If you've seen a picture of Pantera's Dimebag Darrell ever, then you've likely seen his lightning bolt Dean guitar. It's pictured above.
Who mat not have heard of in this situation is Buddy Blaze, or Buddy Webster, who's been in the guitar customization business since the 1980s, and has designed guitars for dudes from Twisted Sister, Def Leppard, Great White, and the guitar you see above.
According to Blaze, Dimebag won a Dean ML in a contest back in the 80s and offered it to Blaze. Blaze felt that since Dimebag won it, he should keep it, though eventually Blaze's band's singer bought it off Dimebag anyway. Blaze alleges he then bought it off his singer, and modified and painted the design you see in the picture above.
Blaze is now suing Dean's parent company Armadillo Distribution Enterprises, Inc. for reissuing the guitar and never paying him. I think the one thing that might be a problem for Blaze is that it doesn't sound like Dean ever specifically commissioned the artwork from him, though on the flip side, Dean is also using someone else's artwork without permission… so this case might get interesting. Here's the full lawsuit:
Buddy Webster v Dean Guitars by Digital Music News on Scribd
