I realize I'm just now reviewing a guitar that I've owned for a couple of years, but I feel like by having used it for two years, I'm better prepared to give my thoughts. I was totally unaware that Dean Zelinsky was building custom guitars under his own name until I read a review of one of his Dellatera models in (I think) Vintage Guitar magazine back in 2022. What I read in the review was very intriguing, so I went online to check out what he had going. I posted a question to them from the website, asking if they could make me a quilted top Dellatera in a sunburst finish. I got a quick response, from Dean himself, as I recall, and within a few e-mail exchanges, I had my guitar on order, configured just as I wanted it. In roughly four or five weeks I had my new Dellatera. It was a gorgeous thing, beautiful quilt, amazing engraved hardware, and a cool pearloid pickguard, exactly as I had ordered. While I always loved the tone of Tele-type instruments, I was never comfortable playing the damned things, as they have that flat top and no contours. But this was something different. The instrument was contoured perfectly to my body and felt totally unlike playing a Tele. I was amazed by the variety of tones I could achieve with relatively few controls. I began to understand why the reviewer had gushed with praise over this instrument. I decided to string this up in Keith Richards style (5-string, open G tuning), as he is one of my guitar heroes, just to see how it played. To this very day that's how I use this guitar. I've got to believe that Keith himself would love this guitar if he ever picked it up! It sounds wonderful, whether in single-coil or humbucker mode. These are really, really good pickups. I had never tried the Z-Glide neck and wasn't sure if I'd like it, but after a few days, it grew on me to the point that I felt lost without it (when I'd pick up another guitar). The woodworking and hand work have produced an elegant work of art. The finishing is perfect. I can't even guess how many hours went into producing this. Because of how much I love this guitar I have since ordered a custom LaVoce and a custom Tagliare, both with all the bells and whistles. Dean and his team are due a lot of kudos for what they are producing out of their facility a little north of Chicago. These aren't just great playing instruments, I consider them works of art.
