We are excited to have Dean Zelinsky on the show. While still in his teens, Dean founded his first guitar company, Dean Guitars, starting it from scratch. He talks to us about how a couple of trips to the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan inspired his dream. After setting up his first factory in Evanston, Illinois, Dean went on to build iconic guitars for musicians like Dimebag Darrel, Billy Gibbons, Michael Schenker, Leslie West and Brad Paisley. Dean later moved on and currently builds guitars as Dean Zelinsky Private Label Guitars. He shares with us some of the innovations he's incorporated into his latest designs. We also talk about a few crazy stories and some of his favorite things about Chicago. Dean also has his own podcast, The Dean Zelinsky Show and you can hear even more stories about his guitar journey at https://www.deanzelinskyguitars.com/pages/podcast.

Time Stamps:

2:15: when did you first show an interest in guitars?

4:36: When did you first start to tinker with how guitars worked?

7:40: Did you really think you could figure out how to repair a guitar?

10:30: What in you made you a doer?

12:30: What was the reason behind the Gibson Guitars tour?

17: How did you start the company?

21: How much back and forth to make the guitar perfect?

25:13: How do you start to build the company/approach guitar stores to sell your guitars?

32:35: What is your mindset as things are taking off?

35: What changed everything for Dean Guitars?

42: Is this the time that you decide you wanted to sell the company?

45:16: When did you get rock stars playing your guitars/how did you sell guitars backstage?

54:37: How did the fur guitars come to be?

60: What's still driving you to make guitars?

70: Favorite venue to show your guitars, favorite venue to see a show?

71:30: thin crust or deep dish fan?

73:35: What makes Chicago unique?

76:30: What's your go to cheap drink?

79:25: Anything you'd like to plug on the way out?