Dean hotrods the Cadi with a trio of Seymour Duncan humbuckers

Dean Cadi Select 3
(Image credit: Dean Guitars)

Dean Guitars has unveiled a triple-humbucker addition to its Cadillac Series. The Cadi Select 3 takes the distinctive cutaway format of its electric guitar siblings, sits three Seymour Duncan humbuckers in the driving seat and promises a wealth of classic tones.

Clearly, someone at the Dean R&D department has being playing fast and loose with the pickup budget, endowing this classy solidbody with two Seymour Duncan APH-1 Custom humbuckers in the middle and neck positions, and an SH-5 Custom at the bridge.

These are interesting choices. The APH-1 'buckers feature Alnico II magnets and are voiced for jazz, blues and pretty much any vintage low-gain scenario you can imagine. The SH-5 Custom is a little hotter, offering a PAF-a-like humbucker response for those huge end of the 50s tones. 

The sharp-eyed among you might have noticed that the pickups have sandblasted pole pieces. The pickups are controlled with a five-way rotary knob, and audio taper pots for volume and tone.

Build-wise, the Cadi Select 3 is a familiar slab mahogany body with flat maple top, finished with 5-ply black-and-white binding. It has a set-through three-piece mahogany neck, a 24.75" scale, ebony fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets and pearloid block inlay.

Elsewhere, there are grover tuners, a tune-o-matic bridge and a black plastic nut. In true classic car fashion, you can have the Cadi Select 3 in any colour so long as it is black.

The Cadi Select 3 is priced $949 street. See Dean for more details.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.