My Free 2009 Dean MLX Guitar

I love guitar stories, don’t you?

Chris the Contractor Gave me Two Free Guitars

Chris came over to finish tiling our kitchen. I asked: “Did you buy your daughter a guitar for high school?”

He said: “No, but I have two guitars for you in my garage.”

Twenty minutes later Chris walks up my front steps with two guitars: a black Dean MLX and a blue bass guitar (Deltatone). He hands me the two guitars.

Chris said: “They’re yours.”

So that’s how I became the owner of two very dusty, dirty guitars. We will talk about the Deltatone bass another day.

My 2009 Dean MLX Guitar

It’s serial number is O09022040.

I interpret this guitar’s serial number as being manufactured February, 20, 2009 in China.

So it’s 15 years and lived part of those days in a dusty garage.

The Condition of the Free Dean MLX

It was dirty and was missing the high E string. More importantly, the guitar input jack was missing and wires were dangling out of the guitar.

In the photograph, the Dean MLX looks decent. Trust me, it was filthy. I believe I took this photo after cleaning it.

In the bottom right hand corner of it you will find a black hole where there should be a guitar input.

What’s Great about the Dirty Dean MLX?

Smooth neck. I thought the neck was nice and wondered how it would feel playing it. Felt good in my hand.
Comfortable neck radius. I think the Dean MLX has a 12 inch radius, just my guess. It feels great in my left palm. I have average size hands and the “reach” of my fingers on the Dean MLX was good.
Good resonance. I could almost play the beat up Dean acoustically because of its good resonance.

I purchased a Pure Tone guitar output jack in hopes that I could repair the guitar myself. When I realized I needed to learn soldering wires to insert the guitar output jack I wisely gave up on that idea. Here’s the Pure Tone guitar output jack found on Amazon.

After a short while, I decided this guitar needed a professional setup. Not an amateur setup by me.

I took the guitar to Paul G. who is a local guitar technician in his spare time. He doesn’t call himself a luthier but he certainly does good work.

My Guitar Tech’s Review of the Dean MLX

My guitar tech (not a luthier, but darn good) first reaction to the Dean MLX.

Love the neck.

Dean MLX Repairs and Setup

This is what Paul the guitar tech did on my guitar.

Installed PureTone output for my guitar.
Found a new tip for my bridge switch.
Setup
- Cleaned and oiled the neck.
- New strings.
- Intonated the guitar.
- Adjusted pickup heights (don’t know why; sure it was for a good reason).

Without Playing, How does my 2009 Dean MLX feel in my Hands?

This may look similar to the “before” and dirty at the start of this blog post. But this picture shows a well-cared for Dean MLX.

Smooth neck. The neck is as smooth as ever.
Neck fits my hand. The neck fits perfectly in my average size hands. Very comfortable.
Resonant. I could play this guitar late at night acoustically and it would still sound OK.

First Time Playing my Free Dean MLX Guitar

Wow.

I have spent the past month (August-September, 2024) getting this 2009 guitar in good shape. And yet, I have never heard it play. Today is the day.

I have listened to several videos of it being demonstrated and the best one was here. This is the Dean channel (his name is Dean) doing a Dean ML X Review. Go to his section marked Clean. He makes the guitar sound wonderful from that point onward.

I know this is a double humbucker guitar so it may have similarity to a Les Paul. We shall see. It sounds better than my Epiphone Les Paul Special II.

Grover Tuners on my Dean MLX

They are incredibly smooth. The smoothest, easiest moving tuners I have ever had. I hope they lock and hold. Time will tell on that assessment.

Pure Tone Guitar Jack is Tight in a Good Way

I had to learn that my Pure Tone jack has two snaps. You push your guitar cord into the jack. You need to push harder so it clicks a second time. Then you’re ready to go.

Dean MLX Neck as Smooth as Ever

It’s neck was smooth when it was a dusty, neglected guitar. The neck is smoother than ever and the fret board is polished.

The Dean MLX Fret Spacing Allows me to do Power Chords Easier than Usual

Is it a smaller fretboard by a little bit? All I know is that I can more easily shape power cords. That’s a good thing.

Dean MLX Played with a Peavey Vypyr VIP-1 Amp

Even though I own a Fender Mustang LT25 (almost new) and an Orange Crush 12, I am using my 11 year old Peavey amp more and more.

I began my Dean MLX first playing with the Peavey Vypyr VIP-1 set to Buddha amp with bypass of effects.

Red. – Harsh, but metallic. If I loved metal music I would love it.
Green. – Very rich. I HAVE NEVER HEARD THIS SOUND BEFORE ON ANY GUITAR FROM ANY OF MY AMPS. WOW.
- My Cream lick or riff sounds so good it actually sounds like Cream, for a few moments (at least in my imagination).
Orange. – Rough, but not harsh. It’s a little edgy but deep. I prefer it.

Three Dials on the Dean MLX – Confused

I am a bit confused on their purpose. But I will figure out the 3 dials later.

Yikes, is my Dean MLX better sounding than my Epiphone Les Paul Special II ?

I tested both guitars with my “blues” settings on my Peavey Vypyr VIP-1 on British amp, Bypass, and orange color for crunch.

So far, the Dean MLX sounds significantly better than my Epiphone Les Paul Special II. Am I imagining it? Time will tell.

Dean Zelinsky’s Dean MLX Guitar History

Dean Zelinsky is the creator of the Dean ML and the Dean MLX guitar. The Dean MLX or at least the ML part of it is named after a friend of Mr. Zelinsky who passed away at an early age from cancer. It’s really a tribute from Dean Zelinsky to a childhood friend. Dean Zelinsky designed/manufactured the Dean ML when he was 20 years old in 1977. Impressive.

Here’s Wikipedia:

Dean Zelinsky created the ML in 1977, striving for improved sustain and tone. Higher string angles and string length, due to the size of the headstock, contribute to the overall resonance. Dean has made the ML available to other manufacturers^[which?] by licensing arrangement.

The ML was named posthumously for the initials of Zelinsky’s friend Matthew Lynn, who had died of cancer.^[1]
Wikipedia

My Guitar Technician Knows Dean Zelinsky personally

That’s pretty cool. My guitar guy Paul texted me a photo of Dean Zelinsky and him. But I think that’s a bit private so I won’t publish the photo.

But it’s pretty cool that my guitar tech actually knows Dean Zelinsky. And Dean Zelinsky designed my MLX guitar.

Finally, it’s pretty amazing that the contractor for my house gives me a guitar that has a great story to it and sounds just as good as its story.

Dean MLX Sound Demo

Yes, one day I will do a sound demo of my Dean MLX. I’m very fond of it.

But for this moment, no sound demo.

Thanks for Visiting Shoshin Guitarist Today

It’s obviously fun acquiring guitars and amps that you can play.

But its even more fun meeting people who live in the guitar culture, young and old, from everywhere.

Keep a “beginner’s mind” as you approach learning and hopefully mastering playing guitar.