Dean Zelinsky Guitars’ president, Dean Zelinsky, has announced the release of the Johnny Winter Signature Guitar.
This is the same guitar made by Zelinsky that Winter had been playing and touring with in his most recent years, until his death in July 2014.
Guitars will he sold exclusively through the company’s website. The First 25 Signature Guitars will be hand signed and numbered by Zelinsky and come with a certificate of authenticity signed by Zelinsky and Winter’s wife, Susan Winter, for the Johnny Winter Estate.“I am excited to be building Johnny’s signature guitars,” Zelinsky said. “Johnny had been my guitar-playing idol since I was a kid and was clearly one of the greatest players of all time.
“While I had met Johnny briefly many years ago, I first started building guitars for him after a chance meeting in a club parking lot in 2011. I had been designing thin guitars for a few years, and knew this ultra-thin single cut was going to be perfect for Johnny. I put everything I knew he would like into this guitar, and then engraved the hell out of it, including Johnny’s name prominently embossed. He told me it was the most beautiful guitar he had ever seen and started playing the guitar almost exclusively. Johnny and I later spoke about the signature line and entered into a formal agreement shortly before his passing.”
This exclusive collectors guitar features a highly engraved flame maple top specially designed for Johnny with his name prominently embossed. Other features include an ultra-thin mahogany body, a 25 ½” scale 24-fret maple neck, brushed satin nickel hardware, locking tuners and Dean Zelinsky Custom Humbuckers designed hot and bright achieving that Johnny Winter signature tone. Guitars will be $2,899 and come complete with Tweed Tolex Hard Case.
"I am extremely pleased that Johnny's dream of having this signature guitar come out has finally become a reality," said Paul Nelson, Winter’s Grammy winning guitarist/producer. "Johnny switched to this model three years before he left us and just loved its playability, tone and style. It was truly his main guitar."
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