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(More customer reviews)I have a late-model version of this guitar but in amber burst and gold hardware - Korean-made, which I expect this one is also. It was bought used from a friend/co-worker.
I had handled his guitar when he brought it to work one day and found it solid and smooth but I wasn't interested in it per se. But when I found myself in the market rather suddenly (friend of my daughter's wanted to take guitar lessons - but only from me!) I tried a new Gibson Les Paul and quite frankly, found it wanting: finish didn't feel good, pots were chintzy - disappointing. But I thought of the Dean and said to myself, "mahogany; set neck; 'buckers in a four-knob arrangement...would I not be in the ballpark?"
These Cadillacs are very neck-heavy; the long large headstock guarantees this. But I didn't *realize* it was neck-heavy until I tried a slippery strap; use one that is suede-ey or somewhat unfinished leather on the bottom and you'll never know. I have found that the headstock's mass often makes me want to shake-vibrato whole chords.
Access to the upper frets is a little bit compromised by the neck heel; a strap that doesn't narrow down at the end exacerbates this; the strap button is attached at the heel and points backward. I use a rough-bottomed leather strap with an adjustable sling turned backward so that the sling part goes to the heel button.
The string angles at the nut are a little extreme and you really must lube it with Nut Sauce or something similar; even plain strings will catch. If you are thinking about a whammy bar, you *must* have a locking nut and I can't tell you for sure if there even is one that can accommodate the angles. I've decided against trying it.
I should point out that my friend had had an active EMG kit (pull-knob single-coil switches for bridge and neck) put in place of the stock pickups. When my friend did the AMG kit, he just dropped the battery in the control cavity wrapped in foam and electrical tape; I had a proper pop-out battery holder installed and am much happier. I can get a bit into Strat and Tele territory in single-coil mode; all in all, there's a lot of flexibility with this kit.
So I would tell you, if you like the combination rad/trad look of this guitar and you like Les-Paul-like guitars as a class, *buy* the guitar; *try* the guitar. Use the additional money you might have spent to get a Gibson and try a pickup kit you like the idea of, passive or active. Because I have come to know my Cadillac with the EMGs and really, really enjoy it, I will probably never change them out, but you would do well to think of this guitar as a test bed for LP-style pickup/control combinations...there are so many wonderful choices!
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