Has anybody here heard of 'DBZ Guitars'?  They're out there, but not through your usual popular online music sites, gotta search online for them, so I only found out about them 2 weeks ago. 

Might want to check their site out, just Google it.  Relatively new company. 

I've got one here in front of me, purchased last week.

More about this later if anybody is interested.

I've known Dean guitars for quite a while, but DBZ are new to me.

I'm sitting here looking at their site, and drooling onto my keyboard a lot.

I think I'd like to have a Bird of Prey, or a Venom  .(preferably without the tremolo  ) 

If DBZ is new to you, then I'm glad I brought this up.  Yep, ya tend to drool a lot looking at their site, and even more when you got one sitting here in front of ya.

DBZ Guitars is headed up by guy who founded Dean Guitars [I don't think he's with Dean anymore], but it's not exactly a Dean.

I got a DBZ Barchetta ST.  Available in white, purple, or black.  I got it in white.  All around a great guitar, almost the best guitar I've ever had out of maybe 2 dozen over 45 years. 

It's got a coil tap so it can play single or double.  Very good tone through my Fender 900 solid state. 

On this model the bridge is set closer than 'standard' to the bottom, so you get a short neck feel and it's easy to reach the lower positions without having to stretch.  Comfy to sit with, fairly lightweight with a set-in mahogany neck and mahogany body.

Craftsmanship is top quality, no slop anywhere.  Fretboard is dark-stained rosewood. 

I swapped out the original tuners with lighter weight gold Schallers with ebony keys [those original Grovers there are very heavy), looks better that way too, set the action slightly lower, neck is very fast now.  Fretboard radius is about 12", so you get a nice, flat feel. 

Really good for jazz, but anything else also, I'd say.  I haven't tried any Sabbath on it yet, I'll get around to that eventually.

The entire DBZ line is pretty awesome. 

Caveat emptor.

J&R Electronics has DBZ a lot cheaper, with a 30 day return on them.  Other brands are also cheaper than your usual online music stores.

Best Buy's return policy for anything bought in their music store section needs careful review, it might be different from the reg return policy.  Bought off the rack vs. bought online, online may be considered a special order and a 25% restock fee might be applied; not clear on off the rack returns. 

Their online purchase return policy as stated on their website is unclear.  I spoke to a salesguy instore about the return policy, if it's not on the rack, it's a special order item.

It's always best to try before you buy, but with this particular guitar I had no choice as it's not available at my usual local stores, and it was the only guitar that fit my criteria.

I would never buy without being able to return.  J&R's clearly stated return policy made the purchase possible.  And at only $350, it really was a bargain, considering the very high quality of workmanship. 

I work on my guitars anyway, setting up the neck and changing out some hardware sometimes, so it was a low risk for me, and the DBZ websites super close up picts helped a lot too.