Dean Zelinsky LaVoce

Dean Zelinsky Guitars introduces the LaVoce, a lightweight electric guitar with single-coil, humbucker and piezo pickups.

This guitar is designed by the company’s namesake master builder Dean B. Zelinsky, meant to provide guitarists with a versatile instrument that can handle various styles.

If you’ve had to carry two or more guitars to gigs, then you probably understand the need for a versatile instrument that does not compromise tone and aesthetic quality. Unless you have a roadie, carrying more than one instrument to gigs on a regular basis can be quite the hassle, and many end up compromising tone by utilizing effects instead of having to switch between guitars.

Zelinsky saw this need and produced the LaVoce, the company’s attempt to provide a flexible guitar that gives you three pickup types in one. Dubbed as the “Working Musician’s Guitar”, it can do the work of three different guitars, by letting you conveniently switch between a single-coil, humbucker and piezo.

Dean Zelinsky explains the meaning behind the name: “LaVoce translated means “The Voice.” I chose this name because this guitar has so many voices; not just sounds…but individual, unique, guitar voices. Everyone can appreciate the tone of a killer single-coil, a vintage humbucker, a cutting hot humbucker, and a high fidelity acoustic pickup.”

The most notable feature of the Dean Zelinsky LaVoce is its 5-pickup system, featuring the company’s “SideKick” pickup technology where they are able to combine a true single-coil and humbucker into a pickup that takes up only one pickup space. They describe the pickup as having genuine vintage single coil tones as well as true humbucker tones. This versatile configuration is complemented further by the built-in piezo bridge pickup, allowing you to conjure convincing acoustic tones.

More than merely switching between pickups, the guitar is also wired to let you blend the piezo pickups with the other pickups. This results in a versatile setup that will give you 2 guitar tones simultaneously.

The guitar’s body is based on the single-cutaway classic design, but looking at the sides you see that it has a unique design, featuring an ultra-thin and lightweight body, making it easy to travel. The guitar’s mahogany body and maple top is merely half an inch thick, and the entire instrument weighs in at just 7 lbs, making it easy to store and carry around.

Another interesting feature of this guitar is the company’s patented Z-Glide Reduced friction neck, which makes it easier to move your fretting hand across the neck. improve the playability.

The guitar has an LP style look and playability, with a scale length of 24.75″ and nut width of 1-11/16″. It has a maple neck topped by 12″ radius rosewood fingerboard with a total of 22 frets. Other features include 20:1 ratio Locking tuners, GraphTech Ghost Piezo Acoustic Tune-O-Matic bridge and Dean Zelinsky stop tailpiece.

With so much going on, the company was able to fit all the features without straying from the traditional control set of four knobs and a switch. He chose to do this because Dean himself do not prefer having too many knobs and switches on the instrument. Zelinsky concludes, “I built the LaVoce like a classic [sleeper] muscle car of the 70’s…looks stock, but a whole lot more going on under the hood”

For its many features, the guitar comes with a reasonable price tag. Zelinsky extrapolated, “For this to be for working musicians, it needed to be affordable. I priced the LaVoce from $787.00, and to make it more obtainable, we offer easy monthly payments (as low as $73/month).

To get the ball rolling, Dean Zelinsky will be personally signing and numbering his first 100 LaVoce guitars. For more information, head over to Dean Zelinsky.

Related Articles: