Dean Cadillac - What to look for.

[zeegler]

My friend has decided he wants one. I told him to look for an older US made one, but he doesn't want to spend too much on it. I think I heard somewhere that the 90's imports were from the Czech republic, and the new ones are Korean.

So, what should he be looking for? Which ones are good?

[Crankdaddy]

Re: Dean Cadillac - What to look for.

The newer Cadillac Selects are Korean...and they're damn fine guitars for the money (300-400 range). They play amazingly well and quality is very good.

Any "made in Czech" Deans are smokin' guitars, so if you can find one, pounce on it(450-600 range). They don't show up as much on ebay, though. I never played one, but supposedly the quality's as good as USA made.

As for older USA, he might be able to score an older E'Lite (Caddy without the archtop) for 500-600, maybe a little more. Those are great. I had one...a huge chunk of mahogany that absolutely killed.

Keep checking the Dean forum. They have a decent classifieds there, and occasionally something good pops up.

[Rupe]

Re: Dean Cadillac - What to look for.

I had one in the early 80's that had a flat top with an arm contour, looked like a black LP Custom, but it had Cadillac tags, not elite. It was a cutome order w/2 HB's instead of the standard 3 and had the shrimpfork headstock instead of the large V. Maybe it was was an oddball...awesome guitar though, I wish I still ahd it.

[Firebird V]

Re: Dean Cadillac - What to look for.

IF he can find one that was "handcrafted in Czech" they are very very comparable to the USA models. They are known by Dean fans as Euro Caddy's. I owned an all Korina Euro Z and that even sported ablone inlays and Headstock logo + Ebony fretboard. Awesome guitar. They hold value very well. I bought it and sold it many years later for the same price... The pickups in them were re badged Duncan Pearly Gates I have heard. The Korean ones are very nice too but the Euro made ones have the nice touches as mentioned above.