BluesPlayer76
Member
Hey guys -
When I got my first 7 string, I was following Rusty Cooley closely. I could in no way afford his wildly painted top of the line $2900 Dean (or whatever price it was) made in USA guitar so I got the bottom end unit - the RC7X.
I had reservations about it - it was made in Indonesia I think. Then there was video footage of Rusty the man giving the specs on it - including Jumbo Frets. Then I got onto some forums - maybe this one, and the gear page, and Dean's rep for quality was in the litter box, they were livving off of the Dimebag legacy, and varying reports of the frets being Jumbo or not for RC7X buyers.
STILL I considered Rusty a perfectionist and the guitar had EMG pickups (with the trademark slant on the bridge PU) , a Floyd trem, and that HUGE cutaway that allows top access.
Even the delivery gal said to me "You got your wings!" as the box had Dean's logo on it.
1) The frets were NOT jumbo
2) The Floyd (Patented) trem was the worst I've ever experienced. I held a jam party at my house, and I was playing away with old friends, I grabbed the bar, used it, let it go and I felt something fall on my feet. It was the bar! I've owned Floyd, Kahlers (wouldn't stay in tune) and Ibanez trems and this won #1 spot on the worst.
I live in the SF bay area of Cali. I took it to the local yokel repair guys who gave me alternatives - "order a new bar", "use plumbers tape", etc. The bottom line is none of those worked.
I gave up - it looks cool on my wall though
- see pic
I ended up later spending $2k on a JEM 7V7. Beautiful guitar, plays like a dream. (it's the white gtr that cut off in the pic)
I've never bought another Dean. And apparently neither does Rusty as he's gone to Ormsby, a much higher priced guitar. (Just checked the sight - AUD to US: AUD 2,495.00 = USD 1,712.47). I clicked the "SHOP RC" link on the Ormsby site and it goes to a new page saying "We can't find products matching the selection."
That is my saga on the RC7X. I should say I liked the tone and I'm tempted to pick it up and play it again. I also know a top notch tech guy who worked on my Vai Pia - but not sure this will be the next guitar I take to him.
EPILOGUE
During the pandemic I started watching videos by Fluff - guitarist from Dragged Under - and he doesn't use Dean and he doesn't use Tremolo bars but he demo'd one and I watched. In the live comments I posted an abridged version of the story above. Evan Rubinson - the new CEO of Dean, I learned, was there and replied to my post (I paraphrase) : "Sorry for your experience, I'm turning things around for Dean, and if you like the guitar Fluff is playing, I'll give you a deal on it".
Well, that was nice of him. I wan't rude or anything. So I found him on Twitter - approached him about the deal he offered me and that was it. He never followed up - or pass me to an assistant. The ONE time I was goind to give Dean a 2nd chance and it looked like ER made the offer in a public forum to impress everybody and didn't really care.
When I got my first 7 string, I was following Rusty Cooley closely. I could in no way afford his wildly painted top of the line $2900 Dean (or whatever price it was) made in USA guitar so I got the bottom end unit - the RC7X.
I had reservations about it - it was made in Indonesia I think. Then there was video footage of Rusty the man giving the specs on it - including Jumbo Frets. Then I got onto some forums - maybe this one, and the gear page, and Dean's rep for quality was in the litter box, they were livving off of the Dimebag legacy, and varying reports of the frets being Jumbo or not for RC7X buyers.
STILL I considered Rusty a perfectionist and the guitar had EMG pickups (with the trademark slant on the bridge PU) , a Floyd trem, and that HUGE cutaway that allows top access.
Even the delivery gal said to me "You got your wings!" as the box had Dean's logo on it.
1) The frets were NOT jumbo
2) The Floyd (Patented) trem was the worst I've ever experienced. I held a jam party at my house, and I was playing away with old friends, I grabbed the bar, used it, let it go and I felt something fall on my feet. It was the bar! I've owned Floyd, Kahlers (wouldn't stay in tune) and Ibanez trems and this won #1 spot on the worst.
I live in the SF bay area of Cali. I took it to the local yokel repair guys who gave me alternatives - "order a new bar", "use plumbers tape", etc. The bottom line is none of those worked.
I gave up - it looks cool on my wall though
- see picI ended up later spending $2k on a JEM 7V7. Beautiful guitar, plays like a dream. (it's the white gtr that cut off in the pic)
I've never bought another Dean. And apparently neither does Rusty as he's gone to Ormsby, a much higher priced guitar. (Just checked the sight - AUD to US: AUD 2,495.00 = USD 1,712.47). I clicked the "SHOP RC" link on the Ormsby site and it goes to a new page saying "We can't find products matching the selection."
That is my saga on the RC7X. I should say I liked the tone and I'm tempted to pick it up and play it again. I also know a top notch tech guy who worked on my Vai Pia - but not sure this will be the next guitar I take to him.
EPILOGUE
During the pandemic I started watching videos by Fluff - guitarist from Dragged Under - and he doesn't use Dean and he doesn't use Tremolo bars but he demo'd one and I watched. In the live comments I posted an abridged version of the story above. Evan Rubinson - the new CEO of Dean, I learned, was there and replied to my post (I paraphrase) : "Sorry for your experience, I'm turning things around for Dean, and if you like the guitar Fluff is playing, I'll give you a deal on it".
Well, that was nice of him. I wan't rude or anything. So I found him on Twitter - approached him about the deal he offered me and that was it. He never followed up - or pass me to an assistant. The ONE time I was goind to give Dean a 2nd chance and it looked like ER made the offer in a public forum to impress everybody and didn't really care.
