Another distinguishing Blaze feature was the offset fretboard position markers that swoop diagonally along the length of the neck. Along with other trendsetting standards of the time-low-action necks and Floyd Rose tremolos- Blaze designed this guitar to have two humbuckers, one at the bridge and the other in the middle position rather than the neck position, which is more typical of a two-humbucker design. Blaze gave the guitar to Abbott and the rest is history: Abbott took that guitar into the annals of rock with his groundbreaking metal band Pantera.īlaze went on to design a guitar for Kramer named the NightSwan in the ‘80s that featured a Strat-influenced body. He acquired a used Dean ML that had once belonged to Darrell “Dimebag” Abbott and made quite a few alterations to the instrument, including sculpting a V-shaped neck profile, adding hotter pickups, a Floyd Rose tremolo and a snazzy graphic paintjob.
![dean korean guitar dean korean guitar](https://cdn.fanaticguitars.com/dean/210000007563/dean-flygin-v-sunburst-korea-e807419-b-stock-10-1.jpg)
Among the greatest admirers of this guitar was a luthier from Arlington, TX named Buddy Blaze. The forward half of the body is the Explorer and the rear half is a V. Aiming to produce a more original design, Dean combined the shape of the two guitars-half V and half Explorer-and named the new guitar the ML (after Matt Lynn, a friend of Zelinsky who passed away from cancer). Dean Guitars began producing instruments over thirty years ago in Chicago, IL under the supervision of owner Dean Zelinsky, and was founded on the idea of modernizing the classic designs like the Flying V and Explorer guitars.