Dean Guitars Custom 450

The finish isn`t really my kind of thing, but I begin to appreciate the tiger eye more and more.
Ofcourse I love the fact it has the strat shape, and specificly a Ibanez S kindo shape, this makes it lighter than my other guitars, even my Ibanez`s
The licensed floyd rose is better than my other floyd roses, so =D for that.
The tuners take more power to use, literally, than average tuners, but that also makes them, relatively indestructable.
Next to that, it also stays better in tune than other floyd rose licensed guitars.
Now the neck, I especially love the most, I`ve tried LTD, Jacksons, and even the most expensive Ibanez JEMs, but this neck is awesome.
it has, like LTDs, a black finish back of the neck, and this guitar makes it a feature that improves playing, at LTDs the black finish necks actually makes my playing worse, and of course, its has perfect fretting, even though I found some extra glue next to the frets, but it`s actually nothing worth to consider.
And of course, it has the whell needed 24 frets ^^
I had no extra strap or case with this guitar, but why would I wish anything more when you already get something nice huh =D
I totally LOVE the fact it has bindings at both the headstock, neck and the body, bindings always make a guitar more luxureous.
Also, very important, the neck and body are made out the same piece of wood, wich also made sure the neck perfectly flows unto the body, wich makes sure you dont get bumps and thus meaning, better playing.
Everything on this guitar, is perfect, no scratches, only smood perfect surfaces.
Whell, I dont much mind about pickup configuration or controls, although it`s a must for me, that a guitar has at least two pickups.
you got a 3-way selector, due the emg pickups.
I like the passive EMG pickups, they got less loudness, and is less fat than active ones, but they are good enough, and they got of course less "extra" noises than active ones, wich totally makes up for it.
so overall, I like the boyd, neck, everything.

the cleans are of course not as bright as a dimarzio, but it makes up for a very present warm sound, and is still bright enough.
Warm, might sound as if it was mellow, but you can clearly hear these emg pickups.
The distortions and overdrives also have a nice feature, they sound very constant, with my guitars with dimarzio they lack constantness.
They got way less sustain and are less constant.
the emg pickups instead, keep having the same sound, without muddyness just untill the string stops ringing.
Coming with it, it just sounds kickass :D
I wouldnt ask more than 3 way switch.
I totally love the sound.

I had this guitar out of a store, and this guitar stood there for quite some days before I bought it, so others played it as whell.
Had to replace the strings, because one string was actually already broken behind the nut.
I also got the version with different headstock, it looks a bit like the scythe like headstock of Ibanez
There were 0 scratches or whatsoever, even now I own it (and it gets quite some clumsyness abuse)
Actually my fellow guitarist in my band accidently let it slip out of is hands, and kindo fell pretty hard, but 0 scratches whatsoever, not even 1millimeter scratches from that fall.
Wich makes my conclusion, that this guitar is one titanium hard piece of work.
the hardware doesnt rust either, and Ive got some very corrosive sweat ;) (within 1 hour playing I get strings 100% covered with rust)
All hardware is also very secure, nothing loose, really this thing feels like it is made out of one entire piece of (guitar) :P

Whell, within my band we practice with 12 songs non-stop, and no problems there.
Same goes for live performance.
strap buttons are solid, and nice.
The finish is like, everlast, :P untill now it stayed 100% perfect, a real beauty.
I use this guitar on a gig without backup, I know it will never let me down, if something would be wrong, I`d have to blame the strings, not the guitar.
the hardware, is really rock solid, I know of guitars with nearly the same features, but contain brittle hardware.
Hehe, and if I can depend on it? It`s my main axe for crying out loud!

the warranty is for 2 years, long enough for me
didn`t have to deal with the company uppon till now, but I think its ok.

I`ve been playing in a band before, and in another band now, and Im going to make a new band anytime rather soon.
I was first kindo worried about this guitar when I bought it, it was kind of a impulsive buy, but it came out BETTER than I thought, as normally when you buy something, it appears a bit less worth it, but this was better than I expected.
I think certain proffesional guitarists, would actually love this guitar as whell.
The only problem it might have, if you were going to call it a problem, it doesn`t have the same beauty as a LTD deluxe, Gibson, or Ibanez prestige.

was made in 2004 i was toled by dean that these are no longer in production. It was made in korea, 24 frets,exjumbo ,NECK thru constuction. nice light weight to it seems balanced verywell, it has emg hz4(a) the emg pasive version of the 81..ect..mine is finished out in blackish charcol metal flake....licenced floyd on it..but seems much better than some of the cheep licensed model floyds i ve seen...grover tuners neck is ebony and fully binded..mine came with a gator case,(dean T-shirt and a couple dean stickers)tools and keys to the case

I play metal, 80 rock , blues and some classicalstyled stuf.
my amp is a KUSTOM QUAD 100watt stack threw a digitech RP7 on my main channel A,B, boxed stero with a Real Tube screamer to the 2nd channel and a mxr 10 band Eq over the whole sound to shape either iether ,,channel,, werd set up i know but it delivers ..i can sweep you to sleep with a daydreamy clean or rip your face of your head with a meat eatting E bounceing riff of dizaster... but anyways I have other high end guitars.. that i infact paid more for and this delivers quality with out comprimize'''and the licensed floyd thing didnt bother me the price i paid didnt warrant a 250 trem but this one will do. seems solid built and has lasted over 2years with out failing it does stay in tune with out going flat or sharp ect.. when the wammy is used.....i like tool an the back of the head stock.. so this is a small down fall.. but no biggy for 5 bucks i got one from ebay and no issue... i liked the price i have had kramers , ibanez,gibson, agiles,other deans usa models and a few over sea's models but this one feels like a USA made axe... I like it it is up there with my 80's kramer beretta, and my jackson sl1 i wish i would have bought this befor the jackson im still paying for the jackson(damn credit cards)lol...lol... sound..hnmm.. i have better pick ups but these are not the worst useable i tweek the bottom line with my rig.....

i set this up my self very low clean action no buzz and at the 12th fret it is 1.26mm i use bommers 009's and tune it a semitone down...
no flaws that i could find except two tiny little scratchs on the back covers edge very minor and shouldnt even mention it...

has lasted this farr and shouldnt have any issue...any time soon

Brand New Guitar With Dean 5 Year Limited Warranty
Color Shown Above Is Trans Tiger Eye
Other Colors Available: Metallic Charcoal, Pearl Black
Arched Figured Maple Top
Mahogany Body
25-1/2? Scale Length
Grover Tuners
Black Hardware
EMG HZ4 Pickups
Floyd Rose Locking Tremelo
Neck Thru Construction
Bound Rosewood Fingerboard
Abalone Dot Inlay
24 Frets

15 years and to much to list......Brand New Guitar With Dean 5 Year Limited Warranty
Color Shown Above Is Trans Tiger Eye
Other Colors Available: Metallic Charcoal, Pearl Black
Arched Figured Maple Top
Mahogany Body
25-1/2? Scale Length
Grover Tuners
Black Hardware
EMG HZ4 Pickups
Floyd Rose Locking Tremelo
Neck Thru Construction
Bound Rosewood Fingerboard
Abalone Dot Inlay
24 Frets

Jackson Soloist style made in Korea in 2005. Features are: neck through, 24 fret,25 1/2 inch scale, mahogany body, rosewood board, jumbo frets, licensed Floyd Rose trem, Grover tuners,2 EMG-HZ humbuckers, controls are 3- way switch with volume & tone, charcoal grey metallic finish with black hardware. This one has the Jackson style headstock, but I've seen other variations on these. Bought from a Dean dealer on ebay. Great features for a soloist style with a Mahogany body with a trem esp since Jackson doesn't really make one exactly like this.

This is a metal monster. The Mahogany body really gives it a thicker sound than most Alder or Basswood guitars made in this style. It can get that Metallica or Pantera sound but it also cleans up well too. The EMG's are okay, but an upgrade of the pickups would greatly help the sound. With better PUs I'd give it a 10 for sure.

I bought it new and did the initail setup myself. Out of the box the string tension was a little loose (probably for shipping purposes). I had to fiddle with the claw to get the bridge to float evenly but this is expected with a floyd equiped guitar shipped from the factory. I'd say everything else was perfect. The frets were finish perfectly with no rough edges. The finish is flawless.

I don't really gig anymore but this guitar would stand up to that abuse pretty well. I'd always take a backup with a Floyd equiped guitar since changing strings on this take a while. The strap buttons, tuners, etc are all solid as a rock.

Never dealt with them.

I also own a Warmoth Strat, Heritage CM-150, Carvin CMT6, Custom Rhoads Polka Dot V, and an Ovation Acoustic. I bought this guitar to fill my need for a metal gunner and this certainly does that nicely. It feels just as solid as my older USA made guitars. I've been playing on and off for 15 years and I've owned about 20 guitars over that time. I looked at several Jacksons & Ibanez guitars in this price range but I liked the sound of the Mahogany body on this one much better. You'd be hard pressed to find a better value for the money on this type of guitar.

I love this guitar. Comes with a Liscenced Floyd Rose Bridge, EMG-HZ Humbuckers, Grover tuners, Mahogany body, Neck Thru, and 24 frets. Basically everything is great, except the Floyd Rose is a bit sketchy, but it'll hold up, especially with a tremsetter or if you just replace. The HZ's are average, they don't suck or anything but they aren't great either. Very smooth neck.

I play hard rock/older metal, and this guitar does get very good sounds for my style. Very full sound, and thru a good overdrive pedal this guitar can absolutely rock on leads too. Definitely sounds A+

The guitar was set up, well, perfect. Everything was fine except the bridge took a while to stabilize. The guitar plays like a dream, very little fret buzzing, and I haven't discovered any problems since.

Strap buttons are great, I was planning on putting on strap locks, but this buttons hold up very well and really secure the strap. The finish is very strong too, I've banged the head on many parts of my house and I can't even tell I've hit it anywhere. This guitar is really dependable.

Haven't had to deal with them.

This is definitely the best guitar I have ever played on. The fretboard feels so smooth, the neck is perfect, nothing wrong at all. I personally like this guitar more than 1,500 dollar guitars I can try out at Guitar Center. I plan on buying another Custom 450 for other tunings eventually too, I couldn't imagine myself ever needing to own a different guitar because this one couldn't do the job.

ok, you all know the drill about this guitar already, lovely pickups, lovely body, fat neck, floyd rose (bitch for first time re-stringers) genuinly a joy to play!

This is a great versitile guitar, i prefer iron maiden, metallica ect, but i have heard my cheeky dad playing his country on it and being fair it doesn't sound half bad! i have a standard marshall amp but run everything i play through a KORG AX1500g, with this pedal i can make ANY sound i like so no worries on that front

Ok, so far ive only praised, so now for the grumbles, i'm sorry to say it, i'm sure it's not all customs but this was set-up awfully, it may have been just my suplier but there was terrible fret buzz, the floyd rose needed adjusting and re-stringing, and took me a couple of hours and ###'s for the strings.

I really don't like to say this but there's still more, it's such a beautiful fretboard but mine had several runs of glue where the fret wire's had been placed, there was also a strange white powder from some of the frets, but a quick wipe with a damp cloth solved this.

But other than these little grumbles it's a stunning looking guitar (tiger eye top) and being honest these inperfections are un-noticable from a distantance.

Another down note i'm affraid, it's a beafutiful top but on the back panel of mine there's a scratch, nd wud u believe it ive barely had it 2 weeks! nd this isn't jus in the laquer, it's gone through that and taken away the paint nd left me a horrible silver mark bout the size of a 5p!! Nevermind, at least it's on the back hey! just be a bit gentle with these babies, they maybe tigers on the outside but kittens on the in.

Never dealt with them but i'm sure they're lovely people, but lets hope they check up on their quality control!

Ive played for 2 years nrly now, and i admit i'm not amazing, but hey, i have a disposable income and it's guitar's I buy! I own a Greg Bennet PRS green (imitation #360) (original #1300 - i'll stick with the replica ty very much!!!) and dare i say it's comprable to this dean! an antoria chrome resonator, for those good old country slide days, a Jim Deacon acoustic 12 string jus for the hell of having a 12 string! and my dad's old 1970's italian EKO. if anyone ever touched these guitars they'd have hell to pay....unless i got insurance where i would promptly get an epiphone double neck (Go Jimmy Go!) jus so you know, the guy that paid #560 was ripped off! hehe. all in all amazing guitar, buy it!

Great features for the money. Love the EMG pickups, thru-neck & Floyd Trem system... Didn't come with anything extra & would have liked to have had the allen key holder on the back of the neck (like the Jacksons)

Lovely smooth & biting sound. I record alot and the pickups are perfect for what I use it for. Rock/Fusion etc... Really cannot fault it here...

The finish was perfect but the action was not great when I bought it. I lowered this to my liking (low) and found there was a few fret problems. After grinding the problematic frets a small amount - all was well.

Solid and well crafted - have no problems in this area

N/A

I've been playing for over 20 years - I've had Jacksons & Ibanez guitars - this is my favorite so far. The only changes I'd make would be shark tooth inlays (personal like) & the addition of allen key holder at the back of the neck. Perhaps a better factory set-up would help too... Overall though - fantastic guitar for the money and sounds perfect...

2003 Dean model, tiger eye finish.
Great arch figured maple top!!!
Fretboard binding, abalone inlay.
I believe it has a Floyd Rose 580LP on it, which is a great FR. It never gets out of tone and I use it regularly.
I play metal and shred and I have bene thinking of buying a soloist or LTD M-1000 but this Dean has a far nicer finish. neck-thru like soloist. I see no reason not to compare this guitar to a SL1 or M-1000.
Absolutely a fantastic guitar!

I am not too fond of EMGHZ pickups, but they're ok though. With Dimarzios it will sound like any soloist I think!

Set up was good, I only made some bridge adjustments.

Excellent axe, I think I will play this guitar for a very long time. Strap buttons are good, great contstruction overall

N/A

I play metal and shred and I have bene thinking of buying a soloist or LTD M-1000 but this Dean has a far nicer finish. neck-thru like soloist. I see no reason not to compare this guitar to a SL1 or M-1000.
Absolutely a fantastic guitar!

Bought at my local guitar store for $600 in the tiger eyes finish it is a nice guitar. Floyd Rose locking trem. EMG HZ pickups, and grover tuners. This guitar came set up good and has a rosewood fretboard and neck thru mahogany body w/ maple top. Also a flat fret board.

This guitar Kills in my music style world. I play METALLICA and many other metal songs as well as my own. I use a Crate GFX212T combo amp and an ibanez smash box. It totally rips and sound like a kick in the face! Perfect if u wanna get a guitar like a KH-202. The pickups are loud but they don't have much noise . also the guitar is PREFECT for solos.

The guitar came set up good form the shop. The finish was good and everything. THe bridge had a stripped screw in the high E string saddle. So I had to get that fixed, But thats it. The floyd is a pain in the butt to fix but it pays to have.`

I would so use this as my main guitar over my epi/ Les Paul and SG. It's solid and comfortable.

The dean factory WAS GREAT for the fixing the saddle and it was fixed in 5 days over christmas a break.

I've played 4 two years and in a badn for one and I love guitars. This one is my favorite YET.