Looking for a stealth metal machine that also exudes classic guitar cool? Look no further than Dean’s new Exile Select Floyd Fluence Black Satin, a Strat-style model with plenty of firepower under the hood.
The sleek speed racer boasts an alder body with a three-piece maple slim-D neck and a 24-fret, 16-inch radius ebony fingerboard. And to ensure that you can move around that fast-playing neck with extreme ease – as Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario does in this shred-tastic demo video – there’s also a high-access heel joint for uninhibited note work in the upper registers.
Other features include a Floyd Rose 1000 bridge and R3 locking nut, black Mini Grover 18:1 tuners, dome black control knobs, a dual-action truss rod and a chrome foil logo on the headstock.
More than just a shred stick, the Exile Select offers up a wide range of tones, courtesy of a pair of Fishman Fluence Modern Black humbuckers that are controlled via a three-way selector switch, a single volume knob and a tone control with push-pull functionality.
As Paul explains, “The pickups provide two distinct tones. One tone is a really high output that’s great for distortion, and the other is a modern active humbucker sound that offers tight bass and crisp highs.”
From there, Paul takes us through those myriad tones, beginning with the modern active sound on a clean setting, before moving to the hot-rodded voice on a clean setting, which adds a noticeable bit of dirt to his chording.
“Now let’s hear the Floyd Fluence in a drive setting, and with more hot rodded output,” Paul says, and then follows it up by shifting to the modern active voice with overdrive.
The result is a guitar sounds as good as it looks. Which, in this case, is saying a lot.
“The Dean Guitars Exile Select Floyd Fluence Black Satin is a killer-looking guitar with enhanced playability and a variety of classic and bold blazing tones thanks to the versatile and incredible Fishman Fluence electronics,” Paul says. “Definitely check it out.”
We suggest you listen to Paul, and head over to Dean Guitars.
