DBZ Guitars anyone?

[Apex]

Has anybody here heard of 'DBZ Guitars'?

[patchz]

I've never had the opportunity to play a Dean, but they have a good rep. I'll take the Imperial FM Cherry Burst, thank you. That is a beautiful instrument. Which one did you get and how does it play and sound?

[ShaneG_old]

I've known Dean guitars for quite a while, but DBZ are new to me.

I'm sitting here looking at their site, and drooling onto my keyboard a lot.

I think I'd like to have a Bird of Prey, or a Venom

[Pablo]

I must admit, my collection of Guitars, etc, are taking a back-seat at the moment, in preference to my Hammond B3 drawbar Organ, and my various Keyboard Synthesizers, Workstations, etc...

[Apex]

If DBZ is new to you, then I'm glad I brought this up.  Yep, ya tend to drool a lot looking at their site, and even more when you got one sitting here in front of ya.

DBZ Guitars is headed up by guy who founded Dean Guitars [I don't think he's with Dean anymore], but it's not exactly a Dean.

I got a DBZ Barchetta ST.  Available in white, purple, or black.  I got it in white.  All around a great guitar, almost the best guitar I've ever had out of maybe 2 dozen over 45 years. 

It's got a coil tap so it can play single or double.  Very good tone through my Fender 900 solid state. 

On this model the bridge is set closer than 'standard' to the bottom, so you get a short neck feel and it's easy to reach the lower positions without having to stretch.  Comfy to sit with, fairly lightweight with a set-in mahogany neck and mahogany body.

Craftsmanship is top quality, no slop anywhere.  Fretboard is dark-stained rosewood. 

I swapped out the original tuners with lighter weight gold Schallers with ebony keys [those original Grovers there are very heavy), looks better that way too, set the action slightly lower, neck is very fast now.  Fretboard radius is about 12", so you get a nice, flat feel. 

Really good for jazz, but anything else also, I'd say.  I haven't tried any Sabbath on it yet, I'll get around to that eventually.

The entire DBZ line is pretty awesome. 

[patchz]

I just checked the online pricing at Best Buy. The Imperial FM Cherry Burst is $749, quite a bit lower than I expected. If pictures do it justice, and it plays and sounds as good as it looks, that price is very reasonable. I paid more than that for my American Standard Telecaster in '93.

[Apex]

Caveat emptor.

J&R Electronics has DBZ a lot cheaper, with a 30 day return on them.

[patchz]

[quote]Caveat emptor.

J&R Electronics has DBZ a lot cheaper, with a 30 day return on them.

[Apex]

It's always best to try before you buy, but with this particular guitar I had no choice as it's not available at my usual local stores, and it was the only guitar that fit my criteria.

I would never buy without being able to return.  J&R's clearly stated return policy made the purchase possible.  And at only $350, it really was a bargain, considering the very high quality of workmanship. 

I work on my guitars anyway, setting up the neck and changing out some hardware sometimes, so it was a low risk for me, and the DBZ websites super close up picts helped a lot too.