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Dean Guitars Vendetta XM
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Dean Guitars Vendetta XM

STC-Shaped Guitar from Dean Guitars belonging to the Vendetta series

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MGR/Steve Cox MGR/Steve Cox

« Dean Vendetta XM »

Published on 03/24/10 at 16:00
This guitar is the lightest weight solid body electric I have ever played, (since 1966). It is a nice matte natural finish on the body and the neck - the exception being the headstock which is glossy black with the Dean wings logo inlayed under the clear coat.

I play blues/rock/country and everything else that has melody. Not a big hip/hop fan.

I bought this at Guitar Center for $55.00 on New Years Eve 2008. They said it was breaking the .010 E string, but it hasn't done that as long as I have owned it.

<a href="https://www.guitarcenter.com
">https://www.guitarcenter.com
</a>

It hangs well on your body, weighs almost nothing and is highly playable. I like the rich medium mahogany stain on the body and the satin finish on the the whole guitar. The sound through a 'dry' amp is very good considering it has the low ball pickups and other electrical components. I do most of my testing of guitars with a dry signal because if it doesn't sound good naturally it will be worse with distortion and effects added. The pickups provided a very good level of equality in signal strength for each string, unlike some that have a bias for one or more strings over the others. It doesn't feel like an inexpensive guitar and it plays a lot better than the price indicates. This thing even sounds good unplugged - due to the Paulowina body and maple neck it doesn't absorb the sound of the strings like heavier woods and the maple neck gives it that ability to sound clean and clear. This would be a good starting point as a test bed for experimentation without having to trash a vintage instrument.

I wish they would have spent a little more money on the pots/switch/wiring and pickups. The stock setup is adequate for everyday use, but it would be better if they were higher quality. The body gives a good level of sustain, but I would have preferred the neck to be either a set neck type or a neck through design. The bridge and tuners could also be upgraded as they are of marginal quality, but sufficient for the job.

The body and neck joint are well fitted with no gaps or looseness. Except for the lower quality hardware this is well built, but the guitar is very playable even with the inexpensive components. Action and setup are great, the bending of strings in the upper register is quite easy to do. It is a good practice guitar, and if need be could be pressed into service if your main guitar suffers some horrible event.

Good for an entry-level guitar. It won't limit the younger players like others in this price range, sounds good and looks unusually well made for the money.

I am glad I got mine for $55.00, but I would not have found $100.00 too much for this guitar. For what it is, (an inexpensive but capable instrument), I will give this a 5. I've played a lot more expensive guitars that were not as good as this one, and some that were actually worse.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com