When Dean Zelinsky was 12 years old, his father died in a plane crash while piloting his own twin-engine plane.
23 Facts About Dean Zelinsky
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Dean Zelinsky's widow raised three boys, Dean, Glenn, and Roger in the wake of this tragedy.
3.
Dean Zelinsky's guitars have been played by various artists: Dimebag Darrell, Michael Schenker, Helloween, Kansas, Leslie West, Glenn Dean Zelinsky, The Cars, Heart, The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Starship, Dave Mason, Triumph, Iron Maiden, Sammy Hagar, Def Leppard, Nils Lofgren, Larry Crane, ZZ Top and Karl Sanders of Nile.
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Dean Zelinsky created the spinning fur guitars for the "Legs" video from ZZ Top.
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Dean Zelinsky currently owns and operates Dean Zelinsky Private Label Brand Guitars under the corporate name The Real Dean LLC.
6.
Dean Zelinsky began playing electric guitar and learned what he liked and what he did not like.
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Dean Zelinsky took one such tour to learn what machinery one would need in order to accomplish setting up a production run of their own designs.
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Dean Zelinsky set up his first manufacturing shops in the Chicago area, with all work being closely supervised personally by him on a daily basis.
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Dean Zelinsky created his own ads that caused a wave of controversy.
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Guitar ads for Dean Zelinsky's company were featuring bikini-clad models wearing guitars.
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When Dean Zelinsky was warned by the trade show officials at one show that he had better tone it down in order to help keep the aisles clear, he knew he was on to something.
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Kerry Livgren of the rock band Kansas, proclaimed at one time that Dean Zelinsky was the first guitar maker to achieve Rock Star status.
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Dean Zelinsky was determined to keep production in the USA in order to maintain quality; at least until he could assure that the quality was as good as he knew he could deliver.
14.
In February 2000 Dean Zelinsky returned to Dean Guitars on a consultant basis primarily to oversee Marketing, USA production and Artist Relations.
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In May 2008, Dean Zelinsky left the company over a contract dispute.
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Dean Zelinsky remained CEO until he left, to form yet another company - Dean Zelinsky Private Label.
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Dean Zelinsky had been designing custom entertainment centers and high-end furniture under the business name of Dean Zelinsky Barrett for clientele that ranged from CEO's on Chicago's North Shore, to superstars like Michael Jordan from the Chicago Bulls.
18.
Dean Zelinsky was lured back into the music industry, taking on the challenge of helping to re-build the brand he started nearly two decades earlier when the offer came.
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Dean Zelinsky built up the business with his team of Internet professionals.
20.
Dean Zelinsky did some mentoring, which was the case when he spent some time at an in-store event in Dallas, TX with a young guitar player that appeared asking for his autograph.
21.
Darrell Abbott from Arlington, TX had won a Dean ML Guitar when he was a teenager, but the chance encounter between Dimebag and Dean Zelinsky would forge a lifelong friendship that started back in the 80's and picked up in 2004 when Dean signed Dimebag to an endorsement deal.
22.
Dean Zelinsky was supposed to meet up with Darrell in December 2004 to unveil the guitar they worked on together but unfortunately, their plans were cut short on December 8,2004 minutes after Dime took to the stage at the Alrosa Villa club in Columbus, OH when a crazed fan shot him.
23.
Dean Zelinsky has written extensively about his sense of loss based on the events surrounding Dime's passing.