“The Culprit, designed by Dimebag Darrell”: We finally have our first official look at the first Dime Guitarz model – and it revives a rare design masterminded by the Pantera great

After years of teases, we finally have our first official look at what Dime Guitarz – the new firm launched to revive Dimebag Darrell’s legendary electric guitar designs – has been cooking up.

Dime Guitarz is one of the metal guitar world’s most talked about projects. Way back in January 2023, Dean Zelinsky – Dean founder and the man behind the brand that the late Pantera great championed so passionately – set forums ablaze with chatter when he posted a picture of what looked like a new Razorback model.

A few months later, Zelinsky was back with another tease, this time hinting at the potential return of the Stealth.

However, it seems that neither the Razorback nor the Stealth will be the first release from Dimebag Guitarz, which has now been streamlined to ‘Dime Guitarz’. Instead, Zelinsky and the new company have settled on something a little more off the beaten track.

Image 1 of 3

New pictures posted on the official Dime Guitarz website have confirmed that we will witness the return of the Culprit – a rare build from the late 1990s that Dimebag himself designed, and that had originally been constructed by Washburn.

“The Culprit… designed by Dimebag Darrell,” Zelinsky wrote on Facebook back in September when the model was first teased.

We’ve now been given a few different angles of the upcoming model – which, it’s been confirmed, will be “coming soon” – and so we know there will be a few different finishes on offer for the guitar, which can be described as an ML with a scooped rear bout.

What’s more, we can clearly see at least one version features the Z-Glide neck, meaning Zelinsky himself has built these designs. The unorthodox neck profile features a precisely engraved pattern that drastically reduces contact between guitar and hand, this offering a “silky-smooth feel”.

We say at least one version – one other rear shot appears to show another Culprit with a regular neck. Two tiers of the Culprit incoming, perhaps?

It’s also got the famed winged headstock shape with the new ‘DGZ’ logo – is that a print of Dimebag’s signature on the head? – and what looks to be a pair of Seymour Duncan humbuckers (one of which is a Dimebucker, naturally) and a Floyd Rose tremolo.

No other official information or specs have been offered so far, meaning we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer for the final word on when we’ll see these in the wild. Still, we can’t imagine it will be another two-year wait – the finish line is in sight.

It’s perhaps surprising that Dime Guitarz has opted to revive the Culprit first, as opposed to the Razorback or Stealth models that have previously been teased. Heck, it’s intriguing to see the Culprit instead of a faithful ML-style model.

However, Rita Haney (Dimebag’s longterm girlfriend and estate trustee) has previously spoken of her desire to produce Dime guitars based on “notes… and drawings (some not released yet)” so maybe the Culprit speaks to those motivations.

Not only that, it sets up a very exciting future for Dime Guitarz indeed…

Head over to Dime Guitarz in the meantime for a closer look at those pics.