1.27.2009 - Why Dave went for Dean Guitars?

Hi Scorpion,

I was just wondering why Dave went for Dean guitars and left his beloved Jackson King Vs. The King Vs were the real metal guitars at that time when he first started and they sounded, looked and played awesomely great! Was it a matter of finances, contracts etc...or was it his own choice? If so, why?

Thanks
Keshav

Hi Keshav,

Dave originally left Jackson for ESP Guitars, before switching to his current Deans. Here's an interview from the time discussing why he left Jackson (August 2003 Guitar Word), followed by a press statement from Megadeth.com discussing his departure from ESP.

"Jackson came up for sale a couple times and I wanted to buy it, and then each time the sale was pulled. And then they tried to sell it a third time-I was contacted again by somebody within the company who said they wanted me to buy it, because we'd been friends for such a long time. And while we were positioning ourselves to buy the company, they sold it to Fender, which I thought was a bit disrespectful, knowing that I'm the No. 1 endorser they had. But I let it go.

I contacted Hamer, Gibson and ESP. Hamer is a really small company, so they were going to have a hard time keeping up with what I want for my endorsement, let alone answering the sales orders that people put in because of the guitars I endorse. I talked to Gibson, and they were excited, but they could not configure the guitar to be a 24-fret guitar, so I was kinda handcuffed there.

So I talked to Marsh Gooch, Matt Masciandaro, and Jose Ferro at ESP. They said, 'We have a V, but we discontinued it because no one's endorsing it.' I went into their warehouse and I picked up one of their flying V's - it was called a V350 at the time - and I went, 'Fuck this thing's awesome' and I said, 'Yeah, I'm willing to play this guitar, if you're willing to make a couple of changes on it to make it even better.' So we made some changes with the body, the headstock, some of the inlay stuff, and the knobs and electronic configuration.

They only had 2 knobs, and I wanted to have the separate volume knobs, a tone knob, and a three way position pickup selector. And I wanted to make sure my fingers could reach the volume knobs with my palm on the bridge. Everything is the same as the Jackson Y2KV was - it's the ebony fretboard, 24 frets with the small fret wire, and it's got the basic dot inlay, except that the first fret's got an 8Ball, because the guitar's called the DV8. The pickups are Seymour Duncan's, the Jeff Beck humbucker in the bridge, and the Jazz in the neck. They got it sent back out from their builders last week, and I picked it up two days ago in their office. I was like, 'Fuck this thing's awesome!' I told them, 'If there was any doubt from anybody of why I went to ESP, just hold one of these fuckers.'"

Megadeth.com Press Statement:
12/6/2006

"After two successful years, I have decided to leave ESP guitars. This was a business decision and had nothing to do with the guitars or the manufacturing of the guitars, and I wish the staff of ESP, both in the USA and in Japan and Korea the very best of health and prosperity.
Meanwhile, I am taking my Classic Metal V known formerly as a Jackson King V1 or an ESP DV8, and my new guitar design presently known as an Axxion, which was the recipient of the Gold Award from Guitar World Magazine for 2005 for new guitar designs with me.
I will also be re-introducing through my new endorsement many special models, including re-issues of my old models from over the span of my career, as well as some retro V shapes, similar to the formerly known Jackson Y2KV or a Gibson Flying V."

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