A Tonic For Ailing Budgets

A Tonic For Ailing Budgets

Dean Musical Instruments began in the late ‘70’s as an upscale guitar company capable of building solidbody electrics that were arguably better than the best of the big builders. With Gibson-based designs taken a couple of notches further out, his own distinctive reverse “V” headstock, and, of course, the legendary Dean girls, Dean Zelinsky carved a niche in the market. Unfortunately, the company went belly-up, but after some time in legal limbo, Dean has reemerged as a solid budget-based guitar company. The Tonic is indicative of their new (and extremely successful) design philosophy: to offer an affordable instrument with enough unique features to avoid “cookie cutter” comparisons with established instruments.

One thing that sets this new Dean apart from other instruments is its Deco design, coming straight out of the Bahaus and into your house (apologies to Thom Wolfe). had Fred Astaire played electric guitar, he would have been extremely comfortable wielding this axe, echoing as it does his own whippet-thin body. Perhaps he would have used it to accompany himself as he serenaded Ginger Rogers at cocktail hour.

Ingredients for a Fine Tonic
Dean uses some honorable ingredients to concoct this cute little strummer. The bolt-on neck is cut from quality maple and finished in a clear matte texture for an immediately user-friendly surface. The rosewood fretboard is nicely grained and finished to a near-gloss surface. The plastic nut is properly grooved, and the jumbo frets are nicely finished and buffed to a mirror shine. The body is solid mahogany, not a multiple-ply like many budget guitar bodies.

The slab body shape is outlined with a beveled lip, creating a flat surface that curves inwards for the control area, not unlike a large sculpted pickguard. This sculpting is echoed at the headstock and on the guitar’s back, and the resulting uppermost plane is finished in one of the Tonic’s distinctive colors to contrast with the gloss black sides. The result is a no-nonsense, workmanlike vibe similar to that of Danelectro or DeArmond guitars, and reminiscent of the import instruments of the ‘60’s.

The Tonic’s cool-looking black hardware is a batch of quality parts. Grover machines handle the tuning chores, while string height and intonation are adjusted via a solid tune-o-matic bridge. The pickups are Dean’s own Mini Silver Rails - a humbucker pickup designed to fit into a single-coil silhouette. The pickup selector switch is a five-position affair similar to Fender’s venerable toggle, and it offers some cool pickup combinations. A look inside the electronics cavity revealed clean construction using standard import components. Give Dean some extra points for using shielding paint inside the cavity to reduce excess hum.

The Tonic Tone
With a 25-1/2” scale length, the Tonic begins with a voice comparable to Fender’s signature snap. The mahogany body, string-through routing, and Gibsonesque bridge add a darker note to the Tonic’s flavor. But what really gives the Tonic a voice all its own are those cool Mini Silver Rail pickups. They pack the punch of a humbucker into a narrower “window” of string-sensing, creating a sound that wallops in the upper midrange, as opposed to a ‘bucker’s lower midrange girth.

The five-position selector switch adds some slick twists to the tone, too. >From the neck position, the five settings are: the neck pickup in humbucker mode; the neck pickup in single-coil mode; both pickups in single-coil mode; the bridge pickup in single-coil mode; and the bridge pickup in humbucker mode. Either of the humbucker modes creates a thick, beefy sound that can push most “clean” amp settings into worried overdrive, while the single-coil modes offer a variety of edgy and aggressive tones that work great for funk-rock collisions a la Red Hot Chili Peppers.

More Tasty Tonics
The Tonic D is available in the creme/black finish we reviewed as well as copper/black, gold/black and creme/red. Be sure to check out the Tonic S model, which features a Telecaster-like silhouette and a full humbucker-sized bridge pickup, and the Tonic F, decked out in a flamed maple top. At its extremely affordable price point, the Tonic should satisfy your thirst for a versatile and eye-catching axe without breaking your bank account.

List price $369 (flame maple to, $459).

Guitar One Magazine
June 2001

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