BTMN

ML is the name Dean Zelinsky gave to his half Explorer half Flying V that he did at the start of his company Dean Guitars in 1977. Story goes he named it after a friend Matt Lawrence who passed away when they were kids. Here is a 2004 example. Dimebag Darrell was synonymous with the guitar. He won a new 1978 ML when he was 13 in a Dallas guitar playing contest and it was with him his whole life after that.

Dime also has other ML variants from that time period with a reverse headstocks. BC Rich made him one and Charvel IIRC.

No need to apologize to me I hated that headstock from 1978 until 2003 when I bought my first Dean V. After I played it a few times I realized it wasn't as big as it seemed. Plus I found out there are at least 3 sizes of the V headstock from Dean.

We need some cheap guitar pron!

If nothing else it is a cool lil import that with a bit of tweaking could be a Wolf in Sheep's clothing. A test bed for some Gravelin pickups too.

Saw them at the Ohio State Fair when I was a kid and remember thinking why aren't these guys a hard rock band? The strat and the Orange amps were cranking. Of Course I was 13 and what did I know?

I was also thinking it might be a lil older than that. I was told in 2004 at an HFC open house that the numbers do not mean anything in dating them.

It is finishing up a visit to NYC with Geoff Hartwell and will be visiting Diablo175. It is headed South and Va. maybe a good place to go. BP I have not forgotten you.

Welcome! I have more experiance with the import models just before the XT versions. My stand is that the Korean line of Hamer imports for the most part are great bang for the bucks spent. Play it and switch pickups rotate all the pots and get a good feel of that one. If it feels good and the money feels right grab it up. Comparable guitars are the Korean made Deans.

Rest well friend! Thanks for sharing the humor.

Yummy! That is a great looking machine!

Maybe made by you but that was one of my shots of Rick from Jannus Landing here in St. Pete maybe '98 or 2000. Big Happy Happys Poe!!!

Missed the most recent visit to Clearwater but I have tried to see Alice and the band every time they have been to Tampa Bay since 2000. It took me 4 years to see him the first time in '78 in Minneapolis. I had been a fan since School's Out was first released. One of my all time favorite concert moments EVER was Davey Johnston from Elton John's band was on tour with Alice and started to play the riffs to Saturday Nights Allright For Fighting during his solo and Alice yelled IMMEDIATELY, "NOT IN MY SHOW ya don't!" LOVE his current band!

You can order a custom shop guitar and a Shrimpfork MIGHT be an option. They have built guitars with that headstock. They were "Baby" Deans though and not a full sized guitar. Full scale but smaller body size. Thought I had a headshot but alas I do not.