Dean Ce Cutaway Acoustic-Electric Resonator Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

I've been playing resonators for over 45 years and I've had everything from 50's Nationals, Dobros etc. The CE (same as the Rouge brand guitar only better) sounds good but not great, worthy of a resonator upgrade to a Beard maybe. I would describe the sound as a bit midrange but flat wound strings would help that a lot. It plays great right out of the box but remember it's a biscuit guitar so they never tune as accurate as a standard guitar. So why is this such a great value? An $800 Gretchen or Fender of the same style will sound better but nowhere close to $400 better and they lack some great features of the CE. It comes with much needed Grover tuners and NO slotted head, notorious for breaking, a pickup that sounds pretty good, surprisingly good workmanship (I'm being really hard on my review), a removable bridge cover which is a huge plus for bridge adjustments and the best feature is the neck configuration. Resonators always join the neck at the 12 fret which is a real PIA when hitting high notes for affect. Add to that a cutaway and you'll never have to flip your hand over the neck again to reach high notes. It also plays much better than any old resonator (tend to have necks that feel like Stella's and none of the rattle hassles with those old paper thin resonators. Buy it!!Jim

I will use this on select songs in my solo gigs. Finger picking (country, folk, Americana, blue grass) I play 6 & 12 string guitar and banjo though an acoustic amp and this resonator plays great and has a very nice mellow tone both plugged in and unplugged. I'm very happy with it and would defend buy it again. I played semi pro back in the 60's and took a fifty year break as life happened but am back with a passion.Cask Ale Brewmaster

I purchased this guitar based on other reviews I read on this website, and I have not been disappointed. As the other reviewers stated, this is a really sweet guitar for the price. I was very impressed with the workmanship: he binding is flawless, the fret ends are dressed well and smooth, the satin finish is beautiful, and the action is good. I was able to play it straight out of the box. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good, but inexpensive resonator guitar!Rob

I have this one except it is all the brass color. I was told they made about a dozen that way then switched to the 2 tone color. I like the guitar a lot for finger pickinslide and for lap style using a chrome bar. I find it always sounds great with newer strings. A nice mix on an old tube amp and one has a great sound. A very fair price for a nicely made metal resonator.zazenslide

Do not judge this guitar by how it sounds on certain internet sites.You won't really be hearing it. This guitar is not what it seems.That's a good thing.If your looking for a true resonator,this is not one ,in the classic sense,but what it is adds much more versatility. It joins the body at the 15th fret but note that it is a scaled down guitar so your going to have the same access as a resonator that joins the body at the 12th fret. You will still have to contort your wrist to reach a high A with a slide. The cool thing about this axe is that it is more of a hybrid than anything.You have the sound & tone of a true resonator.You have the playability sans the upper neck access of an electric or good acoustic guitar.With the right gage strings you can flip it over,in your lap,& you have a lap steel without high action or setup. I play slide open G & standard licks & standard tuning licks & chords in my show.I use .11's on this Dean with out any intonation problems or volume & tone issues. If your style is only open tunings,then 12 or 13's will be be just fine.I would never use anything over 13's.Don't really know,for sure,there's a need for 13's on this guitar.The neck isn't geared for it & heavier strings won't add anything significant & could cause damage.It's loud enough acoustically to give the woodys a run fer their money in a circle jam & might even scare the bull fiddle player some. Electronics are what you would expect from a guitar made overseas.People have talked about after market parts but I don't see the need….including the cone. The lipstick pickup is a little weak but my techs tell me any after market ones aren't gonna be much better.The transducer pickup is useless on it's own & really not much more than a minimal tone control when blended at best but then,in my experience,all transducers,for a resonator,are like that.If ya want that sound,mike it.Remember,playing a metal resonator,especially playing the blues & slide,is all about trashy sound anyway. Cosmetically,it's everything you see in the pictures & a little more.It's a right purdy MOschine by crackie.When I do a single act I find the people staring at the Dean as often as they stare at me & I'm right purdy myself. Dean hit the lick on this one for what it is.Some say it's a little pricey but when you consider the versatility & the looks I'd say it's worth it.I have several acoustic woodys & metal resonators,on stage with me, & this one sits there right along side of em proudly. Ole HW Jr. was holding one at a recent country award show while rehashing some of his daddy's songs.Now that I own one,I can see why he did. I'd buy another one if need be,Sgtpepperb4

This was my third Dean Guitar. Usually with a new set of strings, you cannot beat the price or the sound. The artwork is amazing on The Dean Chrome G, but the sound is a different story. If you buy this guitar go ahead and spend the extra for a quarterman or beard cone (9 1/2), plus a new biscuit bridge. I just put on a beard cone and was shocked.I cannot believe how much sound I was missing playing on the stock cone and that was playing on old strings. If you spend the extra on the upgrades you will not be sorry for purchasing this guitar.Saltwaterbluefish

Completely satisfied with this purchase. Great features for the price. Visually beautiful. Had to take a star off the review for the string action out of the factory though. I had to pay a tech to sand down the bridge saddle. Cost me $45. Now it plays fantastic. I'll enjoy this for years.SKARRDGUITAR

Overall: This is one fine acoustic guitar. Beautiful woods and finish. Electronics and tuner are good. Tone and action excellent. Been playing 50 years and would not hesitate playing out or taking to a jam session plugged or unplugged. Have owned dean entry level acoustic bass for years, solid build and reliable. This brand new guitar feels and sounds solid. Have never dealt with dean but zZounds has been 5 star buying high level martin and fender past few years.Rich

Excellent acoustic bass! Plays amazing and the finish is flawless! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the full 34 scale neck, turned out to be great! I am finding it way easier to transition back and forth to my electric bass vs my old 30ish scale ABG. Tuner works very well but I'm not a huge fan of how it sounds plugged in kinda tinny. That's alright tho cause I bought it to practice unplugged and will rarely play it plugged in anyway. I swapped the strings out to tapewounds and made an already amazing guitar even better. I think those strings are a must for any acoustic bass, rounds are just too noisy at that low volume. But all around a great looking and great playing instrument!Josh

Overall: I have to be completly honest and say this guitar is probably the best sounding acoustic and electric I've ever played! I have spent years and money trying to find this one guitar. I absolutely love this guitar! For money and quality I would suggest it to all!Harlan

I bought this guitar after searching for one with a D shaped neck, like my Casino. I like D necks because they are slim front to back. I have a billion guitars and am finding that the larger round necks hurt my thumb (I'm old). I also liked that the body is slim. I was very surprised that the guitar has an ebony fingerboard-my fav. It sounds good both unplugged and plugged into an acoustic amp. I liked it so much after buying the black one that I bought the blue one, too.SMorris

Sadly this is discontinued from Dean, but the electronics have XLR and 1/4" output and built in tuner. the Output level can get real hot to overdrive the amp input so be aware. Seller did a great setup and there was no issues with the frets or action. its a beautiful bass to look at. Its got decent unplugged volume, and the saddle pickup is more than enough to push the sound through a small amp for the extra volume when playing with others. Any other questions feel free to reach out! I'm very happy with this bass!bassguitarist1985

First, if you don't want your acoustic to look like everyone else's this instrument is visually appealing. Its solidly built and looks like a fine piece of furniture. But playing is what really matters and with a new set of Diaddario EJ26's on this bassist who wanted to take up the guitar to expand my songwriting couldn't do better for the price. Among the things most appreciated is the on board tuner that allows you to correct on the fly and the electronics which, in my experience, have been solid and functional. The one thing you may want to consider is a feedback suppressor for the sound hole to keep things quiet when the amp is on. Other then that what you have here is a good quality, eye catching, and reasonably inexpensive guitar that's worth your consideration.John just John

This guitar is solid and provides the comfortable playing of guitars costing hundreds more. I was not really surprised, as previous Dean guitars I owned were a good pick also. No onboard tuner? Are ya kidding? No five stars for you! But this guitar is still a keeper. Rock on.Dennisio

This guitar is gorgeous and plays like butter. I am so happy with this purchase. Would strongly recommend to anyone wanting to try a 12 string.Rusty

The Koa is beautiful. The fretboard has easy action and the guitar has great tone. I use a cordless system with no delay or cut-out from the electronics. For someone looking for bang for the buck, this qualifies.jtcreely

I purchased this Dean ML based on my appreciation for Dime and simply because teenage me committed to owning one someday. I found a pic that I took with Dime which reminded me of being in the front row watching him jam away on his Dime Slime years ago. For me, this purchase was primarily motivated by nostalgia, expecting build quality to be sort of, ok. I have to say, this guitar exceeded my expectations. Slight disclaimer: I purchased this item knowing I would immediately upgrade most of the hardware and adjust things to make it more comfortable for my playing. 1) It is a fantastic base instrument. It plays fairly well as sold. This was my first experience with a Floyd Rose Special. Also, it will definitely be my last. I played it stock for about 2 weeks to get a good feel for it before changing anything. It’s a great playing guitar. 2) Every review I saw said that the finish was amazing and pictures just couldn’t do it justice. I agree. They did a great job on the neck and body of this guitar. It’s flawless. 3) Everything was to spec on mine. Action, truss rod, intonation, fret, bridge and pickup height, all perfect. My fretboard had a somewhat excessive amount of dye on it but nothing too crazy. The nut on mine was clearly cut too deep leaving the high e in permanent sitar mode with fret buzz. So, quality control could be an issue. For my needs this wasn’t a problem as I had already decided on replacing virtually all hardware with new parts that I had on hand from a project that I decided not to restore. 4) The pickups sound great. The Dime Slime nailed the Pantera tones, not surprising. I was surprised by the classic/southern rock and soloist tones I was able to get with minor eq adjustments. Clear and warm through the drive/distortion. It does jazz and country pretty well too. It has a very balanced sound to it which I was not expecting. I’ve played it on three different amps with the same results. Great. This is a great buy. A solid guitar as is. However, in my case, this guitar didn’t really come to life until I did what I did: OFR Hot Rod, brass block,springs, some shielding, etc. Now, what really irritates me is that it plays a lot better than a few of my guitars that were either at or almost double the cost of the Dime Slime. Get One!SantaRosaJoe

Not a V type of player. I like Wilco, the Pixies, the Smiths, Stone Roses, Courtney Barnett, etc. So when I saw Ryan Adams rocking a V by that other manufacturer that starts with G, I started thinking about the V body style. I liked this model because it was at the right price point and had the tradition V body style, if you don't think too much about the headstock. This guitar probably hasn't gotten any love because I don't see it as your typical Dime type guitar, and its not your typical vintage Flying V. The pickups are not high enough gain to get love from the shredders and the Headstock probably turns some people off. What I found is a pretty great guitar with some help. First, the action was high. I lowered the bridge significantly. The good news is that the frets are good I didn't run into any buzziness after lowering the action a little lower than I thought I could get away with. Next, the pickups needed adjustment. They were pretty low. I brought them up a little and found that the sound filled out and got chimey like it should. I adjusted the pole pieces to match the fretboard radius and viola! Most of these guitars have good pickups and don't need an immediate change. Folks, you need to learn how to properly adjust your guitar pickups! Then figure out if you need something different. PS adjust these pickups on a clean channel, you need to hear the guitar not distortion. Long story short, this is a great guitar. It shouldn't be your main axe, but its a great conversation piece that sounds better than it should. I feel like I discovered a diamond in the rough. P.S. The guitar is really light and comfortable to play with a strap.Fred

This popped up on Stupid Deal of the Day and I am not in the least disappointed. It was well packaged, box in a box, from Dean. My intended use will be jamming with friends at the park, campground, or beach. But, it could see small venue use as well. It is big (it is a bass after all): 34", 24 fret scale with the neck joint at the 17th fret. The lower bout is 18" wide and just shy of 5" deep. If you really feel the need to go above the 17th fret…get the cutaway. Because of its size it has a decent acoustic tone. Set up, including intonation, was very good considering it was last touched at the factory. It is strung with D'Addario EXP 45-100 lights. The strings showed some age (string cleaner should take care of it) but still have decent tone, especially for my intended use. All the electronics work as they should. The battery box and input jack are a single unit located on the lower bout. It appears to be a sturdy unit that does not require any tools for 9V battery replacement. Using the onboard tuner silences the pickup. The top is book matched and looks better than some of my solid top guitars. The Dean Playmate EAB Gig Bag (SKU 548316 000000000) does fit. I'm so glad that neither the bass or gig bag are emblazoned with "Playmate" anymore. Seriously, if so, I would not have purchased them. Overall, I am very pleased and believe it is money well spent.Vintage Bassist

The action is easily correctable by lowering the saddle. Sadly, it is not very loud if you finger pick while in the acoustic mode. It is however loud enough to practice alone in a quiet room with soft backing track. Electrically, it is like most EA guitars and you have to watch which way you're standing in relation to your amp. The tone is pretty bright acoustically but can be dialed back in the electric mode for that bassier sound most bassists are looking for. I would consider playing out with this bass for a folk gig. I got this bass on a "stupid deal of the day" promotion and I still can't believe Musicians Friend could make any money at all with a price like that.CA$H

The band I'm in decided that we were going to do an acoustic show for a big fundraiser called Gettysburg Rocks. Great! But one major problem I didn't have an acoustic bass, so I had to get one for this show. After doing extensive research and considering the budget I chose this model. When I got the bass there were a lot of high frets which caused major undesirable fret buzz. The strings that were on it from dean were horrible so I took the bass to my local guitar shop and had it restrung and set up. After this was done this bass played amazing and had great tone unplugged. Then I plugged it in to my di box and it sounded pretty bad through the pa. The electronics in this bass didn't sound good because The strings were not evenly voiced. In my particular case the e string was the loudest and over powered the a d and g strings. I had 4 days before the show and had to figure something out quick. My solution was to run a limiter pedal. Once I had the limiter dialed in I was able to get a very good sound out of the bass, And through eq settings I was able to make the bass sound great. Then the night of the show came around and I had all the kinks figured out . The bass sounded great and the show went beautifully. This bass is by no means a high end bass but with a little tweaking itcan be made to sound really good. I've noticed that I will grab this bass and just start playing it when I'm trying to learn new songs and licks because it sounds so good and it is nice to not always be tethered to an amp. This bass is great to practice with but in a band setting it will need to be amped if you want to be heard with more than one acoustic guitar. Overall I am very pleased with this instrument and would buy another if it broke. I was apprehensive at first thinking that this would sound like $150 bass. Looking back I'm glad I got this model. I hope this helps anyone who is on the fence about buying this bass.v1637

Insane value. High quality binding, love the matte neck, great sounding pick ups from Seymour Duncan. Killer looks ready to rock. Honestly feels like a premium guitar and it is.Stiles

Completely satisfied with this purchase. Great features for the price. Visually beautiful. Had to take a star off the review for the string action out of the factory though. I had to pay a tech to sand down the bridge saddle. Cost me $45. Now it plays fantastic. I'll enjoy this for years.SKARRDGUITAR

Overall: This is one fine acoustic guitar. Beautiful woods and finish. Electronics and tuner are good. Tone and action excellent. Been playing 50 years and would not hesitate playing out or taking to a jam session plugged or unplugged. Have owned dean entry level acoustic bass for years, solid build and reliable. This brand new guitar feels and sounds solid. Have never dealt with dean but zZounds has been 5 star buying high level martin and fender past few years.Rich

Excellent acoustic bass! Plays amazing and the finish is flawless! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the full 34 scale neck, turned out to be great! I am finding it way easier to transition back and forth to my electric bass vs my old 30ish scale ABG. Tuner works very well but I'm not a huge fan of how it sounds plugged in kinda tinny. That's alright tho cause I bought it to practice unplugged and will rarely play it plugged in anyway. I swapped the strings out to tapewounds and made an already amazing guitar even better. I think those strings are a must for any acoustic bass, rounds are just too noisy at that low volume. But all around a great looking and great playing instrument!Josh

Mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard, classic looks. The setup needed a little work but that's to be expected. This is the kind of guitar Gibson should be making if they wanted to stay in business.grawulf

Overall: I just Bought this guitar from zZounds Feb 2020. I ordered it one afternoon it was here early the next afternoon. I took it out of the box, unlocked the nut, tuned the guitar, locked the tuners, fine tuned, and did a 4 hr gig covering multiple styles! It was perfectly set up and ready to go 🙂 The 12 inch radius is exactly what I need. I can’t play 14 or 16 inch radius necks. The more I play it the more I love it! The neck and middle position are strat like and the bridge position Rips! Great clarity in the pickups. The ONLY problem is the fret edges. They don’t roll/file the fret edges so you’ll have to have that done like I am. It’s a machine otherwiseMichael

Dean guitars are excellent. I've owned 2. Anyway, i would like to shred on this one for 6 hours minimum. But seriously, even though the guitar is beautiful and hopefully easily playable, coming with a CASE or not would be a decision breaker.. Thank you.. TomKThomas

Absolutely a great guitar the width of the fretboard and radius is amazing especially paired with the satin finish neck' the A 500 coil pot is amazing and the pickups are on the money. Shouldering and playing the guitar is a charm and it finds you as an instrument verses you having to continually set up and never being satisfied. Easy to upgrade although I don't see why it would be necessary unless you want a coil splitter. The pickups are good enough to get any chime you want with EQ, and peddle adjustment's. Ebony fretboard is very solid' as I just can't say enough about the neck size as it's perfectly on the money' and last but not least,you can leave your old TUNING issues in their cases because your dean will straight up stay in tune' I run d addario 120 9/42's and play for hours and stay in perfect tune. That's hard to find in an budget super strat. You want be disappointed with this guitar' wether your an living room picker or an actively gigging musician this guitar is money well spent.Henry

I am just a guy who likes to play guitar at home. I haven't owned an acoustic guitar in a very long time, as in the past several years I prefer to play with electrics and like using effects. I chose this guitar because I was simply looking for something around the 200 range. Now, I wanted something that was cheap but didn't sound cheap, so I was a bit wary of buying this Dean, but the aesthetics had me hooked. (Everyone I show this to immediately comments on the white finish!). So I took a chance on this anyway because its one of the few acoustics to come in white. I was pleasantly surprised by this guitar. First of all, this guitar DOES come with an onboard tuner! Maybe the model was updated and MF just has old photos and info here? The fit and finish is pretty nice really. Didn't find any blemishes or scratches… have a TINY little nick on the headstock (which is obviously form the manufacturer, not MF), but unnoticeable and not a bother. The neck feels pretty good! For some reason, after so many years of just noodling with electric guitars, I thought I'd have to work on adjusting to an acoustic, but this neck plays pretty fast, and the string height is pretty dang good. The frets are finished well (not a single sharp one anywhere), and I tested out the acoustic pickup and thought that sounded pretty great too. The tuners seems to stay in tune well so far. The low E tuner started to get a bit 'muddy' to turn once the tension was taught. The sound though… initially the guitar really had a harsh tone to it. Too bright, like what cheap acoustics sound like. It started to soften a bit after I had tuned the guitar hours ago, but still harsh, cheap sounding. I had ordered a set of Martin MM12 Retro Light strings & decided I would throw them on… and WOW! What a difference the strings make! Much warmer, pretty decent body to it. Great for strumming. I really am glad I bought this guitar. Yes its cheap, but looks cool and has a great sound to it.Nachos&Eggrolls

This was my first Dean purchase and I've played it daily since December. I'm really surprised that I'm the first person to leave a review. Very nice looking and well built guitar. Setup was easy. It sounded great out of the box. Just lowered the action a bit and put a TUSQ saddle on it. Bought a Dean Exhibition a week later just to have on hand in case I need to plug in.B

Just got this recently and haven't used it yet. But the few times I have picked it up, it has stayed in tune. Bought it because it was inexpensive and I don't know how to play yet. Beautiful guitar. Bought a "returned but like new" guitar thinking there may have been a few pick marks or something but this truly looks like brand new, not a single scuff or scratch that I could find.D Moore

Great guitar for price but color is not deep blue like it shows it's more lighter towards teal and green but very beautiful no matter and it's a dean exceptionally made and soundTony

You hear a lot of bassist look down on ABGs for being not loud enough. This might be an entry model, but it will more than do it's job when no amp is needed. It's much louder than most of the other more expensive acoustic basses. First off, this thing is huge. If you have short arms or small hands, look elsewhere. Might be one step below a guitaron (Mariachi bass) in terms of size. This adds to the volume projection. If Dean could come up with a way to round off the corner where your arm sits, it would make it more comfortable. Had a few cases where my arm started to fall asleep when trying to play sitting down. Just have to experiment with a position that works for you. Finding a case to fit is tricky. Second, the factory strings are terrible, cheap roundwounds that make a lot of string noise. Put some good flatwounds on and it sounds 10 times better. The action is high but that's going to be the case on any acoustic guitar (bass or 6 string) compared to an electric. With flats, it feels closer to an upright bass. You probably won't be able to do many Claypool or Sheehan style licks, but it's not really designed for that. I've done some fingerstyle percussive stuff on it and gotten some cool sounds out of it. The electronics are so-so. You might get a lot of feedback if the volume is really high, but then again, that's outside of its intended use. I've played mine in smaller venues and had no issues. For a simple pick up and jam or wanting a mellow tone deal to go with an acoustic guitar, this is a great buy. Won't set you back too much and the build quality is good. Just know what you are getting and don't expect it do everything your electric bass does as easily.Corb

I've had mine for a while now so here's the long term review. I'm happy with my purchase. I don't think there is a better acoustic bass at this price point and I've tried a lot of them. Of course it's cheaply made, but the craftsmanship is excellent. Fit and finish are great. The fret work is really good. The bass stays in tune, but the tuning machines are already starting to fall apart. I'm looking at replacing them with the lightweight Gotoh's which look identical. The rest of the bass is holding up great. Out of the box it will probably need to be set up. I had to file the nut grooves down about half a mile. The bridge wasn't the same radius as the fingerboard. I belt sanded the top and bottom to get good action. After a setup it does play very well. The action is comparable to a p-bass with no buzzing and no dead frets. It sounds pretty good unplugged. There are no rattles and no buzzing. The notes are clear and well defined and there is a decent amount a deep bass. Unfortunately when plugged in the sound has no clarity and no punch. It just doesn't sound musical. I have not found a way clean it up. Minus one star for the tuning machines, minus one star for the way it sounds plugged in.Fretless J

I wanted an acoustic bass and for me it was between the Ibanez and this one. I decided to go with this Bass and I love it, especially for the price its at!. It has a really solid and, surprisingly, punchy sound without it being plugged in. When it is plugged in, it does give off some feed back but still excellent sound. A little bit of fret buzz at the 17th fret, shouldn't be a big deal unless you play a lot in the area. Neck feels great, not to thick so its really easy to get around. Really light weight. The body looks huge from the picture but its excellent size. Overall I'd recommend it to any bass player that wants a quality sounding acoustic bass without hurting the wallet.Punkbass182

This guitar is solid and provides the comfortable playing of guitars costing hundreds more. I was not really surprised, as previous Dean guitars I owned were a good pick also. No onboard tuner? Are ya kidding? No five stars for you! But this guitar is still a keeper. Rock on.Dennisio

This guitar is gorgeous and plays like butter. I am so happy with this purchase. Would strongly recommend to anyone wanting to try a 12 string.Rusty

The Koa is beautiful. The fretboard has easy action and the guitar has great tone. I use a cordless system with no delay or cut-out from the electronics. For someone looking for bang for the buck, this qualifies.jtcreely

This Black Beauty arrived well packed and ready to play out of the box. It has great tone plugged In or unplugged for an Acoustic Jam. AMS had the Best price online that I could find.AJG

The instrument is heavier than I was expecting and seems to be well constructed. I did have to remove the resonator to tighten a loose tone pot that slipped into the body. The tone is a little brighter sounding (maybe tin sounding depending on how I'm playing). "Wow", is the first thing my friends say when they see it. AMS shipped it fast! Arrived a day early.Will