1977 Dean Z Electric Guitar vs Gibson Sg Custom 1960s
The 1977 Dean Z Electric Guitar and the Gibson Sg Custom 1960s are both electric guitars. The 1977 Dean Z Electric Guitar leans bright. The Gibson Sg Custom 1960s leans aggressive.
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Blended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.50% — somewhat different
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Genres both listings are associated with.- Blues
- Hard Rock
- Rock
1977 Dean Z Electric Guitar
Dean · electric guitar
Gibson Sg Custom 1960s
Gibson · electric guitar
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Citation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.$6799via Reverb
Randy Rhoads was seen playing a Dean Z, likely from the model's debut production year of 1977, during his time before joining Ozzy Osbourne, though detailed documentation of this specific guitar and its eventual fate is largely speculative rather than firmly established. The Dean Z's body shape closely mirrors Gibson's Explorer, with a distinctive V-shaped tailpiece and strings running through the body, giving it a similarly aggressive, angular look that suited the hard rock and early metal scene Rhoads was emerging from. Unlike his more famous later Karl Sandoval-built polka dot Flying V and his Jackson-designed Concorde model, this Dean Z represents an earlier, less-documented chapter of his gear history.
This entry covers a 1960s Gibson SG Custom with no specific documented owner attached. The SG Custom sits at the top of Gibson's SG line, distinguished from the Standard by a three-pickup layout, block fingerboard inlays, and multi-ply body binding, along with a Maestro vibrola on most examples from this decade. Introduced as the SG body shape's flagship model shortly after Gibson moved the Les Paul line onto this thinner, double-cutaway design in 1961, the Custom carried the format's reputation for biting, aggressive humbucker tone into hard rock and blues-rock through the decade, with small hardware and pickup changes distinguishing early-60s from late-60s examples.
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Genres this gear is documented as being used in.- Metal
- Blues Rock
- Jazz
- bright
- aggressive