THE SITE

Q: Why This Site?

A:  I started this website back in 2017 because of the total lack of information on these rare, interesting, and somewhat underrated guitars.  I chased one down for about 15 years straight since spending almost 2 years mystified what kind of guitar Paul Dean was playing in the Get Lucky/Keep IT Up era - trying to figure out if it was a rare Rickenbacker model, a modified Fender Lead III, or some kind of strange Canadian custom jobbie (which is what it turned out to be).

Q: Can I submit my picture for "Viewer's Guitars"

A: Yes, you can.  I'd appreciate it actually as pictures and history are how I'm piecing together the history of these guitars.  Seems to be more to it than just Odyssey built 50 (commissioned by Paul Dean himself) and then Hondo built another short run around 83-84, I keep learning all kinds of neato things about body colors, neck changes, and so on.

Q: Are pictures used with permission?

A: I do my best to do so, but If I can't figure out how to get in contact with you, I MIGHT use it.  If a guitar is seen on this site that you don't want me to use, just e-mail me and let me know, I'll take it off.  I search around to find some unique examples here and there so I don't end up with a gallery with 20 pages of the same model of Hondo.  

Q: Is This Site All Fact, or Speculation

I'd say about 75% fact at best, the rest deductive speculation. We're talking about some extremely rare guitars here that are not very well documented and have the very unique and cool history because unlike most "Signature models" or popularly lusted after famous guitars, these guitars were 100% the brainchild of their creator - the guitarist himself, Paul Dean, and started their creation in a Canadian garage somewhere in the early 80's or so it seems.  Honestly, I find that kind of organic history rather cool, and it means the stories behind some of these "Dean Machines" have some happier endings rather than winding up collecting dust with a few broken strings hanging in some dingy Rock bar/museum somewhere.  Few famous instruments get to be so lucky.

THE MAN

Q: Who is Paul Dean?

A: I used to reference the Wikipedia article but it seems to go up and down in quality.  For the purposes of this site, Paul Dean is a veteran Canadian Musician of over 50 years, he's been in a lot of bands but the one he's best known for is the Vancouver B.C. Based New Wave/Hard Rock outfit called Loverboy, whom still records and tours.  He also was a founding member of Streetheart and recorded on their "Meanwhile Back in Paris" album in 1978, and was also in the Great Canadian Riverboat Race, Canada, and Scrubbaloe Caine. He also has recorded a few solo records including some new ones in 2019 ("Be With You" and "Hell Yeah!").

For about the same amount of time, Paul has been fixing/repairing/modifying guitars, amps, and effects to get his own sound.  He built a bass in high school, rebuilt several guitars including the Stratocaster that lead to his creation of the guitars this site is about (which was the guitar almost all of Loverboy's hits have been recorded with) - and after Hondo he designed a neck-thru model for Kramer.  For the past few years he's been concocting his own "Body parts strats" out of various Fender Straocasters and aftermarket parts.  I know of a red one, a black one (which I saw him play in Minden live), and a white one.  He's also been in contact with the new Odyssey guitars for a time and has 2 new versions of these that he toured with in 2022.

Q: How long did Paul Dean use these guitars?

A: I've had a lot of changes in thought over the years on this.  I know they started to be used around 1981, there's even a really rough bootleg of a Loverboy concert on YouTube with him playing one of the prototypes at a mid 1981 concert in Vancouver and it sounds darned mean.  I'm speculating he still had at least one in his corner as late as 1986 as I recall seeing a shot of him playing a Kramer with one of the Odyssey's in the backline.  In 2022 he started touring with 2 of the new versions of these guitars on the "Unzoomed" tour, a hardtail with "Loverboy" beneath the bridge, and his main being one with a Floyd Rose.

Q: Does Paul still use these guitars?

A: Yeah, he still has one original, and two new ones that I know about.  he's been touring with the new ones in 2022.

Q: Do You know Paul Dean Personally? Can you get me in touch?

A: Nope. Just a fan of the guy and the music and guitars he created though I have talked with him once about the site as of this point.  I'm not giving any information out since I respect his and other people's privacy being a quite a private guy myself.

Q: IS that An Odyssey Hey's Playing on the Unzoomed Tour?

A: SHHHHHH!! That's a secret....(okay okay, we all know that was a attempt to create a new version of his signature model as the sales are only legally allowed to "imply" but not actually say, they have since parted ways....ahem)..okay, now where was I...oh yes, He plays a Godin guitar as of 2023.  Not sure how much it matches his older designs (at least not yet), but as of so far, I'm treating that one as a new design.

THE GUITARS

Q: Why are you interested in these guitars?

A: I'm a bit "out of the demographic" to be honest (LOL).  I got into the band Loverboy in 1997 buying their 80's albums from a used record store (I was listening to 80's rock before it was cool again).  Paul Dean was one of my formative guitar influences as I had only been playing 2 years at that point.  When I read about the guitars in a 1983 copy of Guitar Player a few years later and heard about the design elements, I was quite intrigued and wanted to find one, thinking I'd find a cheap Hondo and then copy it at Odyssey levels, only then did learn how rare these guitars were and that at one time Hondo was putting out some rather high quality stuff at one point.

Q: Where does the term "Dean Machine" come from?

A: Ask Paul.  I just know he was using it as a term for these guitars prior to them being sold by Odyssey and Hondo.  Paul would use it as the unofficial make/model designation in circa 1983 interviews.  I know he named his second solo record "Machine" too, it may just be a "nice ring to it" thing.

Q: Who is Attila Balogh?

A: Attila Balogh is a Canadian Luthier/Guitar Designer, and was the head luthier of a company called Odyssey guitars, and joined Aoyette drums after Odyssey initially folded, which is possibly around the time he got in contact with Paul Dean and made the 50 of these guitars under the Odyssey name (note, no brass logo on the headstock).  Attila continued to make musical instruments until he died in a shop accident in 1987.

Q: Does Odyssey Guitars Still Exist

A: Odyssey folded sometime around 1984.  Attila died in a accident involving a piece of shop equipment falling on him sometime in the late 80's.  In 2021 though, suddenly posts from Odyssey Guitars started showing up with Paul Dean and various prototypes and even one original Odyssey Paul Dean model so as of 2021, Odyssey is back, still Canadian made, using Tone Rider pickups currently I believe. Currently the only artist he's working with is Joe Keithly of D.O.A. that I know of.

Q: What's the deal with Hondo?

A: Read here or here for detailed history.  In short, Hondo started in 1969 as a Texas based guitar importer - they would import guitars from Japan to the United States from Samick, Matsamoku, Tokai, and Kasuga supposedly, as well as later from China from Samisk and Yako.  They continued to do this up through the mid 1980's when the name was sold to an Asian company after a brief contract with Charvel to make their "Charvette" line of budget guitars.  Hondo's glory years were from 1978-1984 - right during the time of the Paul Dean model's introduction and sale from 1983-1985 under their "Designer Series".  Currently Hondo still exists off/on as a brand name owned by various Asian owners, mostly making plywood budget guitars from Korea/Indonesia/China, all pretty much in the usual styles of Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls.

Q: Did anybody else use one of these guitars?

A: Well, I heard recently a UK band was using a Hondo Paul Dean II on their albums but I never actually saw pictures of it.  I'm in bands and play my Hondo in those bands for various things as it's one of my favorites.  Otherwise, I don't think I know another person who used a Hondo/Odyssey Paul Dean guitar professionally outside of maybe a small local thing, which would be what I fall under.

Q: Why are these guitars so inexpensive?

A: The Hondos are inexpensive largely due to them being viewed as a "budget brand".    That said, the Hondo guitars come pretty close to an 80's or early 90's Japanese Fender in a lot of cases so I consider them a steal for between $200-325. BTW, I love Japanese Fenders.

The Odysseys are NOT inexpensive, as these were hand made, limited production, Canadian built guitars that are extremely hard to find in the wild, especially in my home country of the USA.

And obviously Paul's home-made originals would be worth serious $$ alone due to being instruments built, owned, and played on stage and in the studio by a legend.

Q: Did Paul ever play an Odyssey or a Hondo, or were all of his home built?

A: I've read he never played a Hondo, but I did see him noodling on what looked like a Paul Dean II on "Good Rockin' Tonight" in 84' (A Canadian music program from the 80's).  Considering how close they are to the Odyssey version, what would be the point anyway?

He had at least 2-3 Odyssey, one of which he still has.  He also had several prototypes.  I discuss these at length on the history page.

Q: What makes the Odyssey so special?

A: Because they were a very low production run of guitars from a very short-lived guitar company in Vancouver B.C.  Those guitars were akin to having Leo Fender make a bunch of Stratocasters in his home workshop and sell them in local Orange County California music shops (maybe the very early Esquires were like that!). There were only 50 of the Odyssey Paul Dean guitars made.

Q: What makes the Hondos so special?

A: Many reasons.  First off being that the Hondo was not just Hondo's first (and only) celebrity endorsed guitar designed by a rock artist in a very very obvious way, but it also was one of their top-of-the-line guitars of the time.  On top of that, production run of these guitars seems to be pretty limited, there are not a lot of them, though it seems more have cropped up since I started posting about them on the internet years ago.  An interesting note from another guitar player as well as one of Attila's Luthier cohorts on an old internet post from the 90's is that the Hondo guitars may have better build quality than the Odyssey guitars do - at least the early ones from Japan may have.

Q: What are the unique features to these instruments?

A: The main features are involved with the neck - in particular, 2 quarter-inch slots parallel on both sides of the truss rod under the fingerboard that creates a certain resonance, a 10-degree headstock tilt, straight string path, and a hard ash or maple body with heavy chambering.  These features are what gives this guitar a very unique tone. One of the audiable effects of the neck chambering is a vocal like modulation to single note lines (especially when bent) giving the guitar a very unique tonal character.  

Q: Did they come in any other color than red?

A: The Odyssey's and early (1983-1984) Hondo Paul Dean II's did not.  The Paul Dean III's and later Paul Dean II's (1984-1985) were made in an a few different colors, and with some non-Paul Dean features at one point, including necks that are possibly not hollow, and don't have a 10 degree headstock tilt.  A lot of the later ones were to use up parts from the initial production run most likely as Paul had left Hondo for Kramer at that point, and Odyssey had closed their doors in 1983-1984.  It's kind of hard to tell what Hondo did or did not do with the Paul Dean series because the earliest runs had various custom order options at a markup, and one of the contributors to the site had a 1985 Hondo Paul Dean II - supposedly Korean built, and they were STILL using the Super II pickups and were offering different colors than the regular "Cherry Red" color (ie the model# for these was Hondo PD-2CH 1984 and later).

Q: Wouldn't the hollow neck make it weaker and prone to break?

A: I think Paul/Odyssey/Hondo took measures to get around that and over-engineered it a bit.  It's a 3-piece neck using quatersawn and flatsawn wood alternating, which makes it stronger than usual. I strung mine up with .013's at one point in a style similar to what Paul was using in the early 80's, the truss rod only needed 1/6th of a turn for proper relief and stayed dead straight when released of any tension/counter-tension.  The necks on these are quite sturdy.

Q: How do I know if the neck is hollow?

A: The easiest way to tell is if you loosen the truss rod all the way and put on some light strings (<.009-.042), you will hear a really weird rattling/resonance that can also be lightly felt coming from the neck.  Sounds like hornets crawling around inside the neck.

Q: Where can I find one of these guitars?

A: I see the Hondos turn up on Reverb and occasionally E-bay from time to time.  The original run Odyssey guitars are extremely rare as there were only 50.  I don't think I know or have seen enough to justify saying if the new Odyssey will be making a new Paul Dean model of some kind but considering the volume of posts on those guitars it seems something good and interesting is going on.

Q: Why do my pickups look different on my Hondo from Paul's guitar?

A: Because the Hondo guitars came stock with 7.8K Ohm, Ceramic humbuckers that were built specifically for Hondo. On those, the DiMarzio Super II pickups were a $60.00 upgrade.  Honestly, I don't think they are really all that necessary as the Hondo pickups come pretty close in output and tone, though the DIMarzios are wound slightly hotter (8.4K).  Also, Paul had some 3 single coil prototypes and the first one had P-90 pickups in it.  I swapped mine out because I just happened to find a second Super II that matched and was finding the original Hondo pickups a bit microphonic with certain amps at the rehearsal studio my band rehearses at.

Q: What About these new "Odyssey Sweetheart" guitars?

A: Honestly, your best bet might be Odyssey/Sean on the Odyssey Guitar instagram page, or their Reverb listings (that have mostly sold).  But here's my understanding.  In 2020, Odyssey and Paul Dean crossed paths again, and started working on 2 projects - a limited run of 9 guitars and a bass version (Sweetheart Customs), and a "Budget" model with parts made in China and assembled in Canada.  Unfortunately, the situation just did not turn out and as a result the guitars had to be renamed/relabeled as the Sweetheart Customs and the Black Bar S - they are NOT Paul Dean guitars, there's only one that could be considered, the one custom one built for Paul himself he used on the Unzoomed Tour (I got a goot look at the headstock in a 4K picture once, it says "Paul Dean Pro").  As for ripping the sticker off your Odyssey - BAD IDEA - the Krazy glue will rip "the player" name right off the headstock. Hehehe.  I'm only listing them here because they do have a "lineage" of sorts.

THE WEBMASTER

Q: Who are you?

A: I'm an internet studio musician currently, I run a YouTube channel here, and I have a website over there.  I'm well known for my guitar videos, though I've only just recently gotten back into making them after taking some "time off" for a few years. I go by "CreepingNet" most of the time now.  I don't associate with my old screen names anymore - if only I could krazy glue some duct-tape to my old screen names on the internet so they peel off when you try to read them, lol.  If I join another band, I'm using my real name.

Q: Where does the name "CreepingNet" come from....

A: Long story short, I got into vintage computers in the early 2000's, trying to piece together my first good one from cast off parts. While messing about with an old 486 one night a friend of mine saw me name the hostname "CreepingNet1" because it was a very old, slow, 486-based PC that was already 10 years old at the time. He saw this and said "If you get more you'll have a "Creeping Network".  So I created a Vintage Computing website on Geocities and the name kinda' stuck.  When I used it for my YouTube channel that was supposed to be more like LGR or 8-bit guy's channels, I played guitar in a couple videos and that's what I became known for.  Seems the guitar vids get WAAAAY more hits than my gaming or computer videos do.

Q: Do you own one of these guitars?

A: Obviously yes, I have owned a 1983 Hondo Paul Dean II since 2010 which I installed DiMarzio Super II Humbuckers into.  I also have a home-built "CreepingNet StrikeZone/PDX90" guitar I'm building myself as a one-off P-90 axe that used the Hondo as a template.

Q: Do you collect these guitars? Do you want mine?

A: One is enough as if I want more I could easily build my own reproductions, and have been working on one since 2018 (oh if only I had the time to work on it more often).

Q: Are you a fan of Loverboy/Streetheart/etc..

A: Yes.  Have been since 97'. I bought the first record used after getting hooked on "Working for the Weekend" for a week (when I could not actually get lucky enough to find "Get Lucky"), and jumped down that rabbit hole, that's kinda what lead me here. I still follow them and own most of their stuff plus one of Paul's solo records.  Though it's never been something I actively pursue, for some reason a great lot of my favorite music tends to come from Canada for some reason.

Q: How Old are you?

A: Old enough. Let's leave it at that.  I'm what they call "middle aged". Hehe.

Q: Are you Canadian?

A: Nope, American. I've visited Vancouver before, felt like home :)  Plan on visiting again someday, probably after the Pandemic ends.

Q: What other guitars do you own?

A: Too many for a non-famous, currently not-touring, pretty-much hobbyist musician, LOL.  I started building when I was 14, Paul was the reason I started building guitars (before then,  I did not know you could do that).  I also started modifying cheap guitars at that same age and have quite the stable including vintage Fenders, Japanese Fenders, a couple Kramers, some others.  I'm always tinkering around with guitars in one fashion or another.

Q: What kind of music do you play?/What's your style?

A: Well, obviously the 1980's is a huge influence on me, Paul Dean, Eddie Van-Halen, Billy Gibbons, Brad Gillis & Jeff Watson, Elliot Easton, and George Lynch are my main influences from the 80's, built on a "chassis" of early 90's grunge guys like Kurt Cobain, Kim Thayil, Jerry Cantrell....and some metal from James Hetfield & Kirk Hammett, Dimebag Darrell, and Cris Oliva of Savatage.  I also use guitar synthesis quite a bit these days (synth sounds from guitars) and pull from Greg Hawkes, Iaso Tomita, and Doug Johnson probably the most sonically on the guitar-as-synth side.

Q: Are you in a band?

A: Currently, no.  My last band folded just as the Pandemic was unfolding in America.  I'm eventually going to put something else together when the time is right and the right people are in my social circle.  Until then, I'm going to continue recording on BandLab. I've been having a lot of fun doing that.  Got 3 projects on there - solo, DX3 (a "proof-of-concept" of a fully digital 3-piece power trio), and Project 2a03 (where I cover video game music with rock instrumentation, or make chiptunes out of regular music).