Dean Soltero

Dean Soltero

New Axe! Hell Yeah! Dean Soltero!

Just like most things worth gettin’ I seem to find them when I’m NOT looking. Case in point: The Dean Soltero. I’ve wanted one forever it seems like but just never found a deal on one. I’ve been watching craigslist for one to pop up for 3 or 4 years now. When I go to c-l, I have my standard search terms I use every time I’m on that site and Soltero is one of them. Finally hit a good one for a great price. And I spotted it the same day the ad came out. Awesome! So I bought it without trying it first because I just knew I was going to love it. And I was right! I dig everything about it.

The first thing that I noticed was the neck shape. They call it a v shape I think which sounds like it would be uncomfortable, but it’s not. In fact when I first grabbed the neck the “v” shape is obvious and it took a few to get used to the feel, but I’ll tell you once you get used to it it’s sweet. It sort of forces your hand into a position that, in my opinion, gives you better control. I’m actually liking the neck shape better than my Gibson which is a 50’s fat profile.

The finish is a flawless deep deep black with the maple cap exposed in it’s natural color where the body binding would be on a Gibson. It looks incredible. especially where the “cleavage” crosses over itself. It just looks cool and sets it apart from most other single cuts out there.

The neck is bound and comes with satin Grovers. Medium jumbo frets are slick as can be with no fret buzz and bends don’t fret out. This thing has massive amounts of sustain that I figure comes from the solid mahogany body, thick maple cap, and Deans own solid tailpiece that anchors tight to the body. It just feels solid in every way possible. I’m not sure which Dean pickups it has but the neck reads 7.4k  and the bridge hit the meter at 13.4k. I think they may be ceramic but possibly alnico5. They’re hot for sure but they aren’t over the top and do clean up when you roll the volume back. They never get super clean, but I never play anything super clean anyway. The pups are coil tapped through push/pull tone pots that are smooth as silk and no pops or scritches. But I only checked them for noise and haven’t really played anything through them yet so I won’t comment on the s-c tone just yet. What I will say is that this is my new #1. Wow, never thought I’d say that. Don’t get  me wrong, I still love my Gibson, but this Soltero just blows me away. I can see why Leslie West plays one (he has a signature model Soltero with a single “Mountain of Tone” pickup). So me and ol’ Leslie, wow! I guess that makes us “brothers” huh?

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