of the feel and sound and look of the gtr.....pickups and hardware can be replaced and upgraded, but the gtr itself is what motivates me to buy...i have been buying and playing gtrs for 30 years..i have 15 gtrs and i play professionally.. Dean tries very hard to provide a great bang for the buck..and a great feeling and sounding gtr..95% of the time the electronics work fine, sorry you had 1 of the gtrs that had problems...I hope the gtr plays great and you will enjoy playing it for a longtime...and even with the cost of your upgrades to the electronics...you still have a great deal on a great gtr. i'd be happy to send you a t-shirt if you want for your trouble and don't give up on Dean..compared to other gtr companys and what they offer in the same price range...you will always get more gtr for the money with Dean. thanks



ME:
Hello

Well Like I said the first time, Sounds Great, Looks Great. But I still do not think you should have to replace the pots and switches in the first three months of ownership.

Yes, I know things break down, it is a fact of life, Shit happens. But this guitar is fresh off the sales floor.

So! What now?
Can I get new pots and a switch?

Thanks



DEAN:
wats your address?

End Of Cut And Paste!



Now, To Add Insult To Injury !!!
A few weeks later I get in the mail, two pots, one switch.
The two pots were pulls from something, they still had solder blobs on them, and were in worse s

Submitted by Anonymous at 06/25/2002 08:50
At Bottom Of Review

A semi hollow body flamed maple top, mahogony body and mahogony set neck with multi ply binding from head to tail. The fretboard is rosewood and has 22 frets. Set up with one volume and tone control, and a traditional 3 way toggle pup selector. Grover tuners are a welcome feature as well. I emailed dean to find out what kind of pick ups were in the guitar and they responded that they were simply korean pick ups. I have never owned a guitar with just one volume and one tone control and have not had this one long enough to post negative comments about this set up. A standard tune o matic bridge and tailpiece set up is used on these guitars. Everything is finished in gold. The inlays are MOP radiant sun and are so sweet.Some of the features in this price range such as the multi ply binding and mahogony are outstanding. Bravo Dean!

Wow! This guitar has awesome tone! I play Arena and Blues Rock and this guitar handles both genres with ease. I was actually worried about this guitar being suitable for some of the material that I cover, but this guitar belts it out. Blues players will love this guitar. With an inexpensive upgrade to the vol. and tone pots this guitar will clean up so sweet when you roll off the volume. The pots in my guitar were aweful. The taper was virtually non existant, not smooth at all. But they sound great now that they have been replaced with quality pots. The pick ups (whatever kind they are) sound great. They can get a great creamy sustaining tone like a les paul but with more clarity. Lots of punch. However, I did replace them. The guy that I bought the guitar from lived in the carrabbian and all of the hardware was severely corroded. I don't really care for gold hardware anyway so I swapped all of the hardware out for chrome and it looks killer. My set up is as follows. Dunlop crybaby> Menatone King Of The Britains> Danelectro Danecho> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Like one person said in an earlier review. This guitar serves well when doing covers and you need to get a variety of sounds. A very versitile guitar.

I bought the guitar used, so I can't say how the factory set up was. But I set it up the way Ilike it and it plays great. A lot of people don't talk about fit when they review guitars, but it is a very important feature for me. One the reasons I never bought a semi hollow before was because of their size. I could never play them with as much comfort as I like. This is smaller than your traditinal 335. It fits in my Les Paul case like a glove to give you a good reference. It is just a bit top heavy as well but I believe all guitars with the strap button on the back of the body tend to be top heavy. The finish is really nice. A transparent wine or cherry red finish shows off the flame top nicely. The fret work is a little rough but not out of line for a guitar in this price range and nothing that my guitar guy can't easily fix. There are a few places where the red bled into the binding, but you would have to look really close to notice it. As mentioned before, I thought the pots were junk and relaced them as well as the 3 way switch.

I plan to play live with this guitar so I did put strap locks on it. Although I did replace all of the hardware because they were corroded due to a salty climate, I believe it would have lasted under normal conditions. I never gig without a back up guitar! The finish seems durable.

I emailed them about a case and about the pick ups and it took three days to get a response. But they did answer all of my questions.

I've been playing for twenty+ yrs. I run a simple old fashioned set up. I have a Fender American Hendrix Strat, an American Gibson SG faded special, and a Korean Agile Les Paul. All are great guitars and share equal plying time. The name brand thing is not an issue for me. They are building great guitars in Korea these days for dirt cheap. With a few minor upgrades, this Dean Del Sol as well as many other Korean guitars are becoming mainstay guitars for many of us blue collared players. Hats off for an exceptional value and a great sounding guitar.

This guitar is a new design by Dean. It has 22/23 frets with very beautiful "radiant sun" inlays. It's a very different looking blues guitar. It reminds me of a Paul Reed Smith... namely the Hollowbody series except this is actually affordable! It's got your standard good guitar woods.... Maple top (very nice by the way.... especially for a guitar in this price range), mahogany back... rosewood fretboard and mahogany neck. The guitar is just a plain beauty... it looks phenomenal... who would expect a wonderful inlays on a headstock?... this guitar is flashy! The binding goes around the body and the neck and it's a wonderful cream with black lines combination. Heck, the top is a real eye catcher. Mine was a translucent cherry and it changes colors when in different lighting... from burgundy to an brownish/orangish glow. The flame is very nice on it as well (it's not a AAA flame, but it's still beautiful). The tuners are Grover and they keep the guitar in tune really well. It comes with a nice tune-o-matic bridge as well (my personal fave). This guitar has everything that makes up a good Gibson and far exceeds some of them. This guitar is a semi-hollowbody archtop and it's just so different and so wonderful... the specs are great. The pups in it are custom Dean ones and they are in H-H format. They are passive and controlled by a 3 way switch. The neck feels thinner than a Gibson and thicker than a Strat... very nice for chords. I'm not sure about the neck scale... it's like a Gibson. The guitar is lightweight and very comfortable to play. Unfortunately, in order for a proper case for the guitar... you must specialty order one from Dean. I will attest that they fit like a glove though!

This is straight up blues. It has a nice gritty distortion when mixed with an overdriven tube amp. It's so very clean and with the right type of pick (a thin one) it sounds like an acoustic. It really has a nice smooth singing tone. I love it. I like to use it with my MXR Phase 90, Ibanez TS-808, and my vintage Fender Vibrolux Reverb. It has a very warm, rich, full tone that is unlike a lot of guitars I've heard or played before. This guitar doesn't have massive versatility, but if you like jazz, blues, blues rock stuff it will rock your world. Just to note... it only has two tweaking knobs... volume and tone (I leave them at 10 anyways... so it doesn't matter to me). I am a tone sucker so I will personally be modding the hell out of this to make it my dream guitar. I'm planning on putting in Seymour Duncan Antiquities, 500k pots, Orange Drop capacitors and this will be a force to be reckoned with.... even against 99% of the professionals out there. This guitar has the potential to be a beautiful professional, custom guitar and I'm stepping over my 2000 Gibson LP Std., Epiphone LP, and Fender Strat to make it happen!

Action and intonation was flawless. Pickups were fine, but I tinkered with them anyway :). Everything seemed properly routed. Near the holes in the body (it is a semi-hollowbody archtop here) the construction was slightly off... it was very hard to see. Near the headstock there was a small blem in the binding, but it was just looks and had no bearing on its playability or tone. I've heard people curse out the pup selector, but I liked it just fine and I haven't had the least bit of trouble with the nut on it. Be advised, after I bought it, the control knob popped out and had to work to fit it back in there, but I think it will work perfectly from now on. Because of the type of guitar it is, it may be hard to get at the electronics and mod it. I like to solder everything myself, but I'm afraid I may need a professional with the right tools to get it done right.

I hope no more knobs pop off, but it doesn't look like they will. The finish is great and will last for a long time. I will use it without a backup and it seems like it will be durable enough for live playing. Of course I wouldnt drop it on the ground to make sure, but I'll take that forgranted.

I haven't dealt with Dean, but I have heard simply wonderful things about the customer support and the man Dean Zelinski himself. The warranty is 5 years and I need to send that in actually :) (oops). Judging by trillions of fans of Dean and all the stories I've heard... this company really cares about its fans and I can't rate this any lower.

I've been playing for 4-5 years. I own a 1970 Fender Vibrolux Reverb, a MXR Phase 90, an Ibanez TS-10, a Boss AC-2, a 2000 Gibson LP Std., a Epiphone LP w/ EMG 81/85s and a MIM Fender Strat w/ EMG DG-20 pup set. I would buy this again in a heartbeat. Great value! I've gotten a lot of compliments on it already. I love the looks and the perfect sound I want will be just a couple more months away. I always wanted a semi-hollowbody archtop with 2 humbuckers and Gibson style config. and now I have one. I like this more than my Gibson LP Std. (that things staying home... the Dean comes with me to college). I like playing a lot of blues stuff now and this guitar inspires me. I will only get rid of this guitar if I ever have enough money to buy a Paul Reed Smith Hollowbody I,II or Artist. I am now a fixed believer in semi-hollowbody archtops and I'm glad I chose this over the Epiphone Sheraton (the other guitar I was looking at). It's not flawless, but for a $500 guitar it's value almost is. Who says you can't get quality from a sub grand guitar... this puts my Gibson to shame on clean. I stand by that!

Made in 2000 in Korea.
Check out their web site for the details:
http://deanguitars.com

I bought the Dean case through my dealer - Caruso Music - and I really like it. Unlike another post, this case fits my guitar perfectly - like a glove.

The neck is exceptionally thin, perfect for my hands and playing style, and stays thin up to the joint. My playing improved dramatically on getting this guitar, but then, it was my first electric.

I play mostly blues.
Usually play effect free, but if I'm not using my '79 Fender Twin Reverb, I sometimes put it through a Chorus.
Full, warm sound. Decent variety, but the limited controls (one volume, one tone) certainly restricts the possibilities for the potential sounds.

No major flaws in factory or dealer set up. Action was sweet and is still sweet.

For the money, the inlays and bindings are damned good.

The selctor switch is indeed junk, and I plan to replace it.

Like another person, I don't like the gold hardware on my blue guitar, and plan to replace it someday - but that's just cosmetics.

I play the guitar live. I trust it, but it takes a moment to adjust tuning in high humidity places.

The selector switch looks like it will become a sticky problem in a few years.

The finish is thick and very pretty - especially under lights.

I do have a bunch of pick scrapes in the finish below the strings. Sucks to be a rythm player.

In one small setting, an audience member shouted out how beautiful the guitar was and said it "looked like an orgasm with strings."

Strap buttons - they were like any other strap buttons, and their placement is the same as most double cutway LP style guitars - right on the back at the base of the neck.

I'm a busty lady, and wear my guitar pretty high, with the normal strap buttons and a well used strap, reaching for something pulls the strap off the back button. Again, not a guitar problem - just a physical thing for me. I swapped out the buttons with Dunlop 2-Way locking strap buttons. So, if some flat chested guy doesn't want to play with my dalmation fur strap during an open mic, no big deal.

I have dealt with Dean. The finish on my Del Sol cracked on both sides of the neck where the joint meets the body.

My customer service rep was very nice and said there actually is not a failure in the joint - the incident is purely cosmetic. They were willing to provide me with a completely new guitar - but they no longer carry blue. They offered another line in blue or the Del Sol in red or natural.

When you call them, they don't answer the phone "Dean Guitars" because Armadillo Enterprises carries Nord and Ddrum. However, they don't feel big to deal with. A little slow on e-mail, but extremely personable and very interested in making sure their customers and players are happy.

I have been playing since 1982.

For guitars, I own an early 80's Yamaha SG200 I bought used, a Yamaha accoustic 6 string and an Epiphone accoustic 12 string. Occaisionally, I pick up my husband's Ovation, but we have distictly different playing styles and I don't like his other guitars for my playing.

If it were stolen or lost, I couldn't replace it new - they don't make it in blue, and, while it sounds stupid, that was the main reason I bought THIS guitar. I planned on buying a Sarasota, and would probably purchase a Sarasota if it were lost or stolen. The suns are cool, but they don't do that much for me, and I don't like the gold. But, I picked gold hardware over non-blue.

For people who like their SGs, the Del Sol is a nice little semi-hollow body with cool stage looks and wings.

When I bought the guitar, I was looking for a semi-hollow body for $450 or less (that would be the Sarasota). But I fell in love with the blue finish. I have played enough guitars to know I was looking for something just like the Caffin series.

I wish it had chrome hardware, and a separate tone and volume for each pickup.

White with gold hardware, 2 humbuckers, 3-way switch, 22 frets, flamed top, stop bar tail-piece, double cutaway body, rosewood fretboard. I bought it from my buddy who bought it but needed money a week or so after so I gave him an easy $250 for it. Can't beat that can you?

I play mostly classic rock and country. The guitar can handle most but not all of the playing duties. I also use my Jackson which I get my TwangyStraty sound. Its not the least bit noisy. It has a FULL BEAUTIFUL sound. Not capable of a really great variety of sound but it does the job with what it has.

The action was kind of high but I quickly solved that. The pickups weren't quite to my liking so I adjusted those also. The finish is flawless.

I've only played Live a few times with it so I cant really comment. Strap buttons are solid. It seems dependable and I'd use it without backup. I don't realy think the selector switch will last though, and after reading a few reviews on the net I realized other people feel the same.

BNever delt with them. I fix shit myself when it messes up.

I think this guitar is the perfect partner for my Jackson Performers. Between the two I can come up with any sound needed. From Straty, to Les Paul-like. I would definitly get another if this were lst or stolen. Especially if I could get one for such a low price. Oh yea, the list price for this guitar is bout $800 and you can get it from stores for aroud $650 or so.

2002 Model, Listed: $799.99 (by Dean)
Purchased off the Web: $500.00
Owned: just shy of 6 months

Made In Korea
(by Samick? --- No knoxs against Samick, I own 2 of them).
Double cutaway semi hollow body.
Transparent Cherry Red, Gold Hardware.
"Radiant Sun" inlays on the fretboard.
Dual, Dean Humbuckers, Nice thick mid-range with these.
1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way Pickup Selector switch.
Tune-O-Matic Bridge, Stop tailpiece

A note about the electronic parts.
Mainly the pickup selector switch: It Is A Piece Of Crap !!!
After playing 2-Sarasota's and 1-Del Sol, in different shops.
All of the guitars had the same punk switch.
For a guitar that lists for $800.00: This is a joke !!!

Still, I bought the Del Sol, because I loved the way it sounded.
1st. Thing I did, was replace the selector switch.
There goes $20.00 and an afternoon of work, did it myself.

Whoever Dean had manufacture this guitar,
they can only build it as they are told to do so by Dean.
(see Samick Above, this is why I can't blame Samick/or whoever)

Volume pot is scratchy, right at the very beginning of it travel.
almost no sound from amp at this point.

Sarasota was cheaper, BUT !!!
Radant Sun inlays and the gold hardware suckered me in.
Here's my cash!

Classic Rock, Blues
Jimi Hendrix, Dickie Betts, Stevie Ray Vaughn

Signal Chain:
Guitar-Splitter-Volume Pedals-Effects-Amps-Speakers
Volume Pedals at the begining of each chain.

Present Pedals:
Akai: G-Drive
Slightly distorted overdrive to full on mega-fuzz / Metal distortion

Akai: Shred-O-Matic
Tube or Diode Distortion.
Permanently scooped mid-range
Distortion, to Metal, to Pure White Noise !!!
Hate that permanently scooped mid!

MXR: M-117 Flanger
MXR: Phase-100 Phasor

Fender Bassman 50, (with Marshall Mod, EL34 power tubes)
Nice early British sound, goes into overdrive real easy.

Fender Bassman 70, (extra gain stage, channel-2, through channel-1)
Classic, Clean, Fender overdrive.

Fender M-80 Chorus Stereo Head:
60-Watts per channel, Extremely Loud & CLEAN !!!!
I run my pedals through this amp using a volume pedal to bring it up or down.

Microphone and PA amps:
Crate B150, Clean and Loud !
Crate B200XL, Clean and Even Louder !!!

1-No Name 4x12 Cab W/Eminence Legends
1-Crate 2x12 Cab (open back)
2-No Name 2x12 Cabs

Action: I do my own setup, so I will pass on this.

Fit& Finish:
Is 99%
Love the way the guitar is put together.
Love the way the Guitar looks.
binding in the F-Holes was slightly iffy,
but you have to press your face up against the guitar to find the little boo-boos.

Live Playing: Solid Guitar, Have gig will travel.
Yes I will take it on the road.
Hardware: After replacing the pickup selector, Yes.
Finish: Nice, seems like it will last.
Strap Buttons: They seem OK, has not kissed the floor yet.
Dependable: Yes.

No knoxs against any gear I own, Guitar or otherwise.
Shit breaks, it is the nature of the beast.
I will not go anywhere without a backup of anything.
Maybe I'm Paranoid, but this has saved my butt, more than once.
If it is made by humans, it will break and/or just plain die.

Never dealt with Dean
Seems like any other large faceless corporation.

Start Rant:
Call Dean to complain about a $2.00 switch on a $800.00 guitar?
You think they will care ???
or even talk to me (or you), joe average smoe.
I put in a $20.00 Switch!
End Rant:

I've been playing off and on for close to 30 years.
Day Job, ya-know.
bought a house, and I am in the process of setting up a studio in the basement.
hmm, The wife is still talking to me ???

Other Gear:
Guitars that I still own.

#1: Ovation Deacon, My Trailer Queen !!! 1972 !!!!!!!

Ibanez: DTX120 Destroyer (Can you say reissue), (2002 Model)
Great Pickups, Great Sound, Neck Heavy "SOB"
I think I am going to have to route out the back and pour in lead.
just to get it to balance (another story alltogether).

Samick SAB6690 Bass (2001 Model)
Heavy Licks (When Needed)

Samick KMP4440of Strat/PRS clone 29 fret neck. (2001 Model)
Whickedly fast neck, Thin and wide.
1-Bridge Humbucker, 1-Neck Single coil (Seymour Duncan's)

Washburn Woodstock, Thin body acoustic W/Piezo in Bridge (middle 80's)

Danelectro: Korean/Japanese (Samick Again ???) (2000 Model)
Danelectro, belly up, some time in the 1970's, When the owner died.
Reissue of the guitar/madolin, Guitar-O-Lin (What ???)
It is a 31 Fret, 6-String, Longneck Guitar

2-Lipstick pickups.
Bridge: 1-volume, 1-Tone on same shaft
Neck: 1-volume, 1-tone on same shaft
3-way pickup switch

Concentric pots for those that are really interested.
Danelectro = Neck Heavy Guitars (at least the ones I've played)
Still I am keeping this one.
Very Unique Sound.


!Back to Dean Del Sol!
Lost or Stolen:
Yes i would buy another one!
Heck i'm still looking at the Sarasota
hmm, the wife is still talking to me !!!

Love / Hate:
Please see all of the above

Compare:
I can get it to snarl like a old Les Paul.
I can damn near get it to sound like a Strat, Almost.

Why Chose This One:
Walked into the store, It was love at first sight.
Played it !!!
Where's my wallet ???

see deanguitars.com for real details.

set neck, solid mahogany w/ flame maple top, grover tuners, trans blue finish, tune-o-matic ... essentially a semi-hollow double cutaway les paul. limited pickup controls, only master volume, tone, and p-u selector. seperate volume and tone wouldve been better. but its all quality.

i do mostly experimental, avant garde stuff. think marc ribot, keith rowe, derek bailey, keiji haino. so im all over the place, from subtle harmonics to prepared guitar, to fat chunky drone. this thing covers all my bases. everything about its build and design seems focused on big warm sounds. one of my amps is a little 10" 1954 magna electronics combo, everything sounds a little thin through this amp...except the chafin. its kinda like the guitar itself has tube electronics. its just sweet. if you need twang, go somewhere else.

poor, just poor. out of the box the set up was bad, all sorts of buzz and whatnot. the build on this thing is faboo dont get me wrong, on a wood level it rocks, the most perfect neck join ive ever felt, beautifully balanced, impecable finish; but the hardware seemed slapped on, bridge all wrong, tuning keys not quite straight. but im killing all the gold hardware to replace it with chrome so id have to redo it anyway.

quality stuff, all of it. i would swear by this quitar. the neck doesnt get thicker the closer it gets to the body, like on most, so it feels a little odd on the high frets but it actually lends itself to easier bends and whatnot. dont bother with the hardcase they match with it! get a paul, or sg case (etc) the case they sent is a generic design solidbody case. its not fit, and since the neck arches back a bit, the guitar doesnt have any real support from the case from just under the heel to the headstock. step on the case and you could snap the neck off. but thats not the guitars fault.

erk, the place i ordered it from had tons of problems getting this guitar. "we make blue, give us a month" "we stopped making blue, but didnt tell anyone, and now we've starting making blue again, give us another month" "we dont have any, give us another month" "yeah we have them ill ship it tomorrow" totally inconsistant. it took me 4 months to get it.

ive been playing for about 14 years and on mostly cheap but functional guitars. when i went shopping for an upgrade i knew exactly what i wanted. i tried pauls, prs', hamers, shechters, fernandes' all costing at least a grand, and this guitar slayed me. for at least $400 less. it kicks ass. but it seems as though dean ignored the details. beautiful craftsmanship on the guitar itself, but slack in hardware assembly. and why couldnt they get a better fit case. and why not have the option of chrome hardware (gold on blue, yuk). it may not be perfect out of the box, but the sound is worth a little quick fix. its built like a tank and sounds like god.

The Chafin series of guitars were introduced in March of 2000. The Del Sol is a Korean made double cutaway semi-hollow with a mahogony body and laminated maple top. It also has a set mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, mother of pearl radiant sun inlays and 22 frets. The tuners are gold plated Grovers, the bridge is your basic Les Paul style Tune-O-Matic.

Electronics consist of neck and bridge Dean humbuckers that are controlled by a single tone and volume control and a three way selector switch.

My guitar has a transparent red finish that really shows off the figure of the flame maple top. Multi ply binding and gold hardware really add to the beauty of this guitar. It is really put together well.

The neck is 1 11/16" wide at the nut and the scale length is 24 3/4". The guitar came with a hard shell case.

I play pop, rock, a little alternative and I found this guitar works very well for some songs and not at all for others. The big, warm, round sound that you associate with jazz boxes makes this guitar seem out of place when you try to play straight ahead rock with it (no big surprise here). I was playing along with some Chris Isaak and REM the other night and found that this guitar really shines when playing rhythm.

I bought this guitar it hopes it would be the antithesis of my Steinberger GM4T and I wasn't disappointed. The Steinberger tends to have a very tight, dry, focused sound while the Del Sol has the warm rounded tones you expect from a semi-hollow body. I play the guitar through a Roland GP-100 processor and then through a Rocktron Velocity 150 power amp that drives two Rocktron velocity cabinets. I found that I could not use the same GP-100 patches for both guitars since the Del Sol is more bottom heavy as far as tone goes. A slight adjustment to the bass e.q. and a decrease in the chorus depth were all I really had to do in order to get the sound I was after. I'm still playing around with the chorus settings - it may turn out that chorus is one effect I'll want to use sparingly with a semi-hollow body.

As far as pickup settings, I found I like the middle setting the best (bridge and neck pickup simultaneously) and the neck pickup alone as my second choice. So far this guitar sounds much better played through a clean pre-amp setting than a distorted one.

Action was a little high, this is typical when a guitar comes from the factory. Pickup height is hard for me to evaluate - I haven't hit the strings hard enough yet to see if they scrape the pickup cover. Overall the workmanship was very good.

I'm seeing more and more guitars come from overseas these days with truly exceptional workmanship. Not like the old days (I'm 46 years old) when the low end guitars all had terribly high action, shitty intonation and warped necks - but hey, we played them anyway. I really appreciate a well made instrument now because I could never afford one when I was young.

The guitar has a very light feel to it and this makes it seem deceptively fragile. I find myself being very careful with it for fear of snapping off the neck. In reality it is put together very well - I'm sure I could play out with it but as I said before, I would probably bring two guitars since this one doesn't fit every niche.

The hardware seems top notch - I don't see where they skimped anywhere.

My communicative experiences with Dean have not been good. I base this on the fact that I have e-mailed them twice with questions and have never got a response. It's hard to evaulate customer support because I haven't had any problems, but based on my experience with the responsiveness of other companies, I'm going to rate Dean mediocre.

I've played for 30 years and have checked out my fair share of axes in various stores. This guitar fits a niche; if you appreciate jazz music, or are just looking for a guitar with that rich open sound that begs you to play scales through a clean amplifier, this is the guitar for you. For the money it delivers a lot of quality.

If the guitar were stolen I might buy another or, depending on availability, go with one of the Gibson 335 clones that are out there. There are alot of nice jazz boxes out there now for well under $1000.

If there was anything I could change about the guitar, it would be the way it laid against my body. My Steinberger has been shaped on the back of top side so that the guitar body tilts toward the player just enough so that when you lolok down at the neck, you see the fingerboard. The Del Sol faces ever so slightly away from the player and I found this took a little getting used to.