So there are a few approaches you can take. This requires an in-depth understanding of the guitar’s hardware and specs, as well as typical Dean guitar manufacturing practices during each year. In order to figure out the production year of Tropical Music US Dean guitars or pre-2008 imported Dean guitars, you will need to look at all of the guitars features and elements.

How to Date Dean Guitars with Useless Serial Numbers They just tell you which batch that guitar is from while the country of origin is usually (sometimes) written underneath. If your guitar was made before 2008, the serial number is essentially useless. The letters will tell you where the guitar was made, and the first four digits will tell you the year and month. If the guitar was made in 2008 or later, the serial number for Asian made Dean guitars will be a bit longer, and will also include one or two letters. Now lets talk about Dean’s more affordable line of models that are manufactured outside of the US. Don’t panic, there are other ways to determine the age and manufacturing location of your instrument which we will cover later in the article.

If you find the serial number for your Dean guitar on the last fret instead of the headstock, you can tell that it was made anywhere from 1986 to 1996, however that is just about all the information you will get out of the serial number. During this time Dean guitars was bought by Tropical Music, who for whatever reason decided they were too good for logical serial numbers. The exception is that this logic does not apply to any guitars made in the U.S from 1986 to 1996. The exact origin of these guitars is not marked anywhere on the instrument, however you can be sure that if you see a seven digit serial number on the back of a Dean guitar, it was produced in United States. The first two numbers in the sequence will tell you the year in which your guitar was produced, while the following numbers represent the serial number of the instrument itself. Every Dean guitar made in United States comes with a seven digit serial number that is printed on the back of the headstock. How to Spot American Made Dean Guitarsĭetermining the origin and value of American made Dean guitars is actually quite easy.

Naturally, the latter come with a more expensive price tag. You have the more affordable models which are typically made somewhere in Asia, and then you have higher quality and vintage Dean guitars which are (mostly) made in United States. Now, similar to most other guitar manufacturers, Dean has two categories of guitars that they offer.

Dean guitar serial number checker