“Darrell died three weeks after we signed the contract. We’re finally doing what we planned to do – and I’m doing it for Darrell”: The battle to bring Dimebag’s guitar designs to life – the way he intended

It’s been a rocky few years for Dime Guitarz’ Rita Haney and Dean Zelinsky. The company was founded to preserve the guitar designs of late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, but it’s faced a prolonged legal battle while trying to reclaim Dime’s bodies of work – the Stealth, Razorback and Culprit guitar designs he conceived while endorsed by Washburn.

Those trademarks were later transferred over to Dean Guitars, the company Zelinsky founded in the late ’70s, with which he’s no longer involved. A spring court ruling left the Stealth and Razorback with Deans’ current owners, Armadillo Distribution Enterprises. But Haney – Dimebag’s longtime girlfriend and estate trustee – is appealing the decision.